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Ooh, this sounds interesting. I'd love to hear about how the highway standards differ between the U.S. and Europe. Infrastructure seems overall better over there and I've never been able to put my finger on why.
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Jul 27, 2009 23:18
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Steppo posted:Who in the hell thought that the route 395/2 interchange in Connecticut was a good loving idea? Oh poo poo I know that road! Yeah I hate that exit. HATE with a passion. One of these days I'm going to call up the DOT and complain. (I've heard from a reliable source that they're required to at least listen to you and investigate your complaint). Oh yeah and the worst part about that road is it's the shortest route back home to visit the in-laws.
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Jul 28, 2009 01:12
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Cichlidae posted:Thanks for not ruining some engineer's day Hooooooooly poo poo, that guy's nuts! Like... please lock me up in a rubber room and throw away the key nuts. I would not want to meet that guy on the street. EDIT: ^^^^ Please talk about canceled freeways!
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Jul 29, 2009 01:20
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Cichlidae posted:I'd be willing to bet that it's been 5-way for a very long time. All of our policy documents say that intersections are only 4-way and 3-way, and never to intentionally create something more complex. I can't tell what's going on in this picture. I can see that there used to be a connecting road there on the right. Is that all there is to it? Did they just dead-end that road, or what? I can't really tell from the picture.
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Jul 30, 2009 23:29
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OP! Thank you for taking time to answer all our questions so far. This thread has been very informative. Now I'd like to add a question to the pile: You've made your disdain for speed limits quite plain. However, surely there are situations where it would be beneficial to have traffic drive slower (residential neighborhoods come to mind). What are some of the ways to get traffic to slow down without imposing an arbitrary speed limit on roads that were clearly designed for much higher speeds? I can think of two ways on my own. If I may illustrate them with a story, and render my opinion on which is more effective, perhaps you could correct me? I grew up in Phoenix, a city that lauds itself for its urban planning. (Signs when you enter town call it "the best run city in the world.") Anyway, they have lots of nice straight streets set up in a grid system, and through the residential areas, to slow traffic down, they install the dreaded speed bump. My step-brother (before he was my step-brother), actually organized his boy scout troop to petition the town to install speed bumps on his street. My dad would curse his name every time we drove home. Seems to me such a thing serves to piss off the residents as much as it would slow traffic. Thoughts? On the other side of the coin, there was a certain side street that was very conveniently placed to avoid rush hour traffic on my way to school. Once, when driving that road, I noticed that the town had apparently either sold or given a portion of the road to one of the property owners, making a small spit of land stick out into the once-straight road, effectively making the road curve a bit. This in turn made traffic slow down out of the necessity of avoiding driving over the guy's lawn. This would seem to be a more effective way of slowing traffic down, and has the added benefit of not making it obvious that that's what's happening, so you don't piss off the motorists. What's your take on these, and other solutions to making people slow down through residential areas, or other situations where you need traffic to drive slower? EDIT: Oh, and just to make it clear, I do not think that Phoenix is the paragon of urban planning, as the city claims to be. The place is a poo poo-hole, the very worst example of urban sprawl outside of L.A. The way the city is laid out makes it impossible to find your way around because every loving street corner looks the same. The city is run by idiots and I am so glad I don't live there anymore. Silver Falcon fucked around with this message at 18:13 on Aug 2, 2009 |
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Aug 2, 2009 17:54
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I've seen that. I'm not sure what the point of the whole exercise was. Yes, people rarely drive the speed limit. Whoop-de-doo. I think most people are aware (or at least I've been aware for a long time) that speed limits are arbitrary and set by local or state governments, and not based on how people actually drive. I've also been aware for a long time of the power of lobbies to alter speed limits or install other speed-altering features (such as my aforementioned goodie-two-shoes step-brother who got his boyscout troop to lobby the town to install speed bumps on his street). I don't know, the video is entertaining, but at the same time I just want to say, "So what?"
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Jan 7, 2010 22:33
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Once again, your informative posts, mixed with your snarky sense of humor, never fail to deliver. Keep 'em coming!
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Apr 9, 2010 01:43
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IOwnCalculus posted:That was probably ADOT instead of COP, and the only reason they "get away with it" is as far as I can tell, they consider SR143 a freeway only when it suits them, and 48th Street when it fits their need. To be fair, 143 is only a few miles long and is one of the few freeways that is actually a 55 limit instead of a 65. I always love hearing about how hosed up Phoenix is.  Incidentally, you seem to know an awful lot about Phoenix's roads, more than me anyway, and I grew up there! Oh yeah, and "Best run city in the world," my rear end! (Great pictures, Cichlidae.)
