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Millstone posted:They're creating the crack, then filling the crack. Billions of them. Some sort of anti-buckling measure? Are they installing detection loops, perhaps?
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Sep 23, 2012 21:41
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| # ? May 9, 2024 11:36 |
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Just had a 3 hour lecture on transportation design as it pertains to the functions of marketing, specifically consumer behavior. Roadway optical illusions came up (including the ones on Chicago's Lake Shore Fwy that were mentioned a week or so ago), as did the Paris Metro fare system. I don't have time to share it all right now, but I do want to post a bit about it, if only to get Cichlidae's opinion on some of the stuff. 
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Sep 24, 2012 19:27
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Phanatic posted:What's the rationale for changing from the normal "slower traffic stays in the right lane, you get in the passing lane to pass" rule to putting up signs that say "slow-as-hell trucks and buses drive in the left (passing) lane only" in construction zones? This is a couple weeks old, and some others gave answers I hadn't thought about, so allow me to add on as someone who drives a larger truck. Most of the time these signs are posted when there are narrower lanes and concrete barriers on at least the right side of the road, sometimes both sides. It is far easier to look out the driver's side window and see a barrier or line 6 inches from the side of the truck than it is to do the same on the passenger side. Since a truck is wider, this allows us to use more of "our" lane. Not to mention in such a zone there are likely restricted sight exits/entrances that it is easier to avoid altogether in a truck by staying left.
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Sep 25, 2012 00:03
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Varance posted:Just had a 3 hour lecture on transportation design as it pertains to the functions of marketing, specifically consumer behavior. Roadway optical illusions came up (including the ones on Chicago's Lake Shore Fwy that were mentioned a week or so ago), as did the Paris Metro fare system. Sure, I'd love to hear about it. Optical illusions are treated surprisingly in the Green Book. Did the fare system bit mention that (as far as I could tell) you can get to La Défense for a normal fare on the 1 line, but have to pay for an extra zone if you take the RER? Field Visit!  Off to everyone's favorite turbo roundabout! Let's see what they've done in the last month.  Granite curbing for the splitter islands has finally been installed. This is mountable curbing - you can tell because it's sloped. You can see the rebar cage inside, which means these islands will eventually be filled with concrete. See those blocks used to keep the rebar 3" off the dirt? They're bricks cut in half. Common industry trick.  That chunk of punky asphalt is temporary; the island will eventually extend to cover it, but for now, it's temporary widening for trucks to use until the apron is complete. To the right of the picture is some lower curb, and that's where the crosswalk will go. You can tell that the final asphalt level is somewhat higher than the current level.  Speaking of the truck apron, here it is. Concrete establishes an initial set after about an hour, and then you take big rubber sheets and press them into the semi-hard surface.  Here is more of the apron. It gets tarp'd-over to keep the moisture content high. Otherwise, the concrete will crack!  I had to add ONE WAY signs in the central island because people were acting very stupid. You should not be particularly surprised.  The gas station on the corner was a constant source of left-turning accidents. Now it has a new driveway offset from the intersection, with its own left-turn lane, and the other drives are made right-in, right-out.  The next two businesses are likewise rewarded.  Hey, here's something cool! These are the foundations for one of my new extruded aluminum signs. Those signs are 15 feet wide, which is pretty big for a secondary road, but they also have a lot of info on them.  Here's the kind of thing you need to look out for when you're touring a site: this is debris from a car crash. Looks minor, like a busted headlamp. My guess is that there was a queue due to construction, someone wasn't paying attention, and rear-ended the car in front at low speed.  There's a nice overview of the approach. See how channelized everything is, even without good pavement markings? That will slow people down before they hit the circle. Now, let's look at some other stuff!  This is what a typical drum looks like after being run over a dozen times. This is NOT effective, and needs to be replaced.  What is that awesome looking thing?  Oh, it's a bullet hole. Maybe not so awesome. (Great pictures, though, don't you think?)  C.H.U.D.S.? Naw, it's C.H.D. This is an old highway line marker from back when this route was designated, probably in the 1930s. It hasn't held up too well (that brown worm-looking thing is rebar), but then again, I probably won't be as functional when I'm 80+ years old.  Construction Hawk is ALWAYS WATCHING. ----- So, how would you guys like to play a game? It's a Let's Play sort of thing, minus all the poo poo posts and drama... and minus an actual video game. Deal is, your job is to be highway engineers. We start out in the early 1900s. I'll give you a map with some old turnpikes. Your job is to designate state routes, choose what kind of improvements to make, all the fun stuff. I'll keep track of population and accident dynamics as we move through the decades. How about it?
