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Allan

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Yeah, I noticed the steel traffic standards getting replaced with hanging wires as well. At least they are new stoplights though. I'm guessing they are the new ultra bright LED kind. The old ones, you could hardly tell what light was on... or if a light was on at all. LOL.

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Have they replaced the light at Witherell and Woodward yet? That thing has been out since right after the Super Bowl! You gotta love the speed at which things happen in this city. Oh well, at least DPL has been able to keep my streetlights on....

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Props to DPL for the quick turn-around!

I've noticed that they have simply removed the signal heads at a few places. Montcalm and Madison used to have a signal but that has been removed (probably ok due to the curent circulation patterns around GCP.

Also, (for instance) McGraw at I96 used to have a signal, but that has been replaced with stop control. If there isn't a warrant for a signal, then technically, based off the michigan manual for uniform traffic control devices, they should be removed so I really don't have a problem with it.

I attribute the fact that so many people run red lights to the fact that are are so many unwarranted signals in the city. One of the major rules for traffic control devices is that they supposed to serve a believable cause (basically saying you cannot sign a freeway with a design speed of 80 mph for 25 mph). If you were to get a ticket for running a light after stopping, I think, with the proper data, you could probably make a case for the signal being illegal.

Props to DPL for the quick turn-around!

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Tapezord, many of the lights in Detroit are being removed because the streets do not handle nearly as many cars as they used to. That's why you see flashing lights, or even lights that have been turned off completely in many neighborhoods.

That said, the main roads here are also too wide. There's no need for Woodward, Gratiot, or Michigan to be as wide as they are. However, their width would come in handy if Detroit ever implemented a light rail system. Michigan will be narrowed to 2 lanes of travel in each direction, with diagonal parking on the side...I believe that is set to happen next year. Corktown settled on stamped concrete to mimic the character of the bricks...because as nice as the bricks are, they really suck to drive on.

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That said, the main roads here are also too wide. There's no need for Woodward, Gratiot, or Michigan to be as wide as they are. However, their width would come in handy if Detroit ever implemented a light rail system. Michigan will be narrowed to 2 lanes of travel in each direction, with diagonal parking on the side...I believe that is set to happen next year. Corktown settled on stamped concrete to mimic the character of the bricks...because as nice as the bricks are, they really suck to drive on.

I as a civil engineer who deals with that kinda crap, I am really looking forward to seeing how the stamped concrete comes out looking. Concrete is becoming more and more economical due to the astronomical price of asphalt these days.

The brick pavers are bad, but the spots where asphalt still exisits and manholes are exposed are by far the worst.

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When I was in Toronto, trollys ran in streets that I thought would be too narrow. They ran in streets two lanes in each direction. There were two sets of trolly tracks in the two middle lanes (one for each direction).

If anything those streets are wider than prefered, because in order to get to the trolly you need to run across the street.

When I was in Toronto, I also saw an interesting system where the middle lanes of the avenues have little lights above them that are either a green x, a red x, or blank (I think that's what it was), and throughought the day, those lights indicate which lanes you can drive in. So the road capacities are kinda dynamic.

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Yeah, you're telling me. I drive Michigan several times each day. The area between the Lodge and 12th is not friendly at all to my car. The Michigan/Trumbull intersection is expecially bad, as well as the left-most lane in each direction.

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Since we're talking about roads, though I probably should have noticed this before, I'm always surprised when I go to Detroit, and on some streets you have the far right lane as parking, but it's not marked like a parking lane leaving anyone driving in these lanes in trouble when they come up on a parked car. It just seems like something that could be easily remdied.

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Yeah, I don't know why, but this usually aware and adaptable driver (if I do say so myself ;)) always makes that mistake somewhere in the city. Last time it was eastbound on Larned. But, It usually happens on the Eastside (Westsider, here), so I have an excuse for not knowing the particular streets. :)

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Is there anymore info on the planned changes to Michigan Ave, Allan? would they create a grassy median? I read a study about light rail (maybe it was the AA-Detroit study?, i dont remember) that described a trolley system up woodward, etc as the most economical way to compliment more meaningful/existing transit (like commuter rail,amtrak, PM) because we already have the infastructure and its cheapest. However, they recomended creating a grassy median before installing the trolleys, it was an interesting concept, I would look something like this I assume (with a bigger and more useful car)

ken-lrt-stc-ppc-appr-by-lake-pax_j-smatlak.jpg

ken-lrt-stc-turfrow-passing-harborpark-lighthouse-20020921brx_richard-panse.jpg

Edited by resourcefulidiot
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On the topic of Detroit photography, some of you may be interested in joining this Flickr group and going to the opening on June 23. I know many of you take great pictures of the city or, like me, just like looking at them.

http://www.flickr.com/groups/exposuredetroit/

Yes, going to the Exposure.Detroit show is highly recommended...mostly because I am showing some work there. :D
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