your favorite death trap intersection

Just so you know... transportation planners are typically bottom of the barrel (in planning classes). The person who makes all Cs and doesn't assist any group project. Nobody else wants the job so they take it after graduation.
 
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Malfunction Junction at I40 and I26 if you are unfortunate enough to have to go down I26...
 
Sweet Jesus, I made it home alive again, but not for the lack of trying!

First I am making a left turn onto Brier Creek and a car appears from my right trying to get in front of me. There is no second turning lane so he must have raced past the line of cars turning left trying to squeeze in. I blow my horn because that's what needed to be done.

Later I am trying on I85 North and a pickup truck comes shambling up the on ramp. I realize he's going way too slow and he will just end up right next to me. I check my rear view mirror and slow down trying to make an opening. He does not move over. He slows down some more. I slow down some more. He does not move over. Now we are both going dangerously slow and he keeps slowing down. I look over and it's some older dude looking scared. No shit so am I. Any second now I expect an 18 wheeler to thump me straight into the afterlife to be reunited with my beloved 4 dogs again (leaving my wife and current dog behind). I blow my horn and make a motion with my right arm chopping forward saying "speed up, speed up!". And blow my horn because that's what needed to be done. I hit the gas hard and get the hell out of there. I don't care what your problem is but if you are unable or unwilling to hit the gas on an Interstate on ramp stay the fuck off the Interstate, period.

This was the last time I tried to help people get on, from now on I will just hit the gas hard and they can get somebody else get killed behind me.
 
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The center turn lane in front of MacDonalds in Fuquay. I get a 2b combo and sit in the truck facing the street and watch the action
over fries and a Bacon cheese quarter pounder.
 
The highway planner assigned to Cabarrus County must stay high or drunk. We used to have classic cloverleaf intersections on I-85, with no traffic lights. Those were torn out and most replaced with switchover intersections in which traffic shifts from one side of the road to the other when crossing the Interstate, and then shifts back to the original side ... and all of that entails only six traffic lights per intersection.

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gc70 said:
The highway planner assigned to Cabarrus County must stay high or drunk. We used to have classic cloverleaf intersections on I-85, with no traffic lights. Those were torn out and most replaced with switchover intersections in which traffic shifts from one side of the road to the other when crossing the Interstate, and then shifts back to the original side ... and all of that entails only six traffic lights per intersection.

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They put in one of those at Gold Hill Rd in Fort Mill.


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FU'd for sure the first time you go thru one of those.
 
gc70 said:
The highway planner assigned to Cabarrus County must stay high or drunk. We used to have classic cloverleaf intersections on I-85, with no traffic lights. Those were torn out and most replaced with switchover intersections in which traffic shifts from one side of the road to the other when crossing the Interstate, and then shifts back to the original side ... and all of that entails only six traffic lights per intersection.

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If people just focus on driving they will do fine. The design works and has for years. Problem for the most part is the driver.
 
gc70 said:
The problem is that the design replaces something simple with something stupidly complex.
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Its not complex!
The design replaces something that was failing and does not work for current traffic counts.

This is complex. It's High Five!
Don't drive it if you struggle on a diverging diamond interchange.

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Mr.Gadget said:
Its not complex!
The design replaces something that was failing and does not work for current traffic counts.

This is complex. It's High Five!
Don't drive it if you struggle on a diverging diamond interchange.
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Mr.Gadget said:
BTW
It is not called a crossover intersection.

If you don't know the difference in an intersection and interchange I don't think it would help to explain the design.
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Haha - insults are always such compelling arguments.

As to interchanges and intersections, the multi-level cloverleaf is properly termed an interchange (sue me for carelessness), but the monstrosity I referred to -whatever you may wish to call it- contains two intersections where roads cross on the same level.
 
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gc70 said:
Haha - insults are always such compelling arguments.

As to interchanges and intersections, the multi-level cloverleaf is properly termed an interchange (sue me for carelessness), but the monstrosity I referred to -whatever you may wish to call it- contains two intersections where roads cross on the same level.
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I have designed them. I know how they work and what they are called.

Educate yourself before you argue or complain.
 
I don’t like those either. Sorry. I’m assuming they accomplish something the others don’t, but they just seem counterintuitive and confusing.

Edit: If the new design is “better” able to handle a significantly increased volume of traffic then I suppose it is a necessary trade-off.

As for it being a “problem with the driver" that ain’t changing anytime soon with all the folks migrating to NC from all over the planet, so that consideration needs to be baked into the design. Young drivers suck at driving, old drivers suck at driving, foreign drivers suck at driving, women suck at driving, and everyone is looking at their damn phones. Did I miss anybody? I’m an equal opportunity offender.

Another thing I hate, approaching an interchange with an interstate or other major thoroughfare I plan to get on, and the signage is such that I don’t know which lane to be in, far left, or far right, till it’s almost too late and I have to do battle to make the necessary lane change.
 
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