News:

Thank you for your patience during the Forum downtime while we upgraded the software. Welcome back and see this thread for some new features and other changes to the forum.

Main Menu

Unpopular Anything Road-Related Opinions

Started by Ned Weasel, March 26, 2021, 01:01:03 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

Occidental Tourist

Quote from: vdeane on March 26, 2021, 10:15:35 PM
Quote from: index on March 26, 2021, 04:27:01 PM
Most state DOTs are horrible and really need to invest not only in improving their infrastructure and making road quality suck less, but adopting better standards. All states should adopt 6 inch markings and RRPMs, even on two lane roads and surface roads, ditch paint for any and all uses, etc. The FHWA should push for this as hard as they pushed FDOT to ditch colored US shields.
While those RRPMs are quite nice in the areas that have them, this post makes me think you've never lived in an area that experiences real winter.  They'd get ripped up by plows real quick.

To avoid ripping up pavement reflectors in areas of California where they have to plow, they carve depressions into the asphalt and put the reflectors in there.



Scott5114

Quote from: TheHighwayMan394 on March 26, 2021, 10:50:26 PM
Quote from: OCGuy81 on March 26, 2021, 09:42:49 PM
Google and Apple maps need to show county lines.

At minimum with what they have they need to stop making them disappear at a zoom level that makes it useless to figure out what you're looking for. If you google Joseph Pioneer Dude County and you want to see if SR-666 clips 1/5 mile of a county corner, you can't zoom in far enough to tell before the map removes it from display.

https://openstreetmap.org
uncontrollable freak sardine salad chef

index

#52
Quote from: Occidental Tourist on March 27, 2021, 12:51:49 AM
Quote from: vdeane on March 26, 2021, 10:15:35 PM
Quote from: index on March 26, 2021, 04:27:01 PM
Most state DOTs are horrible and really need to invest not only in improving their infrastructure and making road quality suck less, but adopting better standards. All states should adopt 6 inch markings and RRPMs, even on two lane roads and surface roads, ditch paint for any and all uses, etc. The FHWA should push for this as hard as they pushed FDOT to ditch colored US shields.
While those RRPMs are quite nice in the areas that have them, this post makes me think you've never lived in an area that experiences real winter.  They'd get ripped up by plows real quick.

To avoid ripping up pavement reflectors in areas of California where they have to plow, they carve depressions into the asphalt and put the reflectors in there.


That, and snow plow-able RRPMs exist too. They're all over the place here in the Charlotte area. Though I question the need for them considering we never get enough snow to warrant plows. I've even seen the depressions for them on GSV in South Carolina of all places...Why on earth would they need them there? My guess is it's a contractor error and said contractor is from a snowier area that uses them.
I love my 2010 Ford Explorer.



Counties traveled

GaryV

Quote from: Scott5114 on March 26, 2021, 07:50:07 PM
Quote from: I-55 on March 26, 2021, 07:47:03 PM
Quote from: andrepoiy on March 26, 2021, 07:42:46 PM
I am not a fan of protected left turns - sometimes sitting behind that light takes way too long.

What's more annoying is a flashing yellow arrow light that never gives you a flashing arrow (unless its between midnight and 6 AM).

What's more annoying is a flashing yellow arrow light that only gives you a flashing arrow, while the entire population of the county is driving by in the other direction, so only one person actually gets to go on each cycle.

SE Mich drivers have that figured out - 3 more cars follow through on the red.

Big John

Quote from: index on March 27, 2021, 02:20:41 AM

That, and snow plow-able RRPMs exist too. They're all over the place here in the Charlotte area. Though I question the need for them considering we never get enough snow to warrant plows. I've even seen the depressions for them on GSV in South Carolina of all places...Why on earth would they need them there? My guess is it's a contractor error and said contractor is from a snowier area that uses them.

Wisconsin used them but they didn't work as expected so the DOT took them out.

TheHighwayMan3561

Quote from: GaryV on March 27, 2021, 07:39:36 AM
Quote from: Scott5114 on March 26, 2021, 07:50:07 PM
Quote from: I-55 on March 26, 2021, 07:47:03 PM
Quote from: andrepoiy on March 26, 2021, 07:42:46 PM
I am not a fan of protected left turns - sometimes sitting behind that light takes way too long.

