Places where a restriping would fix a traffic problem

[Mergingtraffic]

Something a little different than the usual topics:

Any place where a traffic problem could be fixed with a restriping?  Such as an added turn lane or making two lanes out of one.  Of course considering there's enough pavement to do so.

[cpzilliacus]

Some sections of Virginia's Shirley Highway (I-395) were restriped to provide four (narrower) lanes where there had once been three standard-sized lanes.  This resulted in four 10-foot lanes and no shoulder on the left and only a narrow shoulder on the right.

[Jim]

I may have posted this one before, but I think I-90/NYST Eastbound approaching Exit 24 in Albany would be much more efficient with a restriping.  At morning rush, the majority of traffic exits here.  Instead of having a left exit-only lane that splits into 2, which causes traffic to stack up in the left lane often unnecessarily, it seems it would be better to have the left lane remain exit only, but to have the middle lane split into 2 when the road widens from 3 lanes to 4 a mile or so before the exit ramp.  Then exiting traffic could remain in the center lane without worrying about getting stuck with no place to move over before the exit.

[kphoger]

I've mentioned this one elsewhere:  I-135 & Kellogg here in Wichita.  All four approaches to the whirlpool (see how I avoided the turban/turbine dilemma?) interchange have one exit-only lane and one option lane.  A whole lot of weaving goin' on!  If they would just stripe it Texas-style, it would be a lot clearer.

[theline]

Once upon a time in Indiana, restriping fixed a problem.

When four-lane highways were becoming a popular solution for traffic congestion in the '50s, Indiana came up with a cheaper alternative, three-lane roads. When authorities realized that the center passing lanes had become manslaughter lanes, they restriped many of those roads to become the widest two-lane roads in the country.

Most were eventually replaced with new roads, so I don't know if any still exist. One that comes to mind is the old route of SR-67, between Daleville and Pendleton.

[sp_redelectric]

Can I mention places where re-striping has caused some BIG problems and they should have left well alone in the first place?

[Roadsguy]

On the Blue Route at PA 3 west of Philadelphia (link), at the SB off-ramp, you have a completely useless dedicated straight-through lane back to SB I-476, and two turning lanes to PA 3 EB that seem to get a lot of traffic judging by the thick oil drip lines. Also, the part of the ramp that you'd think would be for left turns from PA 3 WB to 476 SB is also useless and seems to be only for the straight through lane. It's even weirder because there's already a loop ramp for the same movement, and no left turn lane.

It could be restriped to make the straight-through lane a straight-and-left lane (making a triple-left, which works since PA 3 EB is three lanes), or just making it a left-only lane since the movement seems useless anyway. Why it's not a triple-left already, I don't know, since PA 3 EB is three lanes, though it could be because the left lane peels off as a left-turn lane a few intersections east...

[Alps]

Yeah, I've also seen problems magnified by restriping. Pleasant Valley Way at NJ 10, West Orange, was originally 2 lanes in each direction, SB PVW turn lane but none NB (narrow road). They decided they wanted a NB turn lane, so they took away a through lane. Gigantic mistake. Traffic backed up over a mile in that single lane during rush hour. They finally somehow shoehorned 5 much narrower lanes in there to fix it.
Problem fixed by restriping: Garden State Pkwy. NB at Exit 145 was notorious for having five lanes under a bridge designed for four. The right two lanes were 6' wide, so cars would line up right next to each other like a zipper and shoot through with minimal headways. You couldn't be two abreast, but it functioned like a superlane with 3,000 vph capacity instead of 2,000. Now it stays four lanes and has an exit only, and the ultimate plan is to have an option lane (which will require new signs, though) to bring back the two-lane exit.

Now, as for where it WOULD fix a problem, near me:
* US 46 WB at Bloomfield Ave left merge, Montville: It's not the lowest-volume left merge, but 46 can back up quite far thanks to it. While that's generally indicative of problems farther downstream, 46 has the room to be striped as two lanes, because that was actually done during construction when the left merge was closed. I'd rather see a YIELD condition - and I'm an engineer, but I know that interchange well enough to know that could work. (The merge area can be lengthened at the expense of some shoulder to help out - ultimately something more than striping will be needed.)
* NJ 3/US 46 WB merge: It won't do a whole lot for the traffic issue, but US 46 really should be striped to go down to one lane as a safety issue. Currently, there's a center lane merge with little visibility, which just sucks. It would be nice to turn the 2/2 split into a 3/1 split in both directions, but there's not enough pavement or bridge width for that.

