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TravelinLite

TravelinLite

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Jun 1, 2022
Member Number
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Location
Martinsburg, WV
They recently built 6 traffic circles all grouped within approx. 1/2 mile. It is painfully obvious that many people in this area do not know how to navigate these roundabouts. Today I met an older fellow head-on. I was able to swerve out of the way but I am sure the police officer behind me had a few things to explain to the errant driver.

Be careful out there.
 
They put a couple of traffic circles around me in the last couple of years and I have been pleasantly surprised that most of the drivers I have seen know how to use them. We do have some overcautious drivers who stop for no reason and wait if there are any other vehicles in the vicinity. One of those circles replaced a 4 way stop that was always backed up. Now I can generally go through without stopping.
 
Roundabouts are awesome! Once people learn how they work. Plus they double as a skid pad at 3am.
Now, diverging diamond interchanges are starting to take hold. I see how they work and it makes sense but At first glance it’s looks suicidal.
 
Never seen the diverging diamond interchanges before. They will be a real nightmare here. Looks like they work quite well though.
 
I taught this while I was an instructor. Defensive driving "school" bosses told me they have no interest in having students learn how to navigate those things. Did I listen to them? HELL NO!
 
These are about a half-mile from my house, and were installed in 2014 I think. There's actually a seventh roundabout just off the map. It took people a few years to figure them out but they did reduce congestion in this area. Not by a little but by a lot. Of course, the city's solution to having solved the congestion problem was "great now let's build twenty thousand more apartments in as little space as possible" so things are starting to get congested again. :dunno

roundabouts.jpg


We also have several diverging diamond intersections around here. Like the roundabouts they flow a LOT more traffic than the old traffic lights did. Yes they look suicidal from a distance but going through them you hardly even notice there's anything different going on. Mainly you just notice you're spending a lot less time stuck at traffic lights.
 
I have never seen a DDI but it looks like a good idea. I like traffic circles and the ones I have seen work pretty well. The best thing they could do to improve traffic flow is to require people to actually know how to drive.
 
oldschool said:
I'd never seen one before until reading this, actually looks pretty cool.

Click to expand...

There is one of those in Cheyenne, WY. It's off of I-25, exit 7. First time I went through it felt totally wrong. Once I understood its purpose, it all made sense. I find myself hoping that configuration becomes more common.
 
Those are all over Metro Detroit now. Just about every interchange along 75 north of the city have them. Always a bit odd when I travel out there, but they seem to work OK
 
This double-loop roundabout is chaos. Not so much when there's little traffic, but early morning, they're climbing the curbs (the white between lanes) to gain a one car-length advantage. To the left is the entrance to Jacksonville University. They're adding a large glass sculpture in the middle. I give it 30 days.

KYUVCKE6MJHUVGY5SDU6XHZCQU.jpg


I'd avoid it, except it's on the way to the Donut Shoppe;


the-donuts.jpg


They close when they run out of donuts and that can be as early as 11 a.m.
 
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oldschool said:
I'd never seen one before until reading this, actually looks pretty cool.

Click to expand...

I didn't know those were in PA until last weekend while on a scenic ride along US322. There is one on the east end of Ephrata, PA at the intersection of 322 and US222. It was chaos with all the travelers who had no clue how the pattern works. I said, "fuck it!" and did some lane splitting just to get through the crowd of clueless dipshit drivers.

As for roundabouts. There is a royal PITA dual one off of US85 in Brighton, CO. It's the worst damn thing on a Friday evening when exiting from the southbound side and you need to go through town. It's even more worse when you get to it after a train has passed through.
 
A clover leaf intersection in my area was replaced with a double diamond. Now we have two additional traffic lights on the cross street. A pair of roundabouts would have been a lot better!
 
Hermit said:
This double-loop roundabout is chaos. Not so much when there's little traffic, but early morning, they're climbing the curbs (the white between lanes) to gain a one car-length advantage. To the left is the entrance to Jacksonville University. They're adding a large glass sculpture in the middle. I give it 30 days.

KYUVCKE6MJHUVGY5SDU6XHZCQU.jpg


I'd avoid it, except it's on the way to the Donut Shoppe;


the-donuts.jpg


They close when they run out of donuts and that can be as early as 11 a.m.
Click to expand...
That circle just looks dangerous.
 
Soggy Biscuit said:
I didn't know those were in PA until last weekend while on a scenic ride along US322. There is one on the east end of Ephrata, PA at the intersection of 322 and US222. It was chaos with all the travelers who had no clue how the pattern works. I said, "fuck it!" and did some lane splitting just to get through the crowd of clueless dipshit drivers.

As for roundabouts. There is a royal PITA dual one off of US85 in Brighton, CO. It's the worst damn thing on a Friday evening when exiting from the southbound side and you need to go through town. It's even more worse when you get to it after a train has passed through.
Click to expand...
And by the time everyone gets used to roundabouts and diverging diamonds, they'll come up with something new to mess with us again.
 
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