cross-posted from: https://sopuli.xyz/post/17900996
These are supposed to be satirical, but this one is literally true.
Source: I’m a former traffic engineer.
We have the middle design at my closest freeway on-ramp. The lights on both sides aren’t synced so it causes traffic to back up for a mile at any time more people are on the road. It is insane.
When you say the lights “aren’t synced,” I assume you mean that they’re exactly out of phase such that traffic going straight can never get all the way across on one green. FYI that’s on purpose, because the whole point of that design is to prioritize the left turns to and from the ramps.
The thing is that two more lanes will fix a lot of traffic.
They have to be a special kind of lane though, made put of metal, with metal above, and require a special car, with metal wheels and a weird antenna on the roof
Yeah, though my experiences with rail cars are more of the Volvo PV801 kind…
As tired as I am of this meme format, I have to agree. Traffic engineering is bunk.
This, but unironically
The graphic designer has a misinformed idea about engineering.
Cars are not meant to travel fast through cities.
This is true. City traffic planning was designed to maximize efficiency, not speed. This is no longer the case of many cities which now engineer congestion into design.
Rush hour traffic still goes to a crawl
People assume traffic represents failure, but the road still holds capacity, even if flowing slowly. Government data collection on infrastructure utilization and traffic recovery is prohibited in my area by vocal minorities to obstruct studies countering their goal objectives.
… Something something Trains
Trains are fun!
Just one more lane will fix it
I agree adding one lane won’t “fix” traffic. Cities are organic and traffic balances out with infrastructure pressure and necessary.
On the other hand, many lanes around my area have converted to dynamically priced toll lanes; the resulting increase in congestion for remaining lanes drives up the cost of tolls. This has been very profitable for the government and flies in the face of this argument; if it were true, it wouldn’t be so lucrative.
People assume traffic represents failure, but the road still holds capacity, even if flowing slowly
I mean… They still hold the same STATIC capacity, but when congested, their capacity to actually move people to their destination drops significantly, further aggravating congestion. But yes, the same number of people are still able to occupy the road at the same time. More, in fact.