[roadman]

Can I mention places where re-striping has caused some BIG problems and they should have left well alone in the first place?

Nearly any Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR - formerly Metropolitan District Commission - MDC) parkway in Massachusetts that was "widened" by re-striping the road from two wide lanes with shoulders to four narrow lanes with no shoulders would qualify under that topic.

[3467]

I cant belive 10 foot lanes on an Interstate. But MO did restripe 270 to 11 feet and IDOT restriped the Kennedy in Hubbards cave but I dont know the lane width.It probably marginally helped the Kennedy

[1995hoo]

I cant belive 10 foot lanes on an Interstate. But MO did restripe 270 to 11 feet and IDOT restriped the Kennedy in Hubbards cave but I dont know the lane width.It probably marginally helped the Kennedy

I-278 has 10-foot lanes over the Goethals Bridge. Scary stuff if you're next to a truck.

[vdeane]

If you drive in 10' lanes often enough you get used to them.

I can think of a few locations in Rochester where a four lane road reduces to two lanes just after an intersection.  The lanes should really become turning lanes so you don't have someone slow everyone else down by trying to merge 20 feet past the intersection.

[MASTERNC]

Here's another Philly one, on US 30 at I-476 in Radnor Township.  Note you may have to go backwards and forwards to see the issue (Hint: watch the yellow dump truck on the left).

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Radnor+Township,+PA&hl=en&ll=40.037002,-75.356802&spn=0.001536,0.002411&sll=41.117935,-77.604698&sspn=4.377622,9.876709&oq=Radnor,+&t=h&hnear=Township+of+Radnor,+Delaware,+Pennsylvania&z=19&layer=c&cbll=40.037019,-75.356928&panoid=jpkAd3HXbKj5ruCE5W6JJQ&cbp=12,79.89,,0,8.91

To explain, there is a traffic light with two left turn lanes prior to two left turn lanes for I-476 North for US 30 eastbound travelers.  The issue is because of the short proximity between the lights and the signage present (including an arrow for I-476 North aligned with the turn lane just lane beyond the intersection), motorists either think the first light is for I-476 or (because the turn lanes are lightly used) use them as a third thru lane for the first intersection.  As a result, you have motorists illegally going straight through a turn lane and then possibly causing accidents with traffic in the thru lane moving left to turn onto I-476 North (not expecting traffic to their left).

They have put in double yellow stripes to create an "island" beyond the first intersection, but it is not helping.  To solve this, they either need to widen the concrete median or turn one left turn lane into a thru lane that feeds the left turn lanes for I-476 North.

[Roadsguy]

Or widen the whole road (maybe needing shoe-horning under the bridge) so that you have three through lanes (the left one going to 476) and two left turn lanes.

[MASTERNC]

Or widen the whole road (maybe needing shoe-horning under the bridge) so that you have three through lanes (the left one going to 476) and two left turn lanes.

Theoretically, you could (there is some grass to the right where Villanova University often places a portable VMS for events, or you could eliminate the right turn lane going westbound on US 30).

[hbelkins]

Not necessarily a problem, but something that could eliminate a merge.

On I-64 eastbound where it splits from I-75, two lanes drop off to the left and continue under northbound I-75. A third lane is added to the left. Then, traffic coming from northbound I-75 merges into the right lane of I-64 eastbound.

Seems like it would be simpler to just continue two lanes on I-64 east and have the ramp from I-75 north added as the third lane.

[Quillz]

US-101, Exit 29 SB



It's hard to see in the picture, but look at the yllow striping on Calabasas Road. It's very wide, with the idea that those turning from the off-ramp will make a wide left turn then do a soft left turn into the turning lanes. The problem here is no one does this: everyone makes a sharp left turn, into the opposing lane.

What's interesting is that this is probably the fourth time this has been restriped, and prior to this incarnation, there was just one yellow line. This implies that either the off-ramp wasn't built far enough away from Valley Circle Blvd, or the designers just didn't take into account the way the traffic was going to flow.

[Mdcastle]

I was scared driving over the Goethals bridge when I wasn't next to a truck.

I-394 in Minneapolis was limited to a maximum of 6 through lanes for political reasons (I don't know if it was a statute or legal settlement), so between MN 100 and I-94 a lane became exit only at Penn and then started again. The shoulder was built wide under the bridge, probably anticipating political winds would change. It wasn't long before it came to be noticed that some paint would greatly improve a traffic problem, so a compromise was worked out wheras the section would get an extra lane and an asphalt overlay would be done to quiet the highway noise, even the road didn't need it for engineering reasons.