What's more annoying is a flashing yellow arrow light that never gives you a flashing arrow (unless its between midnight and 6 AM).

What's more annoying is a flashing yellow arrow light that only gives you a flashing arrow, while the entire population of the county is driving by in the other direction, so only one person actually gets to go on each cycle.

SE Mich drivers have that figured out - 3 more cars follow through on the red.


Which in turn depending on the cycle order then annoys those of us with a fresh green who have to wait for dicks to finish their red light running.
self-certified as the dumbest person on this board for 5 years running

interstatefan990

While we're on the topic of traffic lights: It surprises me how few American drivers know that if the other side is backed up and you can't clear the intersection, you have to stop and wait, even on a green light. So many people just block the intersection because "green means go"  and they'd rather worsen a traffic jam and possibly cause gridlock than follow the law.
Multi-lane roundabouts are an abomination to mankind.

Big John

I think all-black backplates (without a thick yellow border) are ugly.  I concede that they may be necessary on overhead primary signals on high-speed roadways but not on secondary signals. I dislike state highway departments who require backplates on every signal head.

Ben114

Quote from: interstatefan990 on March 27, 2021, 04:21:17 PM
While we’re on the topic of traffic lights: It surprises me how few American drivers know that if the other side is backed up and you can’t clear the intersection, you have to stop and wait, even on a green light. So many people just block the intersection because “green means go” and they’d rather worsen a traffic jam and possibly cause gridlock than follow the law.

Reminds me of this pair of lights in Shrewsbury, MA, where in the afternoon traffic stops right in the middle of the western intersection due to the light at the eastern intersection being red. It's quite common to stop through an entire green at the west intersection if coming from the west due to this.

Scott5114

Quote from: Big John on March 27, 2021, 04:36:01 PM
I think all-black backplates (without a thick yellow border) are ugly.  I concede that they may be necessary on overhead primary signals on high-speed roadways but not on secondary signals. I dislike state highway departments who require backplates on every signal head.

Growing up and doing most of my traveling in states where backplates are uniformly present, it bothers me when I see a light without a backplate. It just looks naked.

I think the yellow border only looks good if the signal body itself is black. In Oklahoma City, which has long used the distinctive look of a yellow signal body with black backplate, the ODOT installations include the yellow border, so you have a yellow-black-yellow color scheme, which just looks weird.
uncontrollable freak sardine salad chef

andrepoiy

I agree with above^,

Having no backplate is strange, the signal looks like a skeleton.

Also, backplates in my area have a reflective strip along the outside of it, which I guess helps with locating the actual signal head. Perhaps helps those who are red-green colourblind to figure out which light is on from afar.

Hwy 61 Revisited

The north and west legs of KC's Alphabet Loop should not exist.


And for that matter, 470/291/152 is a more logical loop than is 435. 49/29 could just take that over.
And you may ask yourself, where does that highway go to?
--David Byrne

CoreySamson

- Horizontal signals are more appealing than vertical ones.

- I think distance signs with 3 or even 4 destinations should be more popular.

- Baton Rouge is more deserving of a new river bridge than Memphis.
Buc-ee's and QuikTrip fanboy. Clincher of FM roads. Proponent of the TX U-turn.

My Route Log
My Clinches

Now on mobrule and Travel Mapping!

roadman65

Quote from: interstatefan990 on March 27, 2021, 04:21:17 PM
While we're on the topic of traffic lights: It surprises me how few American drivers know that if the other side is backed up and you can't clear the intersection, you have to stop and wait, even on a green light. So many people just block the intersection because "green means go"  and they'd rather worsen a traffic jam and possibly cause gridlock than follow the law.

New York City the worst.

Jersey City at the Holland Tunnel has to use cops to prevent gridlock during morning rush.  They used to turn the signals to flash mode from 6 am to 9 am and the officer directed traffic with his hands.
Every day is a winding road, you just got to get used to it.

Sheryl Crowe

hbelkins

I don't hate Clearview.

I acknowledge that Breezewood is a pain and should be fixed, but I don't hate it to the point that I don't patronize any of the businesses there.

The gas tax should not be increased.


Government would be tolerable if not for politicians and bureaucrats.

CtrlAltDel

#65
Interstate shields without state names are better than those with.

