|
NFX posted:I apologize that there's no English translation, but I came across this interesting article about a planned experiment by the Danish Transport Authority. As a background, some of the highways around Copenhagen have been upgraded with electronic speed signs. These are used to regulate the traffic during rush hour, warn about delays, and warn about emergency traffic coming from behind. If only there were a country of similar population density nearby that upgraded most of their roads to have these over the past 15 years to compare data with. Now they have to post warning signs when the system is offline so people don't hit the tail end of a traffic jam at 130 kph because the signs didn't adjust the dynamic speed limit and no one expect to run into a traffic jam without warning. Will be interesting (and deadly) to see if Danish drivers work the same way. NihilismNow fucked around with this message at 20:39 on Jan 21, 2015 |
#
?
Jan 21, 2015 20:36
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 12, 2024 22:46 |
|
|
NihilismNow posted:If only there were a country of similar population density nearby that upgraded most of their roads to have these over the past 15 years to compare data with. More like since the late seventies. Which is why our VMS systems are kinda limited, the tech's almost 40 years old.
|
|
#
?
Jan 21, 2015 20:51
|
|
|
They've finally set a date for one of the most metal bridge replacements I've heard of. The Greenfield bridge in Pittsburgh runs over 376 right before it goes into a tunnel. Around Christmas of this year, they're going to close the highway for a week in both directions, cover it with 12 feet of dirt, and implode the bridge onto the roadway below. Then truck it all away. In a week. http://triblive.com/news/allegheny/7602385-74/bridge-greenfield-parkway#axzz3PVssZ0yq It's going to be a MESS.
|
|
#
?
Jan 22, 2015 03:35
|
|
|
Koesj posted:More like since the late seventies. Which is why our VMS systems are kinda limited, the tech's almost 40 years old. Maybe for the first ones, i meant since pretty much ALL roads have them in the west of the country. Today i noticed that the ones on the A12 are different than the others. A12 has dynamic speed limit "60" where the others only have 100 - 90 - 80 - 70 -50 - CLOSED (or is 60 just never used outside the A12?).
|
|
#
?
Jan 22, 2015 19:19
|
|
|
Oh yeah sure I think it was with SVV-II that they started pushing Motorway Traffic Management for a much bigger rollout (Washington state goons: here in the Netherlands we run the same system as in Seattle - since 1977). 60kmh on the variable signs is something most can't do, so I guess they're newer and maybe that it has something to do with the roadworks on the Amsterdam-Rijnkanaal (Galecopper) bridge?
|
|
#
?
Jan 22, 2015 20:34
|
|
|
Are your older signs like this? The NJ Turnpike had these variable message signs in operation from the 50s up to last year, and there's still a few mounted on overpasses that haven't been removed although the replacement LED based signs are already up in front of them. The message lighting is straight up neon, and the variable speed limit sign next to it used to have white flip-segment displays.
|
|
#
?
Jan 23, 2015 01:40
|
|
|
How much of an abomination are the Washington DC 4+ lane traffic circles with traffic lights to enter, to drive through and to exit, and tunnels below the circle? Pretty bad right?
|
|
#
?
Jan 23, 2015 01:51
|
|
|
What's the weird symbol between FOG and AHEAD on the bottom row?
|
|
#
?
Jan 23, 2015 01:56
|
|
|
RadioPassive posted:What's the weird symbol between FOG and AHEAD on the bottom row? distance
|
|
#
?
Jan 23, 2015 02:36
|
|
|
RadioPassive posted:What's the weird symbol between FOG and AHEAD on the bottom row? It's a set of neon lights that can be alternately changed for1 or 2 miles ahead, with 1/4 (maybe?) and 1/2 symbols to go on the right. When the thing it's warning about is more than 2.5 miles ahead, it simply says "ahead" instead of giving the distance. The designs were updated in the 70s, but I believe that was mostly in the form of changing the wiring to better handle remote changes of the display, rather than what was actually displayable.
|
|
#
?
Jan 23, 2015 02:44
|
|
|
Nintendo Kid posted:Are your older signs like this? I like how these look.
|
|
#
?