[colinstu]

Back from a previous thread... https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=8152.msg187323#msg187323

Pretty easy solution IMO to this http://goo.gl/maps/ZT07B MA 128/1A

Surprised they wouldn't configure the lanes more like this.



North-bound Dodge Street is already one lane (look @ bottom) ... why make it two lanes after the intersection and then force all the people on the loop ramp (look at em all! the whole ramp is clogged) with people who have to Yield/stop for people for nearly no reason. What I drew is a little more free flow from what I can tell from the current situation they got going on there.

[vtk]

https://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=39.973217,-83.151097&spn=0.001348,0.002712&t=k&deg=90&z=19&vpsrc=6

Renner Road eastbound approaching Hilliard—Rome Road.  The left turn lane fills up quickly because it's the single obvious way to the rest of Columbus from several neighborhoods around here.  Usually, the cars that don't fit treat the turn lane to Evans Way Court as an extension of the turn lane to Hilliard—Rome Road.  This causes problems when cars which intend to turn left on Hilliard—Rome Road bypass cars in the turn lane to Evans Way Court, only to find that they have to fight for space with those cars that don't turn onto Evans Way Court.  Some drivers familiar with the problem will misuse the Evans Way Court turn lane even when there's no backup, creating a potential conflict in motion with a hypothetical well-behaved driver in the next lane. 

Ideally, there should be two left turn lanes to Hilliard—Rome Road.  But that would require some reconfiguring of the traffic signal (software and hardware) in addition to restriping.  So here's my simplest restriping solution, with one new sign assembly:


(Apologies for large file size; can't remedy that without making the picture ugly)

Also, mill and repave the whole thing!  This has already been restriped at least once, and there's enough evidence of the old lines to compete for attention with the fading "new" lines.  Not to mention the crumbling seams from when the road was only two lanes wide...

[elsmere241]

DelDOT restriped the dual on-ramp from Kirkwood Highway (DE 2/41) to DE 141 southbound a little while ago.  It works much better - no more almost-double-yield for the traffic from DE 2 east/DE 41 south.

DE 141 around I-95/295/495 could use some help, but DelDOT has plans to improve the interchange so hopefully the lanes will make more sense by then.  The big issue is the ramp from I-95/495 south to DE 141 south lingering a bit before it merges, and people thinking it will become the exit ramp to I-295 north, like many other DE 141 interchanges.  It doesn't.

[HTM Duke]

The original lane configuration at the intersection of westbound 620/Braddock Rd and Port Royal Rd:
http://binged.it/108Skds
(The picture was taken during the construction of the HOT lanes on I-495, but the configuration shown is nearly identical.)

Post-construction, the configuration was changed to this:
http://goo.gl/maps/FXtDu

As a result, the old left thru lane was lost and became left turn only at Port Royal Rd.  A new thru lane was added to the right past the new signalized intersection for I-495 and the HOT lanes.  In essence, a bottleneck was created.  (Most drivers stayed to the right, but there were still quite a few knowing (and unknowing) drivers that took the old left thru lane to the end, and tried to force their way in.)

Thankfully, this situation was rectified a couple of weeks ago.  Traffic is now shifted one lane over to the right through the I-495/HOT lanes intersection, thereby restoring the left thru lane.

[Albert]

Westbound I-8 to Northbound I-5 added a lane on the exit in 2014 and in the advance in 2018-19. As part of the lane addition in 2019, one of the I-8 shields was restriped for an I-5 shield.

[PurdueBill]

For over 20 years, INDOT's striping where US 24 WB meets and joins US 35 NB was nuts with 35 widening to dual carriageway just to the south (east) and it widening to 2 lanes from 1 that direction, and then 24 having a Yield to turn right onto 35.  Fortunately it was finally changed last year to one lane through for 35 and an added lane for 24.  Especially with trucks, it could happen when traffic was somewhat busier for there to be a stack up waiting to turn right to stay on 24 which was really needless.  (Street view has yet to capture the new configuration which is a LOT better.)

https://goo.gl/maps/9LtKbvbLX5G6dTED8

[fillup420]

This was just done in Chapel Hill NC at I-40/US 15-501. The original setup had three through lanes of 40 West through the interchange, with the left lane ending just beyond the end of the westbound entrance ramp. This caused an awkward merge from both sides, and frequent slowdowns in the afternoons. It was recently restriped to make the right lane exit only to 15/501, and a wide left shoulder. It solved the merging issues overnight, and now there aren't slowdowns at that point.