Well, keep in mind the cost of replacing signs over thousands of miles of highway. It is a big deal just when they change speed limits.
Also, one of the reasons given for not going metric.
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Just wait until your state highway department discovers Variable Speed Limit Zones
Iāll keep my minimum speed limits, thanks!
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I think the Bay Bridge one-ups the variably speed with a lane that changes direction based on time of dayā¦
Kind of funny that DC is behind on a federal policy change, but the DC beltway is actually in other states and is kind of evil. Roads downtown are a mess, too. Iāve taken switches on the metro instead of driving downtown.
It gets worse though, because the gantries are every mile, that means that people see say 40, so they slow down to not get caught out by the speed cameras on the back of the gantry, then speed back up to 70 for the next nine tenths of a mile, then slow down for the next 40 signā¦ you get Rolling Walls which end up becoming mile upon mile upon mile of standing traffic.
A couple of weeks ago I drove to Yeovil (literally the other end of England to where I live) and back again to pick up my brother. I timed the journey down well, and did just over 400 miles in just under six hours.
The journey back took six hours to do just over 120 miles, because of the standing traffic caused by people abusing the Variable Speed Limit Zone. Because naturally, it canāt possibly mean to do 40mph all the way for the next whole mile, that would be madness. Weād rather all sit here and do zilch and then have little temporary three minute bursts of maybe 20mph tops!
The Walt Whitman Bridge in Philly does this. But thereās a cool truck that actually moves the barrier (PDF warning) from one side of the center lane to the other.
I think Dallas has that system in at least one place, too.
That barrier-truck is kind of awesome. It resembles something Wile-E Coyote would use in a doomed scheme.
But in a good way.
The H1 in Honolulu has that heading west from downtown to the junction with H2 near Aiea.
The San Diego-Coronado Bay Bridge also has the barrier truck.
@RoadRunner: Most of our exits here in CA are actually numbered now. Unless they have really old signage.
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The Auckland harbour bridge also has a movable barrier.
Hereās a link showing the thing working. Itās an advertising video, but still interesting. The actual moving part starts at about 1:20
Nice. We could really use that on the Golden Gate Bridge. They already change the numbers of lanes, but itās just done will little orange posts.
There is the old feeder road into Indy, Fall Creek Road/Binford Blvd formerly known as Hwy 37, that does it with lights above the lanes. And Columbia Parkway in Cincy did it too, havenāt driven it in ages though so Iām not sure it still does.
I think Queen City Ave in Cincy does that, too - the lights ācontrollingā lane direction - as it winds up a hill. That could be scary.
Used to be three or four major roads her in Cincy with the switch-around lanes. Eastbound in the morning, westbound in the evening.
Rate of accidents was too high, thoughā¦ theyāre all gone now.
There were:
- Beechmont Avenue
- Columbia Parkway
- Harrison Avenue
- Hopple Street
- Queen City
The only one remaining in this area is the Clay Wade Bailey Bridge connecting Covignton, KY to downtown Cincy. The bridge was really underbuilt and is only three lanes wide.
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Is that the McDonaldās bridge?
We had an entire expressway that changed direction depending on the time of day.
I didnāt have occasion to use it much but living down there must have been a right pain in the arse until late 2014 or so, when the duplication stage opened to traffic.
No, thatās the Daniel Carter Beard Bridge.
On a related note, othe Boy Sprout Council hereabouts is the Dan Beard Council.
Yeah, the golden arches.
edit:derp, I see the pic is a different bridge than oyu first mentioned.
I can brain good!
Last week, I had to make a delivery to the east side of Dayton. From where I was this would have normally been a straight shot. Boss adds a second delivery to be picked up from the south end of Columbus, so I start heading that way. Iām almost there when he cancels the second delivery. Fine. It happens. But Iām no longer in line for the route I was going to take.
I should have taken it anyway.
On my new route, there is an oversized load with police escort taking up both lanes of the freeway. Their top speed? About 32 mph. Average speed? 25 mph. For a 31 mile stretch of highway Iām trapped three cars behind the escort vehicles until the road widens to three lanes. Then poof! I was gone. Cost me over a hour and what little patience I have.
Most annoying was that a few blocks from where I was going, there is a little specialty store that sells puzzles and games and because of the delay, they were closed by the time I got there.
Isnāt it amazing, that one little accident can clog up a 5 lane carriageway for hours? 