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If the route is congested, it is likely that given the amount of information available to drivers, plus their own experience on the commute, there will be very few free permanent lunches. It's hard to beat the market.
How is a permanent barricade on a public street legal or what this a private road? What would have been the ramifications of a driver plowing through it or removing it to pass through?
It's a public road, and I know it was installed legally. We had several homeowners' meetings to go over the options. A couple of different speed bump/hump alternatives were considered, but in the end the barricade won the vote. I don't remember the particulars on someone intentionally running through it. It would certainly damage an ordinary passenger vehicle, and it wouldn't be easy or fast to remove it. The issue never came up during the time I lived there, although I moved only a couple years after it was installed. I just checked street view on Google maps, and I see the barricade is still in place. It was installed almost 20 years ago.
The house I’m in now was built in the late 50’s & at that time was on the edge of town, also bordering on a Turf farm.
Between 1950 & 1960 the population went from 45,500 to 144,000. By 1970 it was 236,000. In the 1990’s at 397,000, it was pretty much in the dead center of town & many residents here were still the original owners.
On my street; many still are. The turf farm sold in the late 90’s & a huge medical complex went up. To me; I don’t feel like we have too much traffic through here but to some of my 90+ year old neighbors, it’s a virtual racetrack.
What is unfortunate is that in order to go west or north from the medical offices, you would be forced to take a left hand turn, without a traffic signal, onto an 8 lane major artery. Or, you could zip down one of our streets & cut up to a road that intersects that same major artery but with a signal light.
Those who choose to take that left without the light are risking life & limb as the visibility is very bad there & there are accidents all the time. And everybody will just fly down that stretch where the turnout is. As in 50mph+.
The city knows this: They have speed traps set up there around once a week. They could cut down on the speeding, the increased residential traffic & the constant accidents by simply putting up a traffic signal ... but that would cut out a very lucrative hot spot of revenue.
So I can’t really blame people for cutting through (I avoid going that way myself) but my neighbors are still complaining about the “new” (it’s been there for 20 years now) offices & their traffic.
Yes, being that I have always been a passenger (usually in NYC) but when I was in LA, CA i had a bf that was brilliant knowing short cuts. Now another pal lived in LA since birth and gets lost often and knows no short cuts.
And you are getting lucky w the uber drivers.
Years ago, I also had a boyfriend who traveled to LA a lot. He knew many back street detours. When traffic had lengthy stops, he would jump off the interstate and start driving around...I could never figure out what he was doing. But it worked for him. And for me. Obviously, I didn't know LA very well!!
I do know a lot of backroads here in Denver, CO and don't use apps to find alternate routes. I've lived here so long that I know how all the streets connect and start taking shortcuts. The Waze app sounds interesting and might take a look at it. I use maps sometimes to find out how the traffic is flowing and the length of any delays. I do save quite a bit of time usually, and sometimes don't save any time. Would rather drive a scenic route, or a route where I can drive faster with less traffic, than bumper-to-bumper...even if it doesn't save time. I have ADD, too, so that must be why I get antsy in rush hour stopped traffic. I like to keep moving. The traffic here in Denver has gotten really bad over the past 20-25 years. One thing I don't do is push red lights or run red lights, especially at large intersections. The other day, I watched as 4-5 cars ran the red light in front of me. Amazing!! Happens all the time in Denver now.
Bottom line - I will often do anything to keep from traveling the most crowded routes. Part of it is I remember when these streets weren't crowded at all. Now the most traveled routes are more like an interstate instead of a city street. It would be very hard for me to move somewhere else and not be able to instantly take the fastest route. Don't think I'd survive like that very long. So no moving for me!
The County Police know this and will ticket people using those roads as shortcuts.
That's pretty absurd. Actually, incredibly absurd--I didn't realize that residential streets were private property. If they're going to go as far as to ticket people using those roads, then they should at least post signs stating that the roads in question are for local traffic only, or something.
I would rather drive 45 minutes at 40 mph with some signal lights than 30 minutes on the freeway at 0-20 mph.
Same here. There isn't all that much traffic here in Buffalo, but I'm the guy who's the first one pulling off the interstate at the first sign of a jam. I know the roads in my hometown like those London taxicab drivers of lore who have the entire street grid memorized.
There are some shortcuts that are borderline illegal, I think. We have a gas station sitting at a traffic light. It's always easier to go through that instead of sitting at the light waiting for a right turn.
Well, yeah--that specific maneuver is in fact illegal (though sometimes tempting). I'm still perplexed by the one North Beach mentioned, though, where people were being ticketed for driving down residential streets.
And using Waze many people are cutting through residential neighborhoods to avoid the traffic jams these road diets cause.
I'd never heard of Waze before reading this thread, but you're the 4th or 5th person to mention it so far.
What I'll never understand is why people wouldn't think to experiment a little without the help of Waze. Even if you've never once been down a specific street, if you see it runs parallel to one you're looking for and doesn't appear to be a dead end, why not try it out and see if it helps you beat the traffic? At the very least, it's less boring than the familiar. That's always been my mindset while driving. This 'freedom to experiment' does assume that you're not on a strict time clock, though....
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