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There are varying different designs with respect to roads I've noticed over the roads which make no sense to me. What are your thoughts on them, and why in the world do they do them?
(1) Road which change names. Some roads I've been on, the name of the road will change even though you're still on the same road. For instance, in Tucson AZ (for anyone familiar with it), 5th changes names to 6th, Grant changes names to Kolb, Wilmot changes names to Tanque Verde. On ALL of those, you're still on the same road. Why should the name change? Some say "it's because the road changed directions." So? To me, it should keep the same name throughout regardless.
(2) Street address number signs on buildings are too small. When you have buildings which have the numbers of their address affixed to them, they're so small. To me, they should be so large you can easily see them from your car even without slowing down. They make them so small, you practically have to stop your car and get out and walk right up to the building to see its address.
(3) Excessive road construction. OK, roads have to be maintained, but does it have to be so often? I think that the city should project how much is likely to be needed for the upcoming 10 year period, then spend the next 6 months doing ALL of it at once, and then, after that 6 month period, for the remaining 9½ years--STOP. Get out of the freaking way and STAY out of the freaking way. I simply don't believe they need more time than those 6 months.
(4) "Clustering" businesses such as gas stations. Why is it that you can be in a certain part of town and have to drive 5-7 miles before you see a gas station or a dollar store, in city limits mind you, and then all of a sudden there are 20 of them within a block? They should distribute them more evenly throughout the city.
(5) Funeral processions. Get rid of them, except MAYBE for people like the president of the USA or a local war hero etc. Why should I have to get stuck behind a huge amount of traffic over the death of someone whom I didn't know? "Respect?" I think that's ludicrous. Such should be voluntary, not compulsory. Someone dies everyday, am I supposed to pull over for every last one of them? If so, doesn't it lose its meaning, and isn't that a ridiculous expectation to place on someone?
Besides, if the idea is showing respect to the surviving family members, wouldn't it make more sense to actually attend the funeral or visit the home of the surviving family members and offer your condolences?
I am not going to lie--when I see a funeral procession, if I'm not caught up in it yet, I see it coming up from afar etc, I speed up and zip away from it. I hightail it something fierce.
(1) I see that a lot in Colorado, as well, and kinda have to agree on this point.
(2) That's a matter of city ordnance and architects... road builders aren't at fault for that.
(3) Having spent a substantial amount of time in the road construction industry, yes, it does have to be. Roads are not low maintenance, nor is building and maintaining them a particularly fast process. How roads are built varies greatly by region and type of road, and then you also have to factor in why the construction's going on... if utilities has to dig up a roadway, then that road has to be repaired afterwards, etc.
(4) I share in that annoyance, but I have a feeling it has something more to do with zoning and the layout of new construction (talking about neighborhoods and how they're zoned) than anything. People have a NIMBY attitude towards this stuff.. they always want easy access to it, but don't want to be seeing a 7-11 when they look out their front window.
(5) I suppose I've just been fortunate in not ever having been caught up in any, save for when I had to do funeral details in the Army, and was a part of those processions. I tend to think it's probably more for the sake of ensuring everyone can get there than anything else... I mean, if you're traveling, say, four states away for a funeral, you're not going to know the route from the church to the cemetery, necessarily.
(1) I see that a lot in Colorado, as well, and kinda have to agree on this point.
(2) That's a matter of city ordnance and architects... road builders aren't at fault for that.
(3) Having spent a substantial amount of time in the road construction industry, yes, it does have to be. Roads are not low maintenance, nor is building and maintaining them a particularly fast process. How roads are built varies greatly by region and type of road, and then you also have to factor in why the construction's going on... if utilities has to dig up a roadway, then that road has to be repaired afterwards, etc.
(4) I share in that annoyance, but I have a feeling it has something more to do with zoning and the layout of new construction (talking about neighborhoods and how they're zoned) than anything. People have a NIMBY attitude towards this stuff.. they always want easy access to it, but don't want to be seeing a 7-11 when they look out their front window.
(5) I suppose I've just been fortunate in not ever having been caught up in any, save for when I had to do funeral details in the Army, and was a part of those processions. I tend to think it's probably more for the sake of ensuring everyone can get there than anything else... I mean, if you're traveling, say, four states away for a funeral, you're not going to know the route from the church to the cemetery, necessarily.
