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Delaware

Started by Alex, February 11, 2009, 10:22:27 PM

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74/171FAN

I am now a PennDOT employee.  My opinions/views do not necessarily reflect the opinions/views of PennDOT.


MASTERNC

#2151
I-95 is blocked near Newark due to a police-involved shooting.  Looks like a nightmare to travel on any of the alternate routes.

https://www.wdel.com/news/shooting-closes-i-95/article_c295d8f0-724a-11ed-bfb5-9b118e7948f3.html

Alex4897

Quote from: MASTERNC on December 02, 2022, 09:56:45 AM
I-95 is blocked near Newark due to a police-involved shooting.  Looks like a nightmare to travel on any of the alternate routes.

https://www.wdel.com/news/shooting-closes-i-95/article_c295d8f0-724a-11ed-bfb5-9b118e7948f3.html

The guy involved carjacked multiple people, including a friend of mine's mother, starting in Newport before working his way onto 95, reportedly going the wrong direction on the interstate at some point. Apparently the police had were firing on the suspect from a helicopter once they had him pinned down. Wild day, luckily it seems like no one else was seriously hurt.

Downtown Newark has been a nightmare all day with all the trucks from Maryland trying to squeeze down Delaware Avenue.
👉😎👉

MASTERNC

#2153
Quote from: Alex4897 on December 02, 2022, 02:04:34 PM
Quote from: MASTERNC on December 02, 2022, 09:56:45 AM
I-95 is blocked near Newark due to a police-involved shooting.  Looks like a nightmare to travel on any of the alternate routes.

https://www.wdel.com/news/shooting-closes-i-95/article_c295d8f0-724a-11ed-bfb5-9b118e7948f3.html

The guy involved carjacked multiple people, including a friend of mine's mother, starting in Newport before working his way onto 95, reportedly going the wrong direction on the interstate at some point. Apparently the police had were firing on the suspect from a helicopter once they had him pinned down. Wild day, luckily it seems like no one else was seriously hurt.

Downtown Newark has been a nightmare all day with all the trucks from Maryland trying to squeeze down Delaware Avenue.

Knowing that the police have an investigation on their hands, it's amazing other troops or agencies aren't handling traffic.  I witnessed traffic on cameras trying to make left turns around vehicles stopped in the intersection (and cross traffic trying to do the same at the same time).  At least it appears the truck restriction on 4/896 is being waived.

jmacswimmer

I-95 VMS's on the Maryland side are warning about it as far back as the Maryland House and are encouraging traffic to divert over to US 40 early. Which seems to be working, because there appears to be barely any backup on northbound approaching exit 109. MD 279 on either side of I-95, on the other hand...

Another random thought: In addition to the horrendous traffic on all side roads, this also craters DelDOT's toll revenue for the day with the Newark toll plaza falling within the closed area.
"Now, what if da Bearss were to enter the Indianapolis 5-hunnert?"
"How would they compete?"
"Let's say they rode together in a big buss."
"Is Ditka driving?"
"Of course!"
"Then I like da Bear buss."
"DA BEARSSS BUSSSS"

Alex4897

#2155
Quote from: MASTERNC on December 02, 2022, 02:16:06 PM
Quote from: Alex4897 on December 02, 2022, 02:04:34 PM
Quote from: MASTERNC on December 02, 2022, 09:56:45 AM
I-95 is blocked near Newark due to a police-involved shooting.  Looks like a nightmare to travel on any of the alternate routes.

https://www.wdel.com/news/shooting-closes-i-95/article_c295d8f0-724a-11ed-bfb5-9b118e7948f3.html

The guy involved carjacked multiple people, including a friend of mine's mother, starting in Newport before working his way onto 95, reportedly going the wrong direction on the interstate at some point. Apparently the police had were firing on the suspect from a helicopter once they had him pinned down. Wild day, luckily it seems like no one else was seriously hurt.

Downtown Newark has been a nightmare all day with all the trucks from Maryland trying to squeeze down Delaware Avenue.

Knowing that the police have an investigation on their hands, it's amazing other troops or agencies aren't handling traffic.  I witnessed traffic on cameras trying to make left turns around vehicles stopped in the intersection (and cross traffic trying to do the same at the same time).  At least it appears the truck restriction on 4/896 is being waived.

Someone from DelDOT showed up to manually control the light at SR 896 / Amstel Avenue around 1pm, though that light wasn't nearly as much of a problem for traffic as all the lights on Delaware Avenue are. I didn't walk down Delaware Avenue though so I'm not sure if anyone's controlling the lights to free up the bottleneck through town there.

EDIT

As the afternoon / evening rush starts to pick up with the interstate still closed, it looks like most of the traffic is being shunted away from Newark and forced onto SR 4, which isn't making for a good time. Backups are approaching 50 minutes long from 273 to 896.

