Traffic, Freeways and Road Construction

[dubone]

maybe so. i just remember reading that the westside bypass was cited as a reason for 85's delay, with the cabarrus cities believing that 85 widening would be an eventuality, but they wanted to make sure the westside bypass was funding in order to make sure it was built.

who knows... cause and effect is really hard to pinpoint sometimes when the funding list is so long and complex, and the motives of the public leaders are often diverse.

[monsoon]

Huntersville some time ago engaged the same Urban Planning company that designed First Ward to help redesign the present city so that it is more urban, pedestrian friendly, and to work on designs that will help contain the traffic pressures that get worse every year.

One of the more interesting things to have come from this is a complete redesign of the Exit 23 & Exit 25 exchanges and the neighboring streets. If it is all built, Huntersville will have a nice gridded network that will extend on both sides of the highway. This rather lengthy but good article in this week's Huntersville paper gives a good description of some of the planning efforts going on. Of particular interest are the comments about the NCDOT and how they often make decisions in the area that make traffic much worst than it should be.

Also note the interesting radical redesign of the off ramps proposed for exit 23. The printed version of the paper had better pictorials than the small ones in the online version unfortunately.

[dubone]

i think it is a great idea to build grids around an interchange when you know that heavy development will come. This is what Charlotte(/huntersville ?) is doing with the prosperity church road exit of the last leg of 485. I heard the planning director explain that what it does is create a number of different focal streets so that not all business must crowd onto the single thoroughfare, preserving more of its carrying capacity... and also it forces the landparcels into smaller lots, so that the private sector can absorb the land better than in the traditional huge land areas facing a single thoroughfare.

Hopefully with the pushing of Huntersville and other municipalities, NCDOT will start to blend these concepts into their designs more often.

[UptownGrrl]

A recent story in the Charleston Business Journal discussed some ideas for future traffic/congestion planning as their city expands. It has some of the usual suggestions: expand roads, expand public transit, etc. But there were two ideas I hadn't heard before. First, fines for causing traffic delays (if you block freeway lanes because you caused an accident because you were talking on your cell phone and not paying attention). Hard to prove, perhaps, but it could be an added incentive to avoid stupid driving behavior.

Second, was ramp-metering with stoplights for on-ramps that control the number of cars let on to the freeway to keep traffic moving. Here, you might get just as bad of a backup waiting to get on the freeway, but once you're on it, you're good to go.

Thoughts on these and other creative ideas? What I liked best was the idea of suggesting new strategies rather than the same old 'build more lanes', and 'more people should take the bus' arguments.

Charleston Business Journal

[SmellyCat]

Second, was ramp-metering with stoplights for on-ramps that control the number of cars let on to the freeway to keep traffic moving. Here, you might get just as bad of a backup waiting to get on the freeway, but once you're on it, you're good to go.

Charleston Business Journal

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I've seen this. It's a good idea and works pretty well to keep things from bunching up when traffic is moderate to heavy. But when it's really backed up bumper to bumper, it doesnt help much as I've been witness to on the Long Island Expwy But any little bit helps.

[dubone]

ramp metering is an interesting thing. it certainly helps for drivers to see the backups before getting on the freeway, as they can chose an alternate if the ramp is backed up.

I've seen ramp metering in minneapolis and i think some in dallas. i heard that it works really well, but didn't get much first-hand observation to get a sense of how much i agreed.

a variation of the fines for causing backups with an accident are already in place, as you can now be fined for not getting your car out of the way after a fenderbender. i think the costs of an accident are big enough punishment for drivers to avoid dumb behavior, that fines won't make much difference. (in other words, the people thinking about accidents and any associated costs, fines, or health risks are already doing what they need to do to avoid it... the people still doing it will be equally unaffected by risk of a fine).

[cosmoboy]

They use ramp metering alot up in Chicago and Milwaukee. And, actually they use it down in Atlanta right as you enter I-75 from Paces Ferry Rd and Northside.

[ChiefJoJo]

Hopefully with the pushing of Huntersville and other municipalities, NCDOT will start to blend these concepts into their designs more often.

It's a really good idea to do this in my opinion, but unfortunately, it's up to to the local towns and cities who control most of these collector streets to decide how the landscape should look. NCDOT can certainly provide guidance on access to state roads, such as NC 73 in Huntersville, but once you get down to smaller collector streets and driveway accesses and how they are layed out, it's up to each municipality what they will allow/permit developers to do. I like what Cornelius has done with Catawba Ave--a good example of urban planning to me.

FYI, If you are interested in the "driveway manual," which governs access to state roadways, click here (warning! 6MB pdf)

[SmellyCat]

There was a nice little writeup from this past weeks Time magazine about Charlotte in the "U.S. Snapshot" section about how green various cities are. The blurb mentioned that a Sierra Club effort helped persuade the municipal government to begin a transition to fuel-efficient hybrid cars for its police and city-planning departments.

[Sabaidee]

There was a nice little writeup from this past weeks Time magazine about Charlotte in the "U.S. Snapshot" section about how green various cities are.  The blurb mentioned that a Sierra Club effort helped persuade the municipal government to begin a transition to fuel-efficient hybrid cars for its police and city-planning departments.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

What was on the cover? My stack of Time magazine just piles up somewhere.

