couple of years ago the geniuses with the highway dept around here decided to extent the time that traffic lights are either red or green... I'm not sure if this helped or hindered... but I do know when I get stopped by one it seems like it takes forever for it to change now... but here's my point.

yesterday headed home just missed a big storm... had to run by home depot before going home and ended up having to work my way through about 10 traffic lights that weren't working... do you know this was no problem at all? Just slowed down or either stopped and let a few folks left or right pull out or go across... sure seemed easy and everybody was driving safe and watching out.. I just wonder how this can be....

MDOT has addressed the problem in Marquette County.
Roundabouts. Lots of them.

quote:

MDOT has addressed the problem in Marquette County.
Roundabouts. Lots of them.

A few here. The locals hate it. Takes some getting used to. Old habits die hard. We are still working on getting our bridges up to speed. The Governor has called a special session to address failing infrastructure in the state.

Most people around here just blow straight through them at speed.

quote:

Originally posted by YooperSigs:
MDOT has addressed the problem in Marquette County.
Roundabouts. Lots of them.

Those are better.

Somehow in the college town nearby where all the Democrats live, they didn't make roundabouts. They poured an obstruction in the middle of the road and left the stop signs up.

Yep, roundabouts are good... but they do take up a lot of space because you have to have that extra area in the middle for big rigs turning sharp.

they put small obstructions to make semi roundabouts in some neighborhoods around here with 4 way stops and these are awful... I have a hard time making a left turn around these in my full size van, can't image what a firetruck or such would do.

Had to deal with a flashing red all four ways yesterday. Went pretty smoothly, but not a week day. Except for that one person, and you know who you are. Can't come to a complete stop, just follows the guy in front of him about 3 feet off his bumper. Really, you shouldn't do that in a USPS truck, dickweed.

quote:

Originally posted by Blume9mm:
Yep, roundabouts are good... but they do take up a lot of space because you have to have that extra area in the middle for big rigs turning sharp.

they put small obstructions to make semi roundabouts in some neighborhoods around here with 4 way stops and these are awful... I have a hard time making a left turn around these in my full size van, can't image what a firetruck or such would do.

We have some of those here also. Ours probably one-up you though. They planted trees in the center of them also. So every time one gets taken out, our DPW gets to replace it.

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Originally posted by shovelhead:

We have some of those here also. Ours probably one-up you though. They planted trees in the center of them also. So every time one gets taken out, our DPW gets to replace it.

Job security

quote:

Originally posted by Blume9mm:
Yep, roundabouts are good... but they do take up a lot of space because you have to have that extra area in the middle for big rigs turning sharp.

I lived for a long time with roundabouts in DC, which has had them since Pierre L'Enfant. But ADOT is now adopting them big time, with many more to come (future plans show). The first two in Wickenburg were built several years ago with a poor design, i.e., too much bank towards the outside. Ok if you are only going 90 or 180 degrees around. But one, which is on a major highway junction (US 93 and US 60), requires southbound traffic headed for Phoenix to traverse a full 270 degrees of the circle. The trucks are impatient with them, usually use all of the lanes, but we still have had quite a few overturned tractor trailers on that one. Centrifugal force and speed do not work well together there.
 
All of ours have some sort of center "decoration". The ones in town have large reproductions of Remington cowboy statues. The one north of town (on US 93) is designed better, with good warning strips (you are coming down from 65, then 55, to 20mph for the circle itself). It forces you to bear left, and then bear right into the circle, and not such a steep bank and the curves are gentle. In the middle is a large sculpture (two 28 ft spurs), surrounded by a circular stone wall, at least 25 feet inside from the traffic lanes. Despite all of those safety efforts, one day I saw ADOT crews repairing the stone wall. Some idiot had ignored everything and plowed straight ahead, jumped three curbs and plowed right into the stone wall. After that, they put in good rumble strips that rattle your vehicle. The first is widely spaced, the second not so much, and the third has the strips very close together.