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With all do respect, all of this is ridiculous. Let's start down the list:
-Among the 50 states, do you seriously think that the I-40 grip cut issue and I-795's testing of a new method of laying down a roadbed are the only road project failures ever? They are trivial compared to countless other projects... say the $14 BILLION Big Dig whose tunnel ceiling collapsed, killing a woman. You can't argue an entire state's DOT roadbuilding standards with one repaving project that went wrong.
1: There are hundreds of dangerous left merges and exits on older highways all across the country and globe. My God, Western Blvd. at the Beltline was probably built in the '60s. The rebuilt US70/I-85 interchange in Durham to remedy this same scenario probably cost $100 million.
2: I don't know why this was even mentioned.
3: NCDOT would probably love to make every interchange at I-40 as extravagant as possible, but every lane costs money. Here in Atlanta GA400 merges into I-85 without enough lanes causing 5 mile backups every day.
4: Falls of Neuse at I-540 That's whats called a single point urban interchange. It's much more efficient than having 2 completely separate sets of signals on each side of I-540.
5: The I-440 Beltline purposely has AUXILARY lanes meant for safer merging on and for a queue to form when exiting off on, say Six Forks Road. People merging onto (I-440) have ALL THE WAY until the next exit to safely merge on. That's a good thing.
6: All of NC's narrow secondary roads are deadly if drivers go over the center line. There's no easy fix, the state's 80,000 miles of roads getting more shoulders added would cost BILLIONS.
"Federal interstate design standards do not rely on adjacent commercial property lighting to light the highways."- You can go to the 2011 MUTCD (or whatever it's called) and find out for all of us what is MANDATED for lights.
Well the counties and towns certainly cannot take on the financial burden of building and maintaining the roads, they can barely cover the cost of Medicaid and other county services.
I Think the NCDOT is stretched thin, but they do a damn good job. Here in Georgia, they haven't built ANY new interstate-quality highways in over 20 years. North Carolina has literally hundreds of miles of new highways and urban loops being built as we speak.
I agree, as a whole, NC roads are better planned and build. Thats "as a whole". Yes there are many new roads and urban loops. But that part of what I'm talking about. There is so much money invested into "new" roads. What about all the roads (Western Blvd exit/entrance) that need to be updated at least to safely levels. How does this get trumped over spending money not really budgeted? Or replacing signs that say Beltline or inner/outer when (Western Blvd) another good example...their signage before entering and exiting has been edited when reedited many times over the years that somehow was overlooked when the beltline sign overhall took place.
All the controversy and "confusion" NCDOT said concerning inner/outer, but they added the same year inner/outer to I-485 and I-277.
Well, all I can say about the inner/outer issue is the following:
1) While I'm always aware of the cardinal directions when I'm outside and/or driving, you'd be surprised how the general population is often clueless. They see the world only to the next intersection. I don't how people managed before GPS, and while I think it's nifty, I wouldn't ever have any use for it. When I lived in Los Angeles, I had a laminated single-page guide to West LA, and I consulted a Thomas Guide if I had to go somewhere unfamiliar.
2) The bottom line is that much of the population doesn't readily know if they're inside or outside of the loop. They look at the Beltline as going to two different places, not back unto itself.
3) I know Washington DC's Beltway uses inner and outer, and maybe because it and Charlotte's outerbelt form much larger circles, that it's easier to interpret the Inner/Outer designation.
4) I wouldn't ever try to compare Charlotte's roads to Raleigh's, they are two entirely different beasts altogether. Mecklenburg signs county routes with that purple pentagram (or whatever) shield and will give the same road a different name for each direction, i.e. the John Belk Freeway, which is dedicated to someone else in the other direction. Ridiculous if you ask me.
NC has tons of overhead signs on secondary roads like this:
Georgia doesn't have any on major thoroughfares even at interstate junctions like this:
Is there anywhere else in the country where a 3 digit interstate (ie, 440) is multiplexed with its mainline counterpart (ie 40)? It just doesn't make sense to do this, based on the interstate numbering system. I'm glad they "fixed" this problem.
4: Falls of Neuse at I-540 That's whats called a single point urban interchange. It's much more efficient than having 2 completely separate sets of signals on each side of I-540.
Falls of Neuse at 540 is not a Single Point Urban Interchange. There are lights on both sides of 540.
Falls of Neuse at 540 is not a Single Point Urban Interchange. There are lights on both sides of 540.
Odd, that's how it's always been described locally since it was contructed - maybe the term has been misused. (The same term was used to describe the new Fayettville Street interchange when Southpoint Mall was built.) As an example, in a 2001 story WRAL had this to say:
Quote:
Some viewers have called and e-mailed saying the Falls of Neuse intersection with 540 doesn't look like it's ready to take traffic. This interchange is a temporary one. The permanent single point urban interchange is under construction just to the south of the temporary on and off ramps.
In another article, they called both the FON and Six Forks interchange SPUIs:
Quote:
It is new, it is not cheap, and it has a fancy name, but Raleigh's first single-point urban interchange, at Six Forks and 540, is really pretty simple: traffic moves in long, curving loops to one set of lights in the middle.
Department Of Transportation engineers say it allows more green light time for more lanes of traffic.
After a week in service, what do drivers think?
"It's very simple, you don't have but one choice, there's one light. (At first I was a little worried) because it was new," says motorist Dana McBrayer.
There is also something new for the folks at Taylor's Store.
"
Since the intersection has opened, there's been no back-ups, traffic flows great, and we haven't seen any accidents. We used to get several a week here right in front of the store or at the stoplight, so it's working out real well," says store owner Taylor Cash.
Raleigh's next single-point urban interchange will be where 540 will pass underneath Falls of Neuse Road, and should be ready in about a year.
I've seen other places, though, where it's called a "folded diamond interchange."
Last edited by CHTransplant; 06-08-2011 at 09:02 AM..
Those articles referring to FON as a SPUI are wrong...it's a classic folded diamond. And yes, Six Forks is a SPUI. 401 is also a SPUI.
I finally bothered to look at a map and now see what you're referring to. I had Six Forks and FON mixed up in my head. Six Forks looks exactly like what I was envisioning (and like I-40/Fayetteville).
Well, I can't wait until the Triangle gets its first Diverging Diamond interchange. NCDOT is building several in Charlotte and Fayetteville I believe.
They eliminate the need for protected left-arrow turns altogether. Here is a youtube video from NCDOT with an animation and explanation, and what other state's DOT provides the public with such informative videos, animations, and explanations as North Carolina? I would love to know....
Well, I can't wait until the Triangle gets its first Diverging Diamond interchange. NCDOT is building several in Charlotte and Fayetteville I believe.
They eliminate the need for protected left-arrow turns altogether. Here is a youtube video from NCDOT with an animation and explanation, and what other state's DOT provides the public with such informative videos, animations, and explanations as North Carolina? I would love to know....
I can't wait either ... Keep Left. Just like you're in London ...
Seems to also require traffic signal synch. I see little evidence we know how to do that today ...
Frank
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