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Apr 22, 2010 02:45
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That business of school buses on railroad crossing reminds me of a show I watched years and years ago (probably on Discovery, but don't quote me on that), talking about the time a substitute bus driver had to stop at a signal after the train tracks. The rear end end of the bus ended up hanging just over the tracks, a train hit it, ripped the passenger compartment off its chassis, flipped it around 180 degrees, and killed several kids. Horrible. Despite my tongue-in-cheek treatment of that railroad safety book, railroad crossings are no joke! 
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May 13, 2010 01:14
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Lovecraftian plots aside, that is the worst drawing of a duck I've ever seen. It looks like a dinosaur or something. And what the hell is that thing just to the upper right of the large "duck?" Some sort of vampiduck coming to suck its blood? You may be on to something, Cichlidae.  EDIT: And now that I'm looking at it, what the hell is wrong with Ima's left arm?!
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May 18, 2010 02:04
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Cichlidae posted:
As an environmental scientist, I am appalled by this. As a goon, I am heartily amused! Also that curry looks freaking delicious.
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Sep 21, 2010 02:27
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Hey, Cichlidae, I just saw this on MSNBC, and I thought it was really cool! http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39684119/ns/world_news-europe/ Worlds longest tunnel just completed, underneath the Alps. Will be able to accommodate high speed passenger and cargo rail by 2017. But that's not the coolest part, at least not to me. The coolest part is that the tunnel is funded by Swiss taxpayers, who voted in the project in referendum, at the cost of $1,300 each. Goddamn!  Can you imagine the poo poo storm it would cause over here if anyone even suggested each American taxpayer fork over 1,300 bucks to fund some infrastructure project? Hell, people throw hissy fits over paying an extra 8 bucks or so to fund something vital! Now granted, the United States is a lot bigger (and richer?) than Switzerland, but still. Can you imagine if we did something like this? Or, even better: what kind of stuff could we do if our citizens were willing to fork over a thousand bucks and change?
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Oct 15, 2010 17:33
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jermsz posted:fix Auckland please Oh wow. That was fascinating. Thanks for sharing that! Do you know if that series is going to continue? I kept thinking of L.A. all the while I was watching that. But hell, I thought we Americans were in love with our autos. Looks like we have nothing on Aukland! It was encouraging to hear that U.S. cities are becoming much more mass transit friendly. Personally, I can't wait. I hate driving, and I love trains.
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Oct 21, 2010 18:19
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Funny you should mentioned the Hartford/Springfield rail line. I was reading about that on the DEP press releases. I was bored, okay? They had a whole bunch because there was some announcement or other on Monday that announced receipt of more Federal money from that stimulus package thingy for mass transit, the one that CT got stiffed on in January. Anyway, the articles mention double tracking the Amtrak line between New Haven and Hartford, continuing the line up to Springfield, MA, with stops in Berlin, Bradley, etc. Isn't that the exact route the Busway is supposed to take? What gives?
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Oct 29, 2010 00:59
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I swear some weird stuff used to happen at this one light on my way back from work. Periodically, it would show a yellow arrow at the same time as a green arrow. I could never be sure what I was looking at, though, because I'd usually make that turn at night, and I was preoccupied with getting home, so I didn't pay that close attention. It was only after I cleared the light that I'd think, "Oh wait, yeah, that was weird."
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Jan 6, 2011 02:09
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bear shark posted:Welp: Aww poo poo. I was hoping they'd kill that useless waste of money and time. I'd much rather see them double track the Amrak lines and put up some light rail!
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Apr 5, 2011 21:33
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I've got a question about an annoying intersection that I have to drive through every day! http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&sou...,276.47,,1,0.92 This thing gridlocks so bad, in all directions. This approach can gridlock, then a couple cars trickle through, then the next approach that gets called will gridlock too! Options for fixing it are nil, I'm sure, since it's surrounded by historical buildings (not the least of which the State Capitol!) That light has problems too. I've had to bug the DOT about it on a couple of occasions. Last month the right side signal head (not the left) was on flashing red, and people kept running the light. Oh, and that pedestrian crossing mid-block? I wouldn't touch that thing with a 10-foot pole. No way do I trust people to stop at that thing. I cross either at Trinity or Oak.
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Jun 16, 2011 03:10
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Wow and you even left that weird horse statue intact!  But now I'll just be sad when I drive by there, thinking of what will never be.
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Jun 16, 2011 03:23
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I've never actually been inside the DAS building. I would like to see some more subterranean parking around there, though. Or heck, more parking garages in general. There's a parking garage in the basement of the office where I work, but only higher ups and State vehicles get to park there. There's also a parking garage under the Legislative building, but again, only Legislatures can park there. Scrubs like me have to park several blocks from the offices and fight downtown rush hour traffic. Oh, and the lot where I can park? It's also overflow for the Legislative building, so when they're in session, sometimes I can't get a space at all. 
