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New "Safety Corridor" Zones coming to Phoenix area

Started by howlincoyote2k1, December 14, 2016, 03:03:07 PM

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Max Rockatansky

Quote from: coatimundi on January 07, 2017, 12:57:57 PM
Quote from: coatimundi on January 06, 2017, 12:30:29 PM
I'm actually going to ask my father-in-law about this tonight (he's lived in Tucson most of his life).

Casa Grande, so 93. He said he's taken the Coolidge route but did not recall doing so as a kid. I asked about US 80, through Florence and AJ, and he said no because it took too long to drive through the little towns.
I mean, maybe you can find someone old enough to have driven the routes that remembers them. It would be interesting to hear about the pre-Casa Grande Highway days when I think US 80 would have been a more attractive option.

That's the thing, finding someone in Arizona who was born there before the 1980s is difficult enough.  The oldest person I know well who is an Arizona native would be my brother's father-in-law and he was born in the 1950s.  I would be fascinated to just hear about when US Routes were largely still gravel or even dirt.  That being the case 87 might have been a more attractive option that US 80 even by the late 1930s as this 1938 shows map shows 87 paved while 80/89 to the east was still gravel:

https://www.arizonaroads.com/maps/1938-3.jpg


JKRhodes

Quote from: howlincoyote2k1 on December 15, 2016, 05:53:13 PM
What I find kind of weird is how long it took us to get up to 65 in the city. For a long while, it was stuck at 55, and I think we got the bump up around....2001 or so?

That's correct, and I remember it well, because of a ticket I received in December 2000 at Mile Marker 196(Idaho Road Exit) on US 60. I ended up writing an angry letter to the Governor's Office of Highway Safety pointing out how ridiculous it was to have a modern urban freeway posted at 55, while the older, narrower, non-access controlled segment just east in Gold Canyon (this was before all the stoplights) was much more dangerous and had a speed limit of 65. The speed limits were altered shortly thereafter, so perhaps they listened... or had been planning to do it for a while anyway.

JKRhodes

Quote from: J N Winkler on January 04, 2017, 02:12:34 PM

*  I-10 in Arizona now has a speed limit pulldown to 65 MPH just west of San Simon.  This covers the length between MP 374 and MP 377 that was implicated in a couple of bad dust storms, the first in late April 2016 and the second the following mid-May, that resulted in numerous collisions killing a total of three people, destruction of a DPS vehicle, $600,000 in direct response costs for public agencies, and--at one point--full closure of 62 miles of I-10 between Safford and Lordsburg (detour length of 110 miles).  Nearly all of the dust came from a single farm field near the Interstate at MP 376 that is owned by an absentee landlord living in Atlanta.  He had directed his agent to blade it clear in preparation for planting a grove, which set the stage for a "dust channel" at wind speeds greater than 15 MPH.  After the April dust storm he responded to pressure from state agencies and laid down liquid (water according to some online sources, "gorilla snot" according to others) for dust suppression.  The 65 MPH pulldown is permanent, and part of the action plan for dealing with future dust events is to put out signs for a temporary reduction to 45 MPH.  There are now solar-powered flasher signs to warn of dust (diamond-shaped sign says "Visibility Limited" or perhaps "Limited Visibility," supplemental plate says "When Flashing"), as well as rectangular yellow-background signs instructing motorists what to do when dust compromises visibility (pull off the road ASAP, douse all lights including headlamps and hazard flashers, set parking brake, take foot off service brake).  I don't remember whether the pulldown is part of a safety corridor.  None of this signing is yet visible in StreetView, which in this area dates from 2014 at the latest.  There is also a weigh station near San Simon (recently constructed or renovated, I think) with WIM and a lane-changing prohibition (enforced with a double white stripe) that I found to be a nuisance.

*  I-10 in New Mexico has similar issues with blowing dust but no active signing as in Arizona.  Instead, there are rectangular yellow-background signs of two types:  one warning of the possibility of dust storms over the next X miles, and the other a four-sign sequence (repeated after important exits) that spells out the specific hazards associated with blowing dust.  I suspect the safety corridor along the straight stretch between Gage and the west end of the Deming bypass was created in response to a bad dust storm similar to San Simon in 2016, and its speed limit pulldown (to 65 MPH) is the model for the one now in place in Arizona.

That segment of I-10 near San Simon is having dust issues again... Today it was closed for at least the third time in under a month. Now I'm curious to see if there are any long-term solutions in the works. It's getting bad.

mrsman

Quote from: roadiejay on February 27, 2017, 09:11:06 PM
Quote from: howlincoyote2k1 on December 15, 2016, 05:53:13 PM
What I find kind of weird is how long it took us to get up to 65 in the city. For a long while, it was stuck at 55, and I think we got the bump up around....2001 or so?

That's correct, and I remember it well, because of a ticket I received in December 2000 at Mile Marker 196(Idaho Road Exit) on US 60. I ended up writing an angry letter to the Governor's Office of Highway Safety pointing out how ridiculous it was to have a modern urban freeway posted at 55, while the older, narrower, non-access controlled segment just east in Gold Canyon (this was before all the stoplights) was much more dangerous and had a speed limit of 65. The speed limits were altered shortly thereafter, so perhaps they listened... or had been planning to do it for a while anyway.



You are lucky.  The state could have just as easily changed the speed limit of the older section to 55 in order to be "fair".

JKRhodes

#54
Quote
You are lucky.  The state could have just as easily changed the speed limit of the older section to 55 in order to be "fair".

That was actually part of the solution, but IKWYM.  :pan:


US 60 is now 65 MPH from I-10 all the way to Mountain View Road, dropping to 55 in the section with roadside development and several stoplights (5 westbound, 4 eastbound), and going back up to 65 once you get past the last signal at Peralta Road.

thenetwork

Quote from: Sonic99 on January 03, 2017, 07:33:42 PM
Quote from: jeffandnicole on January 03, 2017, 12:19:39 PM
Quote from: coatimundi on January 03, 2017, 11:57:26 AM
...I don't know if people just can't handle hitting a tunnel and having to flip their sunglasses...

I've seen this at other tunnels.  And in many cases, the driver starts out ok, but drops their speed as they go thru.  I don't know if it's a claustrophobic thing or what, but some people will unnecessarily drop their speed as they continue thru the tunnel.

Me...I speed up!  :nod:

And roll the windows down...

And downshift...

And honk the horn to measure the accoustics...



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