Jan 23, 2015 08:44
|
|
|
We made the Golden Gate Bridge feel safer and now drivers are going faster for some mysterious reason.quote:The California Highway Patrol announced Thursday that it is stepping up enforcement of speed limits on the Waldo Grade in Marin as well as at the bridge and toll plaza. The reason is that in the days since the more secure movable median barrier was installed, the average speed of drivers on the approach from the north has jumped even though the speed limit was lowered from 55 to 45 miles per hour. On the other hand, they don't say how much the average speed actually increased. I'd bet that the mean speed increased a lot more than the median speed.
|
|
#
?
Jan 23, 2015 18:17
|
|
|
Well, Nashville has pretty much killed its attempt at Bus Rapid Transit. In the mean time, maybe we can just keep pretending traffic will get better if we ignore it.
|
|
#
?
Jan 23, 2015 18:32
|
|
|
Hedera Helix posted:I like how these look. They're awesome. It's too bad they're being wholly replaced with new signs finally, but they may be preserved somewhere. A major reason they were finally being replaced is apparently a lack of ability to easily get replacement neon tubes, which would explain why a lot of them have had partially burnt out sections for a while: 
|
|
#
?
Jan 24, 2015 03:53
|
|
|
My understanding is that at least one fully functioning sign will be preserved in the New Jersey Transit Museum along with some of the original Turnpike big green signs. I read this on a road forum quite a while back and the plans could have been scuttled, but that's what I thought would happen.
|
|
#
?
Jan 24, 2015 05:43
|
|
|
You mean these?     Because they owned, and it's a shame most of them had to go to handle the new expansions. Though having the split carried all the way down to exit 6 is excellent for traffic.
|
|
#
?
Jan 24, 2015 06:01
|
|
|
Yes, those. New Jersey is now trying to attempt to be MUTCD compliant on the turnpike so those had to go.
|
|
#
?
Jan 24, 2015 06:08
|
|
|
kefkafloyd posted:Yes, those. The fact that they're expanding all the routes they're on, other than the Newark Bay extension, has a lot more to do with it. The mainline turnpike at exit 6 now has dual carriageway obliterating the old exit and that first one, the exit from the Pennsylvania Extension to the mainline turnpike had to be completely redone to handle going to and from the extra carriageways obliterated the place of the second, the third one was just kinda falling apart, and the fourth one's location is due to be expanded to account for a potential 4 lane on a side roadway once the I-95/PA Turnpike interchange is completed. And they can't very well design new expanded signs to work with there. For what it's worth, here's the approximate location now where the cross-mainline exit 6 sign was: https://www.google.com/maps/@40.105306,-74.721696,3a,75y,215.01h,85.86t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sNYbZ7e1oYVlRcaIwSIp9LQ!2e0 Nintendo Kid fucked around with this message at 06:28 on Jan 24, 2015 |
|
#
?
Jan 24, 2015 06:18
|
|
|
kefkafloyd posted:Yes, those. Pretty sure the MUTCD doesn't address the overhead sign structures themselves, just the signs. It would cost a poo poo-ton to maintain and paint those cool looking structures, though. Much cheaper to use modern trusses.
|
|
#
?
Jan 24, 2015 06:18
|
|
|
Nintendo Kid posted:They're awesome. It's too bad they're being wholly replaced with new signs finally, but they may be preserved somewhere. Aww, the sign's still accurate, even after partially burning out. 
|
|
#
?
Jan 24, 2015 08:18
|
|
|
Nintendo Kid posted:Are your older signs like this? That must have been very futuristic and expensive in the 50s. Do you know how they controlled them and monitored the roads they were controlling? Did they have CCTV?
|
|
#
?
Jan 24, 2015 14:30
|
|
|
Devor posted:Pretty sure the MUTCD doesn't address the overhead sign structures themselves, just the signs. It would cost a poo poo-ton to maintain and paint those cool looking structures, though. Much cheaper to use modern trusses. I was referring mostly to the actual BGS designs and not the gantry, though those classic ones will certainly be missed. New Jersey's going to be losing a lot of their New Jersey-ism (like black squares behind route shields) over the next few years. The NJ Turnpike has had its own flavor of signage that will be slowly going away. What's going up in the reconstructed split down to 6 will be coming to the rest of the pike.
|
|
#
?