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Sep 25, 2012 00:27
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Cichlidae posted:Deal is, your job is to be highway engineers. We start out in the early 1900s. I'll give you a map with some old turnpikes. Your job is to designate state routes, choose what kind of improvements to make, all the fun stuff. I'll keep track of population and accident dynamics as we move through the decades. How about it? I would love to do this. May I play the shitheel councilman that screws up your plans?
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Sep 25, 2012 00:51
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Cichlidae, when we last spoke you left me with good vibes about my city's general freeway system. I thank you for being such a good sport for so long, because this thread is awesome and I've only just gotten to the end of it. Referring to that last post I linked above, on the right, the 71-670 interchange is now a year into a complete reconstruction. Does this kind of thing give you a road boner, because watching the progress here has been pretty drat cool.
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Sep 25, 2012 01:13
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Volmarias posted:I would love to do this. May I play the shitheel councilman that screws up your plans? Haha, don't worry, I think there'll be plenty of that go around. Just wait until someone tries to propose a SPUI in the '50s. "What, are you fuckin' nuts? I've got one word for you! CLOVERLEAF!" Halah posted:Cichlidae, when we last spoke you left me with good vibes about my city's general freeway system. I thank you for being such a good sport for so long, because this thread is awesome and I've only just gotten to the end of it. I'm glad to see it's going so well! As a traffic engineer, I get to deal with pessimistic expectations on nearly every project. The terms "parking lot," "major headache," "traffic nightmare," and "backed up for miles" get thrown around at any public meeting. Sure, we have to plan for the worst, but a good PR campaign will have you sitting in a jam smiling because you know it could be a LOT worse. I hope nobody hears me saying this, but I kind of like to scare people... Tell them the delay will be 45 minutes when you know that most days it'll be 10-20. People freak out a bit, I fight back a smirk, and then the news is all about how great things are going. By the way, has the DOT embraced the "Crawlumbus" moniker? That could be a great way to earn some PR cred and help motorists bleed some stress.
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Sep 25, 2012 01:53
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quote:I hope nobody hears me saying this, but I kind of like to scare people... Tell them the delay will be 45 minutes when you know that most days it'll be 10-20. People freak out a bit, I fight back a smirk, and then the news is all about how great things are going. That's kinda like that episode of TNG where Scotty tells Geordi to never tell the captain the exact time, otherwise how will he know he's a miracle worker?
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Sep 25, 2012 01:59
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Cichlidae posted:
The people here understand how to get around problems - we have a general grid system, so there are some alternates if you know the goods. Sure, things get backed up, but they did a thing where the mainline interstate used the exit ramps (off, then on) for a weekend. Took a good 6 hours and all was well, flowing at 50 mph or so. Nah, "Crawlumbus" is a newspaper thing, although the DOT has a pretty good Twitter going. They seem to be picked up and re-tweeted by a lot of people, as do the various agencies affected by all this.
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Sep 25, 2012 02:24
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I wanna play dat game. I was reading the Sao Paulo traffic article on the BBC earlier and it made me think of this thread. If your city's at a point where there are hundred mile long traffic jams and the helicopter taxi industry is booming because it's literally impossible for businessmen to get around the city on the ground, what the gently caress do you do? Sao Paulo has a metro, obviously that needs to be greatly expanded but what are your other options? It's one of the biggest cities in the world so you have to build around millions of people.