(1) For real. I have no idea how in the WORLD someone came up with the concept that just because an East-West road becomes a North-South road, or just dips up a bit, its name should change. My name as a human doesn't change just because I walk a different direction.
(2) I sure hope there are no city ordinances mandating small numbers. I can't imagine why architects would want it that way. If it's for aesthetic reasons, that's nice, but for me practical concerns come first.
(3) They need to FIND a way to make them lower maintenance. Roads are for getting somewhere, not watching blinking red lights and yellow signs all the time. That said, I'm not dismissing your observations, just saying they are a very very serious aggravation.
(4) They should ignore the NIMBYs--you don't want a 7-11 close to your house, then move to the boonies (like I did). Otherwise, tough luck. That said, they probably shouldn't have a 7-11 on one of the "neighborhood" roads, but when the layout is to where you're on one of the major "commuter" roads and you have to drive 7 miles to find one, that's bad design.
(5) That makes sense what you'res saying, I just don't share in others' views of "showing respect" by pulling over while waiting for 50 cars to pass when I never knew the person. In fact, I don't expect them to do it when it involves people I know like my mother etc. Yes I will be sad when she passes, but why should the whole planet be expected to stop what they're doing when they didn't know her from Eve?
1. Yes, I agree, that is very annoying, especially in cities that do not have a grid.
2. Agree with this as well.
3. It is more complicated than this; the roads were built at different times, and have different conditions imposed on them throughout their life, so it would be difficult to coordinate that all roads should get maintenance at the same time.
4. This is actually a business thing, in which zoning is influenced by. While it would be a long discussion as to the business theory behind it, the short of it is it all comes down to the market, and trying to capture as much of it in theory as possible. This is why the clustering exists, why you can see three major grocery store within a mile of each other, etc. This is a constant subject of debate, because this marketing theory also is claimed to result in influencing the car dependent nature of the US.
5. I agree, never understood this at all why it happens.
In addition to yours;
1. While not a road, parking lots that throw up some artificial barrier to keep people from driving from one lot to another, so have to get back on the road just to go next door.
2. Non-grid pattern; I understand many places were sort of molded into this and nothing can be done about it, but aside from those, I have no idea why any place would do this on purpose.
3. Bicycle lanes on roads that were not designed for it/no room for it. It seems many places installed these things as a paperwork exercise to claim "we have so many xx miles of bike lanes" than actually caring about the functionality of them.
4. Narrow break down lanes due to expansion of the highway; sorry, ridiculous to make breaking down a life endangering situation to add some lanes. Perhaps this should be a cue that adding lanes is not a solution, and explore other alternatives.
There are varying different designs with respect to roads I've noticed over the roads which make no sense to me. What are your thoughts on them, and why in the world do they do them?
(1) Road which change names. Some roads I've been on, the name of the road will change even though you're still on the same road. For instance, in Tucson AZ (for anyone familiar with it), 5th changes names to 6th, Grant changes names to Kolb, Wilmot changes names to Tanque Verde. On ALL of those, you're still on the same road. Why should the name change? Some say "it's because the road changed directions." So? To me, it should keep the same name throughout regardless.
a few notes on these particular roads, because i live here in tucson;
1: when heading west on fifth street, you actually do change roads. its just that the change was incorporated into the design of each road to allow traffic to flow smoothly. the reason for this is at country club, the property owners on each side fo country club refused to sell parts of their land to the government so the roads could be built, thus the jog in the road at that point.
2: going east on grant, note that grant actually ends, but again because of the terrain there was really no place to create an intersection, and even if there was it would have created a choke point, causing traffic problems. also note that kolb road runs north and south.
3: wilmot actually continues north, but again because of land constraints, it had a jog in the road. and when tanque verde was built for north east traffic, it made sense to link it with the main wilmot artery. note however that if you stay on tanque verde, it seems to turn into wrightstown road, which then turns into catalina highway, and then mount lemon road.
4: going west on grant, it turns into ironwood drive.