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Jun 17, 2011 01:21
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Can I come too, fellow "we're hosed" buddies? Oh, and re: Europe being awesome. It's not just because Europe is more bike friendly. They also have much more mass transit than we do. For example, I spent the better part of a year in France, and they have trains everywhere. Where the trains don't go, often there are buses. One city I went to had free buses city-wide. The buses were paid for by a special tax on the local businesses. Can you imagine what a poo poo-storm that would create if we tried to do something like that here? Add to that, their gas is a lot more expensive than ours (higher gas taxes), so people don't drive nearly as much, so the mass transit actually ends up getting used by people other than "the poors." Oh and their driver education programs are much more stringent, so they tend to be much better drivers too. Yeah. France was pretty ballin.' I'd love it if we'd take a page or two out of their transportation book.
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Jun 25, 2011 04:49
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Mandalay posted:You can't just plop down that kind of transit in suburban Los Angeles. Good transit and transit-oriented development are a bit of a positive feedback cycle. Oh yes, I know. I've spent a great deal of time out West. Mostly Phoenix. Phoenix has similar transportation issues as L.A. However, European models of transit, especially mass transit, would work great out here (northeast). But yeah... with L.A. we really should never have let it get that bad! 
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Jun 26, 2011 01:43
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nm posted:As a fellow government employee getting the boot (today), I can say good luck. I'll be joining you all next week, probably!  Sorry about your job, Cichlidae. With your knowledge and training, though, I'm sure you'll get a new job swiftly. Europe sounds like a good idea too...
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Jul 15, 2011 02:03
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We started getting our layoff notices at work today. That was depressing.   Whenever I drive by the Capitol and Trinity intersection, I think of the fix you posted for it. I wish they could put it in. That thing is such a pain.
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Jul 20, 2011 01:37
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As a counterpoint (seriously, the situations described in those articles is horrible), I submit this article from the New York Times. It's about how city planners in Europe are working to make cities as un-friendly to cars as possible.
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Jul 22, 2011 17:03
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I just realized this thread is two years old! Quite impressive.  Anyway, for some content. I was just thinking about transit. There's been a huge to-do about the Busway around here (personally I prefer trains but whatever), and it got me thinking. What's the Next Big Thing? Back at the turn of the last century, trains were The Thing. There were trains everywhere. Then air travel and the car came along, and suddenly trains got shafted. Now it's the 21st century and I think we're coming full circle. Air travel and automobiles require one very important thing to remain viable: cheap oil. That's not happening anymore. Take air travel for example. It's AWFUL. Every time I have to fly, I dread it. It's just not a pleasant experience all around and it's getting so freaking expensive. At least with cars, there's a chance that electric and hydrogen vehicles will take off. I think we're starting to see a paradigm shift in that regard. But for long distances? Planes are all we've got. We can't keep going on like this. I think air travel is hitting a brick wall. What do we do? Bring back Zeppelins? They were basically like flying trains... Sure they were slow, but they were comfortable. Or, what about something a bit different? I was suddenly reminded the other day of a special I saw on Discovery back in... oh heck, it might have been 2003? 2004? Anyway, it was awesome. It was about building a transatlantic tunnel. New York to Paris in an hour and a half?! poo poo man, 'dats fast. The program focuses more on how expensive it would be and what an engineering nightmare it would be to actually build the thing. It doesn't mention probably the biggest stumbling block: can you imagine the conniption the airline and oil industries would have if we even thought of building such a thing? They'd throw a poo poo-fit! Such a thing has the potential to make airlines obsolete. Connect it with a high speed train network, and what do you need planes for anymore? Anyway, those are just my thoughts. As an insider in the industry, Cichlidae, what do you think?
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Aug 20, 2011 18:17
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bear shark posted:So what plans/building codes do we have in the Northeast for earthquakes? A lot of building around here were built before seismic building standards. My office is one of them. It's basically solid stone. It didn't move very much at all, and there wasn't any noise associated with the 'quake. Didn't stop people from flipping the gently caress out though! I'm sure California folks will chime in here and tell us how silly we're being over a 6-or-so-pointer. (Wasn't even that strong here, CT, more like 4.) VVV Well, poo poo. That makes me a bit more nervous! My buidling's pretty much solid brick and barely moved at all!
Silver Falcon fucked around with this message at 21:56 on Aug 23, 2011 |
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Aug 23, 2011 21:54
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Cichlidae posted:Imagine for a minute that you're a trucker.  That's really amazing! It kind of reminds me of those catch-cables on aircraft carriers. Similar principle?Is that the driver praying in the first pic? Dude's lucky to be alive, and lucky he didn't kill someone.