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Sep 25, 2012 02:51
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Grand Fromage posted:I wanna play dat game. Clearly adding more lanes isn't going to do much to help. Sao Paulo has a nearly unlimited potential to expand in both breadth and density. Helicopter taxis are actually a pretty cool (but unsustainable) solution to the problem, because there's always plenty of room in the air. The best route is drastically cutting passenger vehicle capacity and replacing it with something more efficient. Yeah, bump up the Metro, implement congestion pricing, turn a web of the roads into bus- or HOV-only... I'm not sure how feasible any of those are in the city's political and economic climate. Eventually, something's gotta give. It's just a matter of whether you meet things head-on, or chase after them once the system's already gone to poo poo.
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Sep 25, 2012 03:01
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I wonder what the drivers are like too. You couldn't use bus/HOV lanes to deal with traffic congestion here in Asia because literally no one gives a gently caress about the law so people would just drive on them normally. Maybe it'd work in Japan but nowhere else.
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Sep 25, 2012 03:08
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Holy poo poo yes I want to play a Play-by-post simcity rpg. You going to start a new thread for it I assume?
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Sep 25, 2012 03:42
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Baronjutter posted:Holy poo poo yes I want to play a Play-by-post simcity rpg. You going to start a new thread for it I assume? Oh, should I? I was planning on posting it here, just in case I run out of motivation. Don't want a howling swarm of goons after me for abandoning a bizarre adventure thread. Hell, I don't even know what forum it'd go in. Edit: Tell ya what: I'll do a test run here. If I can keep it up, and people like it, we'll give the dedicated thread a shot.
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Sep 25, 2012 03:56
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Cichlidae posted:Oh, should I? I was planning on posting it here, just in case I run out of motivation. Don't want a howling swarm of goons after me for abandoning a bizarre adventure thread. Hell, I don't even know what forum it'd go in. When you do, put it in Traditional Games, the Games subforum. I might not play but I'll be reading :P Edit: more accurately, put it in here, the Play by Post section of Trad Games.
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Sep 25, 2012 05:38
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What do you think about this roundabout as a solution for joining two offset sie roads to a main thoroughfare?  I sort of like it as a simple solution to a hard problem. Unfortunately, it really combines the shitheads who don't care to use and the shitheads who don't know how to use indicators into one really big 'guess what the car coming now is going to do' at peak hour.
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Sep 25, 2012 07:37
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Yeah imma play this game too
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Sep 25, 2012 08:39
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This game sounds like it would be a lot of fun.
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Sep 25, 2012 08:44
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T.Worth posted:What do you think about this roundabout as a solution for joining two offset sie roads to a main thoroughfare? That's really clever. Conventional roundabout wisdom is that volumes on all four legs should be roughly balanced, but I'm finding more and more that that's not a requirement for good operation. The lack of signaling is going to happen at any roundabout with closely spaced entrances and exits. It's possible to shift the legs a bit, but you'd have to demolish those beautiful used car lots. For the game, I'll try setting something up tonight. I'm working as much OT as I can these days, so I don't have a ton of free time, but certainly enough.
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Sep 25, 2012 12:32
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Cichlidae posted:That's really clever. Conventional roundabout wisdom is that volumes on all four legs should be roughly balanced, but I'm finding more and more that that's not a requirement for good operation. The lack of signaling is going to happen at any roundabout with closely spaced entrances and exits. It's possible to shift the legs a bit, but you'd have to demolish those beautiful used car lots. For the record, it is a 40 km/h mixed vehicle ped zone with a lot of small restaurants, bars and cafes so they really focus on slowing cars down through there regardless of the direction of travel. Apparently this summer they are going to close off the main drag completely and turn it into an open air market on weekends to encourage people to use the six lane bypass that is 500m away instead of this 'highway' from the 40's. Seems like a good idea. E: As an aside, the local 'town' offices are about 200m up the road to the bottom left, so the Mayor not being able to get out onto the main road after work might have had something to do with putting this thing in too. Notice the 'red' colour scheme? They are doing this more and more, apparently a dramatic change in the road colour to red or yellow from black makes people slow down heaps. T.Worth fucked around with this message at 14:14 on Sep 25, 2012 |
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Sep 25, 2012 14:08
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Are there ever any concessions made to the fact that concrete blocks water from seeping through the ground to fill underground reservoirs?