I'm not sure about other states, but here in Colorado, we have highways that all have exit only lanes. The problem with exit only lanes is that they come right after an on-ramp. So, you have all the traffic from the on-ramp changing lanes twice and people trying to exit having to change lanes to exit. It causes a lot of unneeded criss-cross traffic.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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Road which change names I can identify with. It is pretty rare in the San Francisco Bay area where we lived until 1993, but here it happens all over the place. Our street, for example, changes names 4 times (all number names) in 1/2 mile while the street a block over changes names 6 times within it's one-mile length. Every time it changes directions with a bend. House/building numbers are not a road design issue, they are the choice of the owner. Retail people want it big so customers find them, homeowners should make it big enough for the fire/police departments to find them. The only law I know of is for mailbox address numbers, but even USPS doesn't specify lettering size. It just has to be clearly displayed on your mailbox and if your mailbox is on a different street than your house, the street name on it, too.
There are varying different designs with respect to roads I've noticed over the roads which make no sense to me. What are your thoughts on them, and why in the world do they do them?
(1) Road which change names. Some roads I've been on, the name of the road will change even though you're still on the same road. For instance, in Tucson AZ (for anyone familiar with it), 5th changes names to 6th, Grant changes names to Kolb, Wilmot changes names to Tanque Verde. On ALL of those, you're still on the same road. Why should the name change? Some say "it's because the road changed directions." So? To me, it should keep the same name throughout regardless.
This might have to do with the history of the area. Sometimes the origin of a road's name change has to do with two existing roads that were gradually expanded upon until the two roads connected. While confusing to some drivers, it's considerate to the people living on the road. Changing the name of the road would also mean people living on the loosing road name would have to change their address and the Postal Service would also have to make changes.
(2) Street address number signs on buildings are too small. When you have buildings which have the numbers of their address affixed to them, they're so small. To me, they should be so large you can easily see them from your car even without slowing down. They make them so small, you practically have to stop your car and get out and walk right up to the building to see its address.
Totally agree. The local regulations generally say the building needs to have the number address but it doesn't say how well it has to be displayed. Some buildings have the number on a door, if any at all.
(3) Excessive road construction. OK, roads have to be maintained, but does it have to be so often? I think that the city should project how much is likely to be needed for the upcoming 10 year period, then spend the next 6 months doing ALL of it at once, and then, after that 6 month period, for the remaining 9½ years--STOP. Get out of the freaking way and STAY out of the freaking way. I simply don't believe they need more time than those 6 months.
Not that easy. It's spread out due to budget constraints. Also, pot holes happen all year long. Some vehicle wrecks also damage the roads. My complaint in our area is it seems the most road construction/repair work happens just before local elections of city leaders.
(4) "Clustering" businesses such as gas stations. Why is it that you can be in a certain part of town and have to drive 5-7 miles before you see a gas station or a dollar store, in city limits mind you, and then all of a sudden there are 20 of them within a block? They should distribute them more evenly throughout the city.
Zoning. City leaders don't like the look of gas stations and dollar stores within their city. Also, rich people don't shop dollar stores so dollar stores are located in poorer areas of the city.
(5) Funeral processions. Get rid of them, except MAYBE for people like the president of the USA or a local war hero etc. Why should I have to get stuck behind a huge amount of traffic over the death of someone whom I didn't know? "Respect?" I think that's ludicrous. Such should be voluntary, not compulsory. Someone dies everyday, am I supposed to pull over for every last one of them? If so, doesn't it lose its meaning, and isn't that a ridiculous expectation to place on someone?
Totally disagree with you. Show consideration and sympathy for those the dead left behind. Funerals aren't for the dead. They're for the living to say their final good-byes and to console one another.
Besides, if the idea is showing respect to the surviving family members, wouldn't it make more sense to actually attend the funeral or visit the home of the surviving family members and offer your condolences?
I am not going to lie--when I see a funeral procession, if I'm not caught up in it yet, I see it coming up from afar etc, I speed up and zip away from it. I hightail it something fierce.
In south Louisiana, funeral processions are a tradition. As a kid, when mom or dad saw a funeral procession go by, they would turn off the radio as a sign of respect. I don't do that, but I do wait patiently.
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