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Aug 7, 2012 23:50
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I thought of something to ask about! Last week I was driving down Route 99, heading to the DMV in Wethersfield. This intersection tripped me up real bad: https://local.google.com/maps?q=sil...2,9.46,,0,-9.12 See that yellow sign that says "yield to pedestrians?" Well, right below that, it says "Right Turn only," Now, there is a lane use sign, farther back, and the far right line is through/right, not right turn only. However, I couldn't see the lane use sign while I was stopped right at the stop bar, waiting for a green. I had this moment of panic, thinking I was in the right turn only lane, and I was blocking traffic. I actually ended up turning down that road, into the parking lot on the left, and turning right at the intersection to continue on.So, who can I complain to about that sign? It's drat confusing! 
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Sep 10, 2012 19:23
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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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 OM NOM NOM!
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Apr 21, 2013 17:04
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On the one hand: wow, how times have changed! On the other: wow, how they haven't.
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Jul 9, 2013 02:07
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Would there be any way to get private businesses to kick in part of the cost of installing a left turn lane? I mean, even people not going to the business would benefit from having the turn lane, since it would mean they wouldn't have to wait behind some schmuck turning left on the one-lane road. (Super annoying!) Obviously the business benefits from it suddenly being easier to turn into. Oh, and if there's more than one business using the driveway (like, a shopping center or something), then you could have a bunch of businesses kicking in for the cost! Don't know if such a thing is even possible! Just a thought.
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Oct 22, 2013 22:37
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I saved a couple articles that made me think of this thread! Here they are:quote:Warning on use of highway funds-By Paul Hughes/Republican American quote:Transportation commission chides state for pilfering funds-Staff Reports/Hartford Business.com Yes, you read that right: my state has money set aside specifically for maintaining infrastructure and other such very important things... or at least it would, if there were anything preventing the government from raiding it to balance the budget! Meanwhile our bridges are crumbling, literally crumbling, our highways are clogged, and our public transit is laughable.
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Feb 6, 2014 23:11
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My dad sent me this link this morning: Solar Freakin' Roadways Looks... pretty nifty, I guess! But I'm no traffic engineer. Would something like this really be feasible?
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May 26, 2014 16:57
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So, here's some relevant news:quote:41 Percent Of Connecticut Roads Rated 'Poor' Yay for both states I've lived in since moving back east? Ironically, my old home state, Arizona, looks pretty drat good by comparison. Of course, they don't have to deal with the whole freeze/frost cycles, at least in most of the state. The mountainous areas get plenty of snow, but they're not very populous.
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Jul 15, 2014 17:08
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The future is now! UK to allow driverless cars on public roads in January. Sounds like cool stuff!
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Aug 5, 2014 15:30
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Carbon dioxide posted:Okay, so a road diet is turning a four-lane road into a three lane one. Er, I'm confused about what you're saying here. The middle lane is a universal turn lane, not a travel lane. It gets left turning vehicles out of the lane of travel so they can take their sweet time turning left without clogging up traffic behind them.
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Sep 14, 2014 16:09
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Minenfeld! posted:@Cichlidae: Did CTDOT ever consider creating some sort of x84 bypass of Hartford to let all the pass-through traffic not get mixed in with the commuting traffic? There was, but even so, only about a quarter of the traffic on I-84 in Hartford passes through Hartford on the way to somewhere else. The rest of it either originates in or is destined for Hartford.
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Oct 24, 2015 03:47
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Didn't see this mentioned yet. The newest ASCE report is out! The take-home message is we need to invest an additional $1.44T in our infrastructure by 2025 in order to avoid a $4T loss in GDP, $7T loss in business, and 2.5 million jobs. And by 2040, we need to invest an additional $5.2T in infrastructure to avoid a $14.2T loss in GDP, $29.3T loss in business, and 5.9 million jobs. Big numbers. Important numbers.
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May 20, 2016 17:50
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Oh hey, anyone who drives on Connecticut Route 9 through Middletown knows about Those Traffic Lights. For those who don't know, there are a set of traffic lights on a loving freeway through Middletown. Traffic backs up like whoa, every day, there are tons of accidents, but the city of Middletown has fought their removal for decades. "If traffic doesn't stop in Middletown, the city will die!" Or some poo poo like that. Looks like our Governor is finally getting enough pull to do something about it! Have a look! The article mentions putting in a roundabout... uh... not sure that's the appropriate action in this case, but I am not a traffic engineer. I'd like to see a picture of what the area is going to look like, for sure. Either way I'm glad something is being done about it, because that stretch of Route 9 is a joke.
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Jun 24, 2016 17:25
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