Tollway for US 20 west of Rockford, IL?

[Revive 755]

http://www.rrstar.com/news/x1249727817/In-Sundays-paper-Tolls-might-be-best-way-to-expand-U-S-20

[3467]

http://www.rrstar.com/carousel/x1186097781/Chuck-Sweeny-U-S-20-freeway-is-no-longer-worth-pursuing

Probably the more realitic suggestion. I would add that US 20 with a continuous passing lane would solve all the problems. The billion is low allready The Galena Bypass alone is up to 250 million. I do not see where the toll money comes from. There have been 2 previous downtate toll studies (I-24 extension and Chicago -Kansas City) Neither were feasable. I suspect if IDOT offered a 3  lane to everybody or a future dream I think most would take the 3 lane now

[3467]

http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2011-07-14/html/2011-17709.htm

Another part of teh US 20 plan was cancelled . This would have curved the corridor south from Souix City to Norfolk down to I-80

[Revive 755]

http://www.rrstar.com/carousel/x1186097781/Chuck-Sweeny-U-S-20-freeway-is-no-longer-worth-pursuing

Probably the more realitic suggestion. I would add that US 20 with a continuous passing lane would solve all the problems. The billion is low allready The Galena Bypass alone is up to 250 million. I do not see where the toll money comes from. There have been 2 previous downtate toll studies (I-24 extension and Chicago -Kansas City) Neither were feasable. I suspect if IDOT offered a 3  lane to everybody or a future dream I think most would take the 3 lane now

Part of US 20 is basically three lane west of Freeport - due to climbing lanes - and at least in tourist season could use an upgrade to a four lane design.  The existing four lane section between IL 84 and Dubuque could use a new set of eastbound lanes on a better alignment.

[Rick Powell]

Suicide lanes do not work that well on high speed rural highways for obvious reasons.  Operationally they improve things slightly, but you will be reading a lot about some messy crashes if this idea is ever pursued.  Especially with the hilly terrain between Galena and Freeport.  A series of one way passing lanes would be better - they were used on US 82 in western Alabama for years before the section was eventually 4-laned.

[NE2]

Who said anything about suicide lanes? Do any highways in the US still have them (other than maybe the Colonial Parkway)?

[3467]

755 said "3lane" I know he meant alternating passing lane not suicide lanes. I dont know of any non wurban suicide lanes in the Midwest.
Missouri just opened alternating passing lanes on a road with 8000 vpd and I have not heard of mass death . i was going to put a link to the article about it.

As nice as freeways would be their cost in this corridor and most others would be staggering (24 million a mile on US 20)This is compared to 3 million a mile to complete alternating passing lanes.
I think it is worth asking the tollway but I dont see the route generating enough traffic and cash to pay for a Tollway or even half the cost.

[NE2]

755 said "3lane" I know he meant alternating passing lane not suicide lanes. I dont know of any non wurban suicide lanes in the Midwest.

Where are there suicide lanes in the Midwest (lanes in which both directions can pass and neither direction has right-of-way over the other)?

[Brandon]

755 said "3lane" I know he meant alternating passing lane not suicide lanes. I dont know of any non wurban suicide lanes in the Midwest.

Where are there suicide lanes in the Midwest (lanes in which both directions can pass and neither direction has right-of-way over the other)?

Beats me.  I haven't seen that setup for a very long time.  I assumed 755 was talking about climbing lanes (which are sorely needed on that stretch of US-20).