👉😎👉

74/171FAN

I am now a PennDOT employee.  My opinions/views do not necessarily reflect the opinions/views of PennDOT.

sprjus4

Quote from: froggie on December 02, 2022, 07:14:29 AM
^ Some of those look more like RIRO than actual interchange ramps.  Or are ramps with VERY TIGHT turning radii.  Wouldn't quite call that a freeway.  Nor do I expect them to actually build 6 lanes.
It's still a freeway... no different than US-50 / US-301 in Maryland.

4 or 6 through lanes, controlled access (no private driveways), all roadways cross either over or under the facility with connections via ramps only.

The ramps might have tight radii but they're still ramps and have long acceleration lanes.

froggie

They're not all ramps.  The RIROs would disqualify it from being freeway.  And if you zoom in closely, some of those on-ramps will also have stop signs.

jeffandnicole

Quote from: Alex4897 on December 02, 2022, 02:30:03 PM
Quote from: MASTERNC on December 02, 2022, 02:16:06 PM
Quote from: Alex4897 on December 02, 2022, 02:04:34 PM
Quote from: MASTERNC on December 02, 2022, 09:56:45 AM
I-95 is blocked near Newark due to a police-involved shooting.  Looks like a nightmare to travel on any of the alternate routes.

https://www.wdel.com/news/shooting-closes-i-95/article_c295d8f0-724a-11ed-bfb5-9b118e7948f3.html

The guy involved carjacked multiple people, including a friend of mine's mother, starting in Newport before working his way onto 95, reportedly going the wrong direction on the interstate at some point. Apparently the police had were firing on the suspect from a helicopter once they had him pinned down. Wild day, luckily it seems like no one else was seriously hurt.

Downtown Newark has been a nightmare all day with all the trucks from Maryland trying to squeeze down Delaware Avenue.

Knowing that the police have an investigation on their hands, it's amazing other troops or agencies aren't handling traffic.  I witnessed traffic on cameras trying to make left turns around vehicles stopped in the intersection (and cross traffic trying to do the same at the same time).  At least it appears the truck restriction on 4/896 is being waived.

Someone from DelDOT showed up to manually control the light at SR 896 / Amstel Avenue around 1pm, though that light wasn't nearly as much of a problem for traffic as all the lights on Delaware Avenue are. I didn't walk down Delaware Avenue though so I'm not sure if anyone's controlling the lights to free up the bottleneck through town there.

EDIT

As the afternoon / evening rush starts to pick up with the interstate still closed, it looks like most of the traffic is being shunted away from Newark and forced onto SR 4, which isn't making for a good time. Backups are approaching 50 minutes long from 273 to 896.

This story has been updated to seemingly reveal very little of the chase actually occurred on 95.  Old Cooch's Road sits just off of the 95/896 interchange ( https://goo.gl/maps/46C1ifVYtyGkTYY28 ), and the woods are only about 75 feet between there and 95.  The suspect appears to have managed to carjack a vehicle on 95, but the pursuit only lasted less than a mile on 95 itself.

As far as police controlling intersections:  That's basically a relic from a bygone era when roads were smaller and intersections were easier to control.  Today, and especially in Delaware, they have wide roads with traffic lights that can adjust to traffic conditions, and overridden by controllers in HQ.  The intersection where someone may have been manually controlling traffic may not have had this capability or the link was down.  With these wide intersections, you need two officers, and they're not really going to be able to do much that the light can't do.  Maybe a few key intersections can benefit, especially the downstream lights that may be holding up much of the traffic, but otherwise the police still have their day-to-day stuff they have to handle and respond to, and trying to deal with numerous intersection control takes away from those duties.

The biggest benefit would be to reduce/prevent traffic from gridlocking an intersection as you mentioned, but traffic tends to weave their way around cars.  In law enforcement's view, drivers figure out their own way to make it work.

Don't forget, Delaware also road dieted Main St (which becomes Elkton Road and DE/MD 279) over the years.  Great for pedestrian safety.  Not great when you have to close a major interstate.  Even if the intersections are controlled, traffic is still limited by the short distance of a single lane on this road.

Most often, you'll see officers controlling traffic at stadium events.  Most of the time, they are on overtime shifts paid by the team or entity, not regular duty, so they're not taken away from the normal demands of the local police departments. There tends to be two factors that go into putting officers at intersections:  Pedestrians and traffic restrictions.  When there's areas near arenas that see a large number of pedestrians (ie: crossing the street from parking lots), the officers are there mostly to assist with them.  Also, if there's a road or parking lot where traffic is restricted, you tend to see officers at those intersections as well. 

As far as the trucks on Route 4:  It would look really bad for the police to not control intersections, but then pull trucks over on Route 4 for an issue well beyond their control.  And even then, if there's a hundred trucks ignore the restriction per hour, putting 2 cops out there only means you're going to pull over 4 or so of these trucks an hour.  The route is safe for trucks; there's no weight or size limitations.  It's just to prevent trucks from going around the tolls en masse.  Forcing trucks off Route 4 mainly will entail pushing them into the University of Delaware area, making matters much worse for traffic there.  Overall, just let the trucks be.  Worry about enforcement another day.