Jan 24, 2015 15:24
|
|
|
you ate my cat posted:They've finally set a date for one of the most metal bridge replacements I've heard of. The Greenfield bridge in Pittsburgh runs over 376 right before it goes into a tunnel. Around Christmas of this year, they're going to close the highway for a week in both directions, cover it with 12 feet of dirt, and implode the bridge onto the roadway below. Then truck it all away. In a week. Christ, closing the Parkway? Might as well just shut down the city at that point and give everyone the week off.
|
|
#
?
Jan 24, 2015 15:45
|
|
|
Devor posted:Pretty sure the MUTCD doesn't address the overhead sign structures themselves, just the signs. It would cost a poo poo-ton to maintain and paint those cool looking structures, though. Much cheaper to use modern trusses. AASHTO has standards for overhead sign supports, and one of the more recent ones (2001) pretty much made all previous designs obsolete. I imagine sign supports with that much surface area would be particularly susceptible to galloping. Presto posted:Christ, closing the Parkway? Might as well just shut down the city at that point and give everyone the week off. Pfft, that's small potatoes. We're giving some consideration to closing down I-84 entirely for months. It might result in significant cost and delay savings over a decade of partial closures.
|
|
#
?
Jan 24, 2015 16:25
|
|
|
What's with this intersection? Every morning between 0800-0900 it jams up about a thousand feet going east-west, taking multiple cycles to progress past the light. It's to the point where you can peel off into the north exit lane, stop at the panaderia a quarter mile up and buy some bread, get back to the intersection and merge back west without losing your place in line. Or you can do a U-turn halfway to the panaderia and skip a few cycles, but then you don't get any conchas so it's kind of a wash. The worst part is people will peel into the north exit lane then stop with their blinkers on at the end so they can get back into the regular flow of traffic.
|
|
#
?
Jan 24, 2015 16:56
|
|
|
Nintendo Kid posted:You mean these? I always loved these, and the old school neon messaging signs. So many memories of summer road trips as a kid. On the other end of the modernity spectrum, Illinois is going to experiment with full-color LED information signs on the Jane Addams Tollway. I can't find any more information than that, so I wonder if they're basically going to be digital billboards. If they use them to display static images of traditional signs (orange background for construction, maybe a yellow background warning about congestion, etc.) and not distracting advertising-like pictures.
|
|
#
?
Jan 24, 2015 18:23
|
|
|
Orlando has some of those along I-4. They're usually a green background showing travel times. They're no more distracting than the old yellow and black VMSes.
|
|
#
?
Jan 24, 2015 19:22
|
|
|
Speaking of that, CT has recently started putting travel times up on I95. I rarely drive on 95 anymore, but it's nice to have an official estimate of how miserable it is.
|
|
#
?
Jan 25, 2015 09:44
|
|
|
Speaking of travel times, does anyone know how google estimates real time traffic delay on google maps? Do they model it, or rely on first hand reports, or historical/empirical data, or real time satellite images to estimate traffic density, or something completely different?
|
|
#
?
Jan 25, 2015 10:02
|
|
|
A combination of gps readings from smart-phones and historical data I believe.
|
|
#
?
Jan 25, 2015 10:16
|
|
|
Cichlidae posted:Pfft, that's small potatoes. We're giving some consideration to closing down I-84 entirely for months. It might result in significant cost and delay savings over a decade of partial closures.  It's not as though Hartford rush-hour traffic is particularly nice with 84 open. I hope they have some plans for what to do with the people going between Boston and NYC who don't know what the gently caress.
|
|
#
?
Jan 25, 2015 12:48
|
|
|
Lobsterpillar posted:Speaking of travel times, does anyone know how google estimates real time traffic delay on google maps? Do they model it, or rely on first hand reports, or historical/empirical data, or real time satellite images to estimate traffic density, or something completely different? If you have the Google Maps app on your phone, you probably agreed to send them your GPS data, which is then used to calculate trip times and congestion, compared to what that data has been like in the past.  Only roads that see enough Google Maps users have realtime and calculated/historical congestion data.
|
|
#
?