State shape-outline shields are bad.

There are no boring roads, at lease with respect to scenery and being “worth it” to drive on.

That said, two-lane roads are annoying if, for whatever reason, you have to wait more than a minute or so to pass.

Complex urban freeways are good, when traffic is flowing.

When the car in front of you turns or exits at the same place as you is bad.

Most control cities are too small or otherwise insufficiently well known.

Control states are fine, at least under certain conditions.

Higher digits should be used more often in 3di’s, especially to reduce repetition. For example, there are eight 295’s, but only one 895.

You should not be able to turn at a red arrow.

Google Maps needs a legend, somewhere.

Adaptive cruise control is bad, unless there’s some way to keep it from following my rear bumper for twenty or so miles.

Some of the ways exits are laid out along or near frontage roads in Texas are bad.

Tolled routes and crossings are bad.

Listening to music while driving is bad.

Cable-stayed bridges are okay.

Rural illuminated highways are bad.

Front license plates are good. Or at least, the aesthetic impact of the plate is an insufficient justification for its absence.

Speed cameras on freeways are bad.

Red light cameras, however, aren’t inherently bad, but you should get about a second of leeway after the light turns red, to make up for any edge cases.

When turning onto a road with more than one lane, you can turn into whatever lane you want.

Exit Only indications are not needed on APL signs.
Interstates clinched: 4, 57, 275 (IN-KY-OH), 465 (IN), 640 (TN), 985
State Interstates clinched: I-26 (TN), I-75 (GA), I-75 (KY), I-75 (TN), I-81 (WV), I-95 (NH)

US 89

Quote from: Scott5114 on March 27, 2021, 01:34:09 AM
Quote from: TheHighwayMan394 on March 26, 2021, 10:50:26 PM
Quote from: OCGuy81 on March 26, 2021, 09:42:49 PM
Google and Apple maps need to show county lines.

At minimum with what they have they need to stop making them disappear at a zoom level that makes it useless to figure out what you're looking for. If you google Joseph Pioneer Dude County and you want to see if SR-666 clips 1/5 mile of a county corner, you can't zoom in far enough to tell before the map removes it from display.

https://openstreetmap.org

As I've mentioned a few times on this forum before, OSM's county lines are not necessarily accurate. They are usually rather rough approximations that may not give you enough granularity to conclusively determine whether x highway passes through y county.

Scott5114

#67
Quote from: US 89 on March 27, 2021, 11:47:09 PM
Quote from: Scott5114 on March 27, 2021, 01:34:09 AM
Quote from: TheHighwayMan394 on March 26, 2021, 10:50:26 PM
Quote from: OCGuy81 on March 26, 2021, 09:42:49 PM
Google and Apple maps need to show county lines.

At minimum with what they have they need to stop making them disappear at a zoom level that makes it useless to figure out what you're looking for. If you google Joseph Pioneer Dude County and you want to see if SR-666 clips 1/5 mile of a county corner, you can't zoom in far enough to tell before the map removes it from display.

https://openstreetmap.org

As I've mentioned a few times on this forum before, OSM's county lines are not necessarily accurate. They are usually rather rough approximations that may not give you enough granularity to conclusively determine whether x highway passes through y county.

They are at least usable approximations, though. At the zoom levels that you need for that, Google isn't even going to display the county lines.

If you really care about that level of accuracy on your county clinching, you're going to need GIS shapefiles from the state DOT, or to look at the county assessor's website and see exactly where the highway ROW is. Most situations are cut and dried enough that OSM gets the job done.

Maybe we should start a thread for OSM goofs, since I have a feeling it would go the way that threads about Wikipedia goofs tend to go–someone from the wiki starts stalking the thread and silently fixing all the goofs that are pointed out.
uncontrollable freak sardine salad chef

vdeane

I usually just use mob-rule's overlay onto Google/OSM for that.
Please note: All comments here represent my own personal opinion and do not reflect the official position of NYSDOT or its affiliates.

Hwy 61 Revisited

Quote from: Scott5114 on March 28, 2021, 12:02:18 AM
Quote from: US 89 on March 27, 2021, 11:47:09 PM
Quote from: Scott5114 on March 27, 2021, 01:34:09 AM
Quote from: TheHighwayMan394 on March 26, 2021, 10:50:26 PM
Quote from: OCGuy81 on March 26, 2021, 09:42:49 PM
Google and Apple maps need to show county lines.