[SmellyCat]

^It was the one with the London bombing on the cover

[dubone]

http://blytheupdates.com/page3.html

The interchange with Independence and Albemarle will be mostly complete next week when cars going outbound will be able to use the underpass to Albemarle.

They'll still be doing construction, but since 40% of independence traffic siphons off at Albemarle, this interchange is a big deal, and will make a big difference when opened.

[Sabaidee]

Apparently NCDOT is going to add one extra lane on Albermale from that underpass Pierson Drive when this interchange is completed. At the interchange three lanes will go under the underpass but those lanes will have to merge into two.

http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/new...ic/11651582.htm

[dubone]

http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/new...ic/12165911.htm

here is more information on the imminent opening of the albemarle interchange with independence. The article also mentions that sharon amity and Idlewild interchanges will begin construction in 2012.

I think they should have planned to end left turns from Independence to Sharon amity with the opening of this project. It would eliminate a cycle of the traffic signals so that independence can be green longer. if outbound independence cars are going to the section of sharon amity between albemarle and independence, it seems just as easy, if not easier and safer to take albemarle and then take a right on sharon amity. For inbound independence cars, they could have figured something out like a jughandle or some variation.

[DigitalSky]

that would be good^, taking out the left turns

[Raintree21]

Senate Panel Rejects Bush Spending Limits

WASHINGTON (July 21) - In the latest evidence that Congress is chafing at President Bush's limits on spending, a Senate panel Thursday rejected cuts to Amtrak and voted to significantly increase spending for highways, airport construction and community development grants.

The transportation bill provides $40.1 billion for highway construction - more than $5 billion above Bush's request - as well as $8.2 billion in transit subsidies and $14.8 billion for the Federal Aviation Administration. In the latter instance, the panel rejected the White House's $500 million cut in airport construction grants.

[Sabaidee]

I think that's good that Congressional Republicans aren't afraid of Bush's threats to veto the transportation bill. But I remember one Republican was like, we shouldn't be overriding a veto, a bill must have the President's signature. Well the constitution doesn't required a President's signature on a bill, it can override a veto or it can become law in 10 days if the President doesn't take action on it.

[dubone]

that would be good^, taking out the left turns

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

i didn't realize this, as i haven't seen it reported before... but according to today's blurb on the albemarle opening... they ARE stopping left turns from outbound independence to sharon amity. i guess left turns from inbound independence to southbound sharon amity will remain, but just stopping the left turns to northbound will help keep inbound independence traffic moving.

http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/12204261.htm

[Sabaidee]

I wondered how the busway is configured with the Albermarle road exiting from the left lanes. The only thing I dislike about this Independence reconstruction is the Eastway exit. They rebuilt the bridge, but they did not rebuild the ramps, the ramps and loops are irregulared shaped, they are not the perfect teardrop shaped like those on a real freeway.

[SmellyCat]

Another weird sign alert...travelling on Hwy 160 approaching the new 485 interchange on the western spur, the arrow signs alert you to "485 South/Outer Columbia" - sort of makes sense - or "485 North/Inner Spartanburg".

Spartanburg?? So the people making these signs assume that if I take 485 North, I will get off at 85 southbound? Makes no sense to me.

[Raintree21]

Yeah, and you gotta love the 85 north (university) connection to 485 east where the sign says Columbia. Yeah, sure Columbia, but you gotta go via Charlotte, Matthews, Pineville, then I-77, then Fort Mill, Rock Hill, and THEN Columbia.

[Norm2]

Someone needs to write the NCDOT and complain to them about their stupid signs.

[carolina_fan]

Someone needs to write the NCDOT and complain to them about their stupid signs.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I remember in the mid-80s when I-40 was being completed through Durham, that they put up signs for 2 weeks on I-40 that read "East-West Freeway - North" and "East-West Freeway - South". They quickly changed the road name to the "Durham Freeway", and change the signs.

[A2]

I know this is probably somewhere on this thread, but I just wanted to ask to get a fast answer if at all possible. So here goes:

WHAT THE HECK IS UP WITH I-77 N ????

I went to Birkdale this weekend and noticed that the DOT STOPPED where they should have kept going. I mean really what the heck is the point? You give us an HOV lane and widen the Intersate only to bottleneck in the fastest growing part of the city. The interstate Bottlenecks BEFORE Exit 23. What is up wth that? I am flaberghasted that the state even paid what they did to have I-77 widened when in essence it serves no real purpose since most commuters lose the additional lanes when the need them most. Are there ANY plans to extend the widening project or is that just dead in the water because of the state budget...

A2

[dubone]

the TIP entry was to widen from 85 to nc73. As a bonus for charlotte, DOT was able to make a portion of the route a Design-Build project, which allowed it to be completed way ahead of schedule. As they had only limited amount of money, the political decision was made to widen only to 485. That became an embarassment when the Observer pointed out about how much of a mess it will be when 485 opens to 77, so they put in another design-build project as a stop-gap by extending one lane to Gilead Road exit.

Quick answer: lack of money keeps the full widening project delayed, but we were lucky to get a little money earlier than expected in order to get the section between 85 and 485 done years before we otherwise would have.