Jan 25, 2015 13:39
|
|
|
GWBBQ posted:Speaking of that, CT has recently started putting travel times up on I95. I rarely drive on 95 anymore, but it's nice to have an official estimate of how miserable it is. Not just on 95! 91 has them along my commute, and they're terribly useful. Relatively accurate if it's snowing. Skeesix posted:
Of course. We'll be looking at all kinds of stuff, up to and including multi-hundred-million-dollar improvements to other freeways.
|
|
#
?
Jan 25, 2015 15:57
|
|
|
In an ideal world, a new CT-3 freeway and replacement for the Putnam bridge would completely obviate the need to go near Hartford at all. While I'm wishing for things, I would also like a 500 f/4 and a 1969 GTO Judge.
|
|
#
?
Jan 25, 2015 17:58
|
|
|
Kakairo posted:On the other end of the modernity spectrum, Illinois is going to experiment with full-color LED information signs on the Jane Addams Tollway. I can't find any more information than that, so I wonder if they're basically going to be digital billboards. If they use them to display static images of traditional signs (orange background for construction, maybe a yellow background warning about congestion, etc.) and not distracting advertising-like pictures. They will be digital billboards over each lane spaced at half mile intervals that will tell you about conditions ahead. Sensors will also be installed to detect congestion and will automatically reduce the speed limit for approaching vehicles in an attempt to reduce crashes caused by assholes not paying attention and smashing into the back of slow traffic. It is going to be similar to the system in Seattle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMg9Tp8yj-I https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gQXlf-ciUo
|
|
#
?
Jan 25, 2015 18:03
|
|
|
peepeepants posted:They will be digital billboards over each lane spaced at half mile intervals that will tell you about conditions ahead. Sensors will also be installed to detect congestion and will automatically reduce the speed limit for approaching vehicles in an attempt to reduce crashes caused by assholes not paying attention and smashing into the back of slow traffic. Ah, I'm familiar with systems like that in the UK. I'm having a hard time believing that Chicago drivers will actually pay attention to those signs, though.
|
|
#
?
Jan 25, 2015 18:33
|
|
|
Here's a topic I'm interested if other cities have dealt with: Mobility scooters. Where do they belong? In cities with comprehensive bike infrastructure I usually see them scooting along the bike paths, but if the paths are not wide, the slow scooters can create a jam of angry bikes behind them. The alternative is seeing them on sidewalks, but for some reason people driving mobility scooters feel absolutely entitled to drive a bit faster than everyone walks, so they are constantly demanding people move out of their way and conflicts are quite common. Even on a crowded downtown sidewalk where its too crowded for anyone to really pass anyone, that one old lady on a scooter will just ram through the crowd like an Oklahoma driver around cyclists. There have been a growing number of injuries and issues related to mobility scooters, but there's also almost no rules about them. They're way too fast for sidewalks but way too slow for bike lanes or roads. I'm just curious what other place's have experienced regarding this, and if they've managed to do anything to solve it. It seems like "if you're going to drive on the sidewalk, don't feel entitled to going faster than pedestrians" would do but apparently that's too much to ask of them. It seems inevitable that no matter what the rules, the faster/heavier user will always push and bully the smaller/slower user of any infrastructure.
|
|
#
?
Jan 30, 2015 02:08
|
|
|
In the Netherlands they are equivalent to pedestrians, so they go on sidewalks, though they would be allowed on bike paths too. People do that if they're going fast with them. But we also get these things on bike paths:  I think they're limited to 45 km/h, and intended for disabled people but anyone with a moped license can drive them. They follow the same rules as mopeds. They can also park in the same places where bikes can park (mostly anywhere) so you run into them on random sidewalks sometimes.
|
|
#
?
Jan 30, 2015 02:37
|
|
|
Actually, those belong on the road together with other bromfietsen since this year.
|
|
#
?
Jan 30, 2015 03:09
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 12, 2024 22:46 |
|
|
There's a flood of mobility scooters that look like tiny smart cars here in Victoria, sometimes people drive them on the road in residential areas but downtown the clog up the sidewalks. Well not so much clog up but they just ram through the crowds. Traffic on the sidewalk going at 4kph? gently caress you my scooter goes 5!!! I'm old/disabled get out of my way!
|
|
#
?
Jan 30, 2015 04:21
|
|