At minimum with what they have they need to stop making them disappear at a zoom level that makes it useless to figure out what you're looking for. If you google Joseph Pioneer Dude County and you want to see if SR-666 clips 1/5 mile of a county corner, you can't zoom in far enough to tell before the map removes it from display.

https://openstreetmap.org

As I've mentioned a few times on this forum before, OSM's county lines are not necessarily accurate. They are usually rather rough approximations that may not give you enough granularity to conclusively determine whether x highway passes through y county.

They are at least usable approximations, though. At the zoom levels that you need for that, Google isn't even going to display the county lines.

If you really care about that level of accuracy on your county clinching, you're going to need GIS shapefiles from the state DOT, or to look at the county assessor's website and see exactly where the highway ROW is. Most situations are cut and dried enough that OSM gets the job done.

Maybe we should start a thread for OSM goofs, since I have a feeling it would go the way that threads about Wikipedia goofs tend to go–someone from the wiki starts stalking the thread and silently fixing all the goofs that are pointed out.


I've fixed some OSM goofs. Like a few dated intersections and such.
And you may ask yourself, where does that highway go to?
--David Byrne

Scott5114

I've added some newly constructed roads (collected GPS data by riding a bike through a new neighborhood in Norman once, and paced off the county road a friend's new house was built on) and fixed some incorrect street names, but messing around with county lines is a bit beyond my comfort level since there's no physical feature to compare against, usually.
uncontrollable freak sardine salad chef

NoGoodNamesAvailable

Quote from: vdeane on March 26, 2021, 10:15:35 PM
Quote from: index on March 26, 2021, 04:27:01 PM
Most state DOTs are horrible and really need to invest not only in improving their infrastructure and making road quality suck less, but adopting better standards. All states should adopt 6 inch markings and RRPMs, even on two lane roads and surface roads, ditch paint for any and all uses, etc. The FHWA should push for this as hard as they pushed FDOT to ditch colored US shields.
While those RRPMs are quite nice in the areas that have them, this post makes me think you've never lived in an area that experiences real winter.  They'd get ripped up by plows real quick.
On recently repaved interstates in NY I've been seeing recessed grooves where they put the pavement markings. I'm not sure what sort of material the markings are made out of exactly but it is very legible at night and probably on par with RRPMs. However I haven't seen this on any conventional roads and I imagine it's more expensive.

Frafra Zoomer


Quote from: TEG24601 on March 26, 2021, 03:17:54 PM
There is nothing wrong with left entrances or exits, under any circumstance... except when there is a lot of traffic that wants to go from a right-hand onramp to the left off-ramp, or left on-ramp to right off-ramp in a short distance.
Wait until you find out about Keep Right Except to Pass

Frafra Zoomer

Quote from: interstatefan990 on March 26, 2021, 03:52:39 PM
Some of mine:

-Undivided two lane roads with a speed limit of over 45 MPH are inherently dangerous.
-Eight-inch signal lights should be banned.
-There should be certain stretches of interstate that have no speed limit and only an advisory speed (okay, maybe not unpopular)
-Clearview is a tragic mistake. Not just a preference.
-Pavement arrows should be used next to ONE WAY signs and anywhere where the flow of traffic isn't very apparent
-If you're speeding 20+ over in the lane next to me, behind me, and I change lanes into you with a signal, you should hold the majority of the liability for any collision.
-A single center yellow line is acceptable for low-speed non-freeway roads with one lane in each direction.
-Roundabouts and four-way stops, if you know what you're doing and where you're going, AREN'T THAT BAD.
I mostly agree with this (except the one about lane changes in incompatible with no speed limit)

interstatefan990

Quote from: Frafra Zoomer on March 28, 2021, 02:06:43 AM
I mostly agree with this (except the one about lane changes in incompatible with no speed limit)

Well for the lane change one I did say "if you're speeding 20+ over" . So if there's no speed limit to exceed, then obviously it doesn't apply.
Multi-lane roundabouts are an abomination to mankind.



Opinions expressed here on belong solely to the poster and do not represent or reflect the opinions or beliefs of AARoads, its creators and/or associates.