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Sep 25, 2012 14:53
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SlothfulCobra posted:Are there ever any concessions made to the fact that concrete blocks water from seeping through the ground to fill underground reservoirs? Going to step out of my personal engineering background to answer this. Sure, concreting the poo poo out of everything is really bad for traditional aquifers. Unfortunately, the damage to them has already been done by bores and clear felling, leading to dropping freshwater tables and rising saltwater tables working towards rising soil salinity. In a really simple format, concreting everything actually increases the filtering given to underground aquifers. It is another barrier that contaminants need to cross. If you are fracing the poo poo out of the place a tiny bit of concrete adding to the filtering of rainwater is the least of your problems.
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Sep 25, 2012 17:33
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SlothfulCobra posted:Are there ever any concessions made to the fact that concrete blocks water from seeping through the ground to fill underground reservoirs? It's honestly not a problem up here; we're more concerned with increasing the impermeable area and increasing our runoff problems. I think the going technique is just to remediate and improve drainage wherever we're introducing more pavement. Another technique is gap-graded asphalt. It is moderately porous, which makes roads self-draining, and lets the water drop down into (and through) the sub-grade. Haven't had too much success here, because the sand that we use for plowing in watershed areas tends to clog the pores. Edit: Also keep in mind that roads are like 1-5% of the surface of a typical town, and that the water's all going through the system, regardless of whether it gets sent through the ground or through a catch basin + drainage pipe. It'll end up in a stream, sure, but the stream replenishes the water table when it drops, and vice versa, so it's all going to the same place in the end.
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Sep 25, 2012 23:21
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Let's get familiar with our game world.  This is our state, Nutmeg. King George chartered the state with the intent of making a Nutmeg plantation. Unfortunately, the climate was not suited to nutmegs, and many thousands died in the harsh winters before more appropriate crops were planted. The state is about 30 miles (50 km) North-South, and 50 miles (80 km) East-West. There are four surrounding states. Nutmeg's largest river, the one running right through the middle of the state, was one of many named after the first European to explore the area: Pavel Fukov. As this river is by far the largest he sighted, it is named the Big Fukov River. The BFR is 1600 feet (500 meters) at its widest, and sits amidst a heavily forested floodplain at least 20 times as wide. The state holds a few large lakes, as well as some rather amorphous hills in its northern half. Its ocean frontage is mostly rocky, but a few sand beaches and salt marshes punctuate the rocks. Of course, Europeans weren't the first to settle here.   Marked in orange are the Indian Roads, a system of heavily traveled footpaths between major settlements. These paths have been walked for centuries, and are well worn into the terrain by now. These will remain the state's backbone until the advent of turnpikes, canals, and rail. The next update will show the major population centers circa 1840, when the transportation industry really begins to heat up. Then, it's up to you guys to start plotting new routes, or improving old ones. How's that sound?
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Sep 26, 2012 01:14
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I quiver in anticipation
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Sep 26, 2012 01:48
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Just when this thread seemed like it couldn't get any more awesome... Cichlidae you are truly an Ask/Tell superstar. Looking forward to this.
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Sep 26, 2012 02:21
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I am looking forward to imposing my Bay sensibilities on my Nutmeg neighbors to the south. 
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Sep 26, 2012 02:34
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This game sounds great!!Cichlidae posted:Man, that's exactly the kind of thing I'd be doing if I were an artist instead of an engineer. I love turning messes of data into something that can be easily understood. Heck, in France, I made a map of sounds and smells throughout a neighborhood as part of my Urbanisme class. Is that what would be covered in an intro to GIS class? I'm thinking of taking one for personal interest at the local university: https://eee.uci.edu/12f/52170
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Sep 26, 2012 02:42
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We're going to need major population centers and destinations.
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Sep 26, 2012 02:50
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So is this going to be a coop thing, or we each layout a network? Since the network would influence population growth, how is this going to work exactly?