[3467]

Sometimes center turn lanes have been called suicide lanes. They really are not because they are for turning not passing.
I have never seen actual evidence of a true suicide lane anywhere. I heard a rumor that Texas once had some but I have never seen any real evidence of them.
I think there are about 15 miles of passing lanes out of 47 miles of 2 lane US 20. There should be 40

[agentsteel53]

Who said anything about suicide lanes? Do any highways in the US still have them (other than maybe the Colonial Parkway)?

for those not familiar with the Colonial Parkway, there are no lane stripes at all - just three parallel slabs of concrete with clear seams between them.  neither median nor shoulders are marked with any sort of paint.
 
when I drove the Colonial, drivers were treating it as a two-lane road.  it's either two regular-width lanes or three very narrow ones, as the slabs of concrete are, I believe, 9 feet wide each (maybe 10 - certainly not 12 or 13).  Vehicles were driving with one set of wheels just inside the slab boundary, thereby taking up two lanes if the three-lane configuration is to be believed.

I would not attempt a suicide pass there, lest the name come true.

I recall reading somewhere that a section of US-1 in south Virginia was restriped away from a true suicide configuration (pair of dashed yellow lines) to alternate passing lanes sometime in the early 2000s.

that said ... I just saw (and I wish for the life of me I remembered where!  New Mexico maybe?) a three-lane road with dotted lines between each adjacent lane pair.  dashed yellow in one direction, separating one lane of downhill traffic from two lanes of uphill traffic.  dashed white separating the two uphill lanes.

there were no signs explaining expected driver behavior, but if the stripes are to be believed, uphill traffic had the right to encroach into the downhill lane to pass, and downhill traffic could enter the middle (and maybe even the outer uphill???) lane.  this in opposition to most three-lane configurations, where uphill traffic had only its assigned two lanes, while downhill could use the middle lane, yielding to uphill.

so this parallel-dashed-lines configuration is likely the closest we'll see these days to the old suicide configuration.

[Alps]

Colonial is three lanes still, just that most drivers are afraid of it. I've indeed used the center passing lane without a problem. US 1 was also indeed converted in the early 2000s - my website even has a submitted photo of the old striping. Regarding your observed hill striping, I've seen it too, and not in NM, so it's not a unique case to have yellow dash centerline and white dash lane line on a 3-lane road. In that case, yes, in fact, you could use all three lanes in the 2-lane direction (uphill), but I believe you can only use the leftmost lane for a total of two downhill.

[hobsini2]

i can tell you that there are still suicide lanes in the Midwest however they are not as poorly designed as they once were. For example, on WI 23 in Green Lake, there is still a suicide lane but that is for WB use only.  It is a double yellow for EB 23 now.  This is due to a steep grade and 23 being one of the highest volume state routes in central WI.

[NE2]

For example, on WI 23 in Green Lake, there is still a suicide lane but that is for WB use only.

That's not a suicide lane...

[3467]

http://www.rrstar.com/insight/x639945287/Chuck-Sweeny-U-S-20-group-weighs-toll-detour-around-Congress

An update. The Tollway would want all of US 20 from 90 to Galena just like they want all of Route 53

[sr641]

Who said anything about suicide lanes? Do any highways in the US still have them (other than maybe the Colonial Parkway)?

The Pennsylvania Turnpike has suicide lanes.

[InterstateNG]

Please stop posting.

[sr641]

Please stop posting.

Who are you? 

[kphoger]

A true suicide lane is a center lane between two directions of transit which is intended as a passing lane for both directions, and for which neither direction has assumed right-of-way.  A passing lane added to a two-lane road doesn't count, even if opposing traffic has a broken center line, because one direction still has right-of-way over the other.

[sr641]

They need to build a northwestern bypass aroung Macomb, Illionis.

[agentsteel53]

Who are you?  

someone who wants you to quit posting.

what right do you have to pollute discussions with your feeble-mindedly inane horseshit?

[sr641]

The US 20 tollway is a good idea. It will connect to the US 20 freeway in Iowa. I think Iowa should make US 20 a tollway.

[NE2]

I think Indiana should make your internet pipe a tollway.

[sr641]

I think Indiana should make your internet pipe a tollway.

They do. I pay $80 a month for internet.

[kphoger]

I think Indiana should make your internet pipe a tollway.

They do. I pay $80 a month for internet.

To the state of Indiana?  Really?