And frankly, you also tend to see the difference here between a major city that deals with shootings on a regular basis, and a police department that doesn't.  City police departments don't generally keep a major interstate closed for 9+ hours with an investigation. In fact, you gotta kinda wonder what the DSP was still investigating at that point. 

The loss of toll revenue is a great point; that's not something they can recoup.  When the Delaware Memorial Bridge was closed a number of years ago due to an issue with a nearby chemical plant, that plant ultimately did reimburse the DRBA for the estimated loss of tolls.  Not gonna happen with this incident.

Alex4897

#2160
Quote from: jeffandnicole on December 03, 2022, 11:18:41 AM
Don't forget, Delaware also road dieted Main St (which becomes Elkton Road and DE/MD 279) over the years.  Great for pedestrian safety.  Not great when you have to close a major interstate.  Even if the intersections are controlled, traffic is still limited by the short distance of a single lane on this road.

AFAIK, S Main St had one lane bottlenecks entering Delaware Ave and leaving Main St even before the road diet that saw the 4 lane section end between Apple and Beverly. Northbound the right lane threw you onto Amstel, and southbound you were still limited by that one lane left turn from Main Street onto South Main St. Even then, the traffic lights in downtown were backing traffic up so much yesterday that the lane drops didn't even matter.
👉😎👉

jeffandnicole

#2161
Quote from: Alex4897 on December 03, 2022, 01:12:33 PM
Quote from: jeffandnicole on December 03, 2022, 11:18:41 AM
Don't forget, Delaware also road dieted Main St (which becomes Elkton Road and DE/MD 279) over the years.  Great for pedestrian safety.  Not great when you have to close a major interstate.  Even if the intersections are controlled, traffic is still limited by the short distance of a single lane on this road.

AFAIK, S Main St had one lane bottlenecks entering Delaware Ave and leaving Main St even before the road diet that saw the 4 lane section end between Apple and Beverly. Northbound the right lane threw you onto Amstel, and southbound you were still limited by that one lane left turn from Main Street onto South Main St. Even then, the traffic lights in downtown were backing traffic up so much yesterday that the lane drops didn't even matter.

Yeah, I looked back to what I could (barely) see on Historic Aerials in the mid-1990's when I was in college, and I think the turns were 1 lane back then too.

74/171FAN

I am now a PennDOT employee.  My opinions/views do not necessarily reflect the opinions/views of PennDOT.

ixnay

#2163
Looking at DelDOT's webcam at DE 1 and 16, it appears the temporary roadway for DE 1 to be used during the actual construction of the overpass is pretty well along.

And further down DE 1 at the Cave Neck Road intersection that itself is due to become split grade in a few years, looking at https://kleinfelder.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=25615b55fe1d4b6db101a4a348e137c4 , it looks like Heritage Antiques and the Red Mill Inn (a motel) will survive *that* improvement.

And unless I missed it, what's with the Marsh Road (DE 3) closure at Hillcrest Ave. in the Bellefonte/Mount Pleasant HS area (thru 12/16)?  Cross pipe construction?
The Washington/Baltimore/Arlington CSA has two Key Bridges, a Minnesota Avenue, and a Mannasota Avenue.

74/171FAN

I am now a PennDOT employee.  My opinions/views do not necessarily reflect the opinions/views of PennDOT.

74/171FAN

I am now a PennDOT employee.  My opinions/views do not necessarily reflect the opinions/views of PennDOT.

74/171FAN

(For DE 9)  TRAFFIC ALERT - New Castle County - Route 9 and the Reedy Point Bridge to Close for Three Months

Though there is no indication of actual work on the Reedy Point Bridge...
I am now a PennDOT employee.  My opinions/views do not necessarily reflect the opinions/views of PennDOT.

74/171FAN

I am now a PennDOT employee.  My opinions/views do not necessarily reflect the opinions/views of PennDOT.

74/171FAN

I am now a PennDOT employee.  My opinions/views do not necessarily reflect the opinions/views of PennDOT.

74/171FAN

I am now a PennDOT employee.  My opinions/views do not necessarily reflect the opinions/views of PennDOT.

74/171FAN

I am now a PennDOT employee.  My opinions/views do not necessarily reflect the opinions/views of PennDOT.

74/171FAN

I am now a PennDOT employee.  My opinions/views do not necessarily reflect the opinions/views of PennDOT.

74/171FAN

I am now a PennDOT employee.  My opinions/views do not necessarily reflect the opinions/views of PennDOT.

74/171FAN

I am now a PennDOT employee.  My opinions/views do not necessarily reflect the opinions/views of PennDOT.

ixnay

#2174
Quote from: 74/171FAN on January 12, 2023, 11:58:00 AM
(For DE 54) Bridge 3-437 on Lighthouse Rd over Assawoman Bay

If DelDOT is talking about the bridge(s) by Harpoon Hanna's. per Bridge Reports those bridges replaced a rickety causeway 20 years ago.  I've driven over the newer bridges several times (and the old ones a couple of times in the '90s).  Has that bridge deteriorated that much already?
The Washington/Baltimore/Arlington CSA has two Key Bridges, a Minnesota Avenue, and a Mannasota Avenue.



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