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Sep 26, 2012 03:03
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Echo 3 posted:Just when this thread seemed like it couldn't get any more awesome... Oh god, such high expectations... Nutmeg in 1820   (Edit: Turned the clock back to 1820) Here is the current situation! The main industry is agriculture, as you can see from the vast swaths of forest that have been cut down. Most of that wood goes to shipbuilding, especially along the Big Fukov River. Oh, I almost forgot to mention! Nutmeg gained its independence from the Empire, and now it is time to choose a state capitol. New Sanctum is the largest city at the moment, with a bustling trade, though its importance seems to be diminishing as nearby New Cork grows. Middleport is centrally located, though it's not particularly large or important. Hartshire is currently the de facto head of state, due to its strong role in the Revolutionary War and defensibility. Fairport and New Dublin are also large enough to be contenders, but they are near the edge of the state. I will be ready to do another update tomorrow; voting closes then, so make your choice known! ----- Mandalay posted:This game sounds great!! GIS can be really boring, so be warned. It's basically collecting a TON of information and mapping it. There are a bunch of layers (water, vegetation, land use, transportation network, etc). I suppose you could use that information to make some really cool diagrams, though I mainly use Google Earth for that at work. FISHMANPET posted:So is this going to be a coop thing, or we each layout a network? Since the network would influence population growth, how is this going to work exactly? I will make network changes by consensus (and reign them in to stay historically accurate and meet a vague budget). I'll say, for example, what are our priorities? The top priorities then become our plans, and the next question is, how will we design this? I'll either let you guys design it, or, if that gets too chaotic, I'll give you guys a choice of pre-made designs. Accessibility is one of many factors that influences growth. Some cities are just based around industries that go out of favor. You can probably guess what Opiantic's main trade is. Cichlidae fucked around with this message at 00:31 on Sep 27, 2012 |
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Sep 26, 2012 03:31
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My vote for the capital is New Sanctum. It looks like it's in a good spot to be a trade hub, being right at the head of the Fukov River and on the coast too. Regardless of which city we pick, it should be on the river.
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Sep 26, 2012 03:35
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New Sanctum should be made the capitol. It's the largest city, has a great location on the mouth of the Fukov river, and is in the middle of the state, going east-west. Hartshire would be another good choice, but I think we should go with this one, since it'd be more fun to diverge from Connecticut's history.
Hedera Helix fucked around with this message at 04:14 on Sep 26, 2012 |
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Sep 26, 2012 04:10
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New Sanctum. A coast, a river mouth, and the biggest city? That's the place to be.
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Sep 26, 2012 04:12
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Sometimes the "biggest busiest city" isn't the way to go for a capital. I'll be contrary and pick Middleport. Keep the politicians away from the businessmen and all. Being a capital will keep it focused on running the state first.
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Sep 26, 2012 04:37
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How about keeping Hartshire? Center of the state, on the Fukov, river navigation looks solid with the width of the river, and currently at or near the intersection of many of the current Indian Roads.
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Sep 26, 2012 05:02
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Throwing my weight behind Hartshire as capital, it was clearly the Indian seat of influence, and kefkafloyd is right about not wanting the biggest and richest city to be in charge.
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Sep 26, 2012 05:10
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I'm also voting for Hartshire. On the river, not a dying port town, convergence of Indian roads, and already the de-facto capitol. Unless the current government is particularly corrupt, in which case a symbolic change could help root out some of the rotten institutions.
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Sep 26, 2012 05:16
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kefkafloyd posted:Sometimes the "biggest busiest city" isn't the way to go for a capital. I'll be contrary and pick Middleport. Keep the politicians away from the businessmen and all. Being a capital will keep it focused on running the state first. But in a lot of cases, placing the capitol in a smaller city just means that the corrupt politicians are even worse than they would be otherwise, since they're not immediately accountable to the largest population center.
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Sep 26, 2012 05:20
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| # ? May 9, 2024 11:36 |
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Money rules the world, gentlemen. Where are you going to get the funds for those newfangled railroads if not from us? Corruption's just another word for opportunity.
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Sep 26, 2012 05:28
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