Dangerous Merge (93N & 93S Merging as 24 South in Randolph) (Brockton: live, versus)

[GeoffD]

Originally Posted by TAM88

Well that's unfortunate. The 93/95 interchange is flat out awful and needs to be addressed.

I was just talking with someone last night who does a daily van pool up Route 24 and the HOV lane to near South Station. She says that since Labor Day, the whole 3 lane stretch of Route 24N from the Burger King rest area to the 128 split now backs up to stop & go by 5:30am. At that hour, the road is stuffed full of pickup trucks and vans filled with construction workers. She's hoping it gets better when winter slows down all the construction.

[Dm84]

Originally Posted by robr2

The last study done to bring Rt 24 to interstate standards was in 2007 and calling it I-193. The estimated cost was $877 million for upgrading the highway from Randolph to Fall River. Anybody up for toll gantries on 24/I-193??

They can't toll I-93 but they very well can toll Route 24. In fact maybe they should, but for political reasons it's unlikely unless South Coast Rail ever gets built (which IMO will NEVER happen).

[robr2]

Originally Posted by Dm84

They can't toll I-93 but they very well can toll Route 24. In fact maybe they should, but for political reasons it's unlikely unless South Coast Rail ever gets built (which IMO will NEVER happen).

Actually the state could put tolls on every highway - they would just have to give up any federal funds to maintain them. BTW - I said toll I-193, not 93. I-193 is what they would call Rt. 24 if it were upgraded to interstate status.

But I concur that South Coast rail would have to be included in the process in order to soften the blow of tolls on on Rt. 24.

[GeoffD]

Originally Posted by robr2

Actually the state could put tolls on every highway - they would just have to give up any federal funds to maintain them. BTW - I said toll I-193, not 93. I-193 is what they would call Rt. 24 if it were upgraded to interstate status.

But I concur that South Coast rail would have to be included in the process in order to soften the blow of tolls on on Rt. 24.

I-193? I've never heard of that as a designation for Route 24. 24 really needs to be 4 lanes each way to I-495, 3 lanes to Route 140, and massively improved on-ramps and off-ramps. Even with 4 lanes, it probably needs an HOV zipper lane between 128 and Brockton.

South Coast rail in the current incarnation is useless. Nobody is going to do a 90+ minute daily train ride from New Bedford to South Station that costs 2x the bus for the same travel time. They're way better off improving the Middleboro/Lakeville line. Upgrade the track. Electrify it. Run express trains with sub-40 minute service to South Station. Grab the field that abuts I-495 on the other side of the tracks for infinite cheap parking. Upgrade the local road infrastructure so it's quick to get there from Route 140 from New Bedford and Route 24 from Fall River. Ditch the south station commuter bus service and run bus service to Middleboro/Lakeville with bus/rail through ticketing and an integrated schedule.

Once there are autonomous trains, there's no reason why they can't run every 30 minutes 24x7 on electrified track.

[Shutout]

Originally Posted by GeoffD

I was just talking with someone last night who does a daily van pool up Route 24 and the HOV lane to near South Station. She says that since Labor Day, the whole 3 lane stretch of Route 24N from the Burger King rest area to the 128 split now backs up to stop & go by 5:30am. At that hour, the road is stuffed full of pickup trucks and vans filled with construction workers. She's hoping it gets better when winter slows down all the construction.

That's slightly exaggerated. I leave Raynham at 540 AM (a couple miles south of that Burger King)... I don't hit stop and go until the Brockton exits. It is stop and go because of congestion for those getting on to 95 at the split. I cruise right on to 93 once I get to the split.

[GeoffD]

Originally Posted by Shutout

That's slightly exaggerated. I leave Raynham at 540 AM (a couple miles south of that Burger King)... I don't hit stop and go until the Brockton exits. It is stop and go because of congestion for those getting on to 95 at the split. I cruise right on to 93 once I get to the split.

So how much delay to you have on Route 24 at that hour? 24 at the Route 44 Raynham exit to the 128 split is 21 miles. Is that 30 minutes most days?

I'm looking at a consulting thing that wants me at the University Ave exit in Westwood every day for the first couple of months before I could telecommute it most days. I'm kind of wondering how awful it would be if I'm on that part of Route 24 at 5:30am versus waiting until after 9am when the worst of the morning rush clears.

[n1ey]

Originally Posted by Shutout

It's not even a yield... as neither high speed highway has a yield sign. Just two arrow smerging into one.

Here is a picture on Google Maps for those who haven't driven it. I see an accident here almost every day and there's plenty of room for them to expand it for a short distance to give people time to merge.

Also, if you are coming from the "west" side, you have no visibility to really see what's coming from the "east" side... nevermind at the 50-65 MPH speed limit or w/e it is.

The merge:https://www.google.com/maps/@42.1983...7i13312!8i6656

The sign: https://www.google.com/maps/@42.1993...7i13312!8i6656

Can't believe that this hasn't been fixed... is there a way to pull accident reports for specific intersections? Anyone else familiar with this?

I am not sure that it is so easy to remedy. They made it worse by building the million dollar bridge to nowhere. You need to clear that bridge's supports with any new lanes. Plus, you need to have merge lanes that could reach past the street bridge connecting Randolph and Canton. It would have to be redesigned as well.

The failure was for them to allow any connection to the left lane at all. The I-93 west traffic should connect on the right side of Route 24.

It should definitely be corrected and it causes many shockwaves that ripple through the traffic on the Rt 128. These shockwaves roll past Dedham, Needham, etc. It actually effects the 128 considerably. The feedback from the Southeast Expressway to Route 24 can not be easily solved. The completion of Route 95 to Boston would actually help the most in that regard. Very little will improve the inbound morning commute. Some improvement to the lane design on Route 3 will help. There is actually a lot of traffic on Route 3 south. This feeds back into the split and slows the traffic in Braintree heading to Boston. It would also improve the southbound commute in the afternoon by widening Route 3 and straightening that roadway.

Route 3 should be 6 lanes to at least Duxbury. Right now there is not enough capacity on that roadway. The streets by the exits also need to be redesigned. They do not move traffic off the highway quickly, enough. A large issue remains with Quincy. The parkway ramp backups on the highway and causes traffic snarls through Braintree.


There are plans to change the roadway interchange for 24 and 128, but they are moving at a snail's pace and the budget is high.

Bill

[n1ey]

Originally Posted by TAM88

How would this be a billion dollar project? We're talking about widening the road for a total of roughly 2.5 miles and either replacing or widening the Canton St. overpass in Randolph which would not be that large of a project.

There are 2 bridges. One of them is a modern replacement.

[GeoffD]

In the short/medium term, what Massachusetts really needs to do is install traffic metering on all the on ramps. Cameras on every light. $1,000 fine and 30 day license suspension if you blow through the light.

[HumpDay]

Oh god that's dangerous. All it takes is someone not paying attention or an out of state driver to cause a massive pileup.