New York

[vdeane]

Yep, I have hit traffic in NYC, too.  But, perpetual gridlock every day all day?  Nah.
Other cities in the U.S. have worse traffic.

And would I willingly live in or near any of them?  Nope!  Traffic that's worse than what I deal with here is a deal-breaker for me.

[kalvado]

You need to think about changes to street design on a person basis, not a vehicle basis. If BRT infrastructure is able to support significantly higher ridership at the cost of decreased speeds for other vehicles, on a person basis you are providing a good result for a majority of people. SBS in NYC has not been able to achieve that for a variety of reasons, mainly the city's complete ineptitude in any degree of bus lane enforcement, but I digress. There's no reason to prioritize the unimpeded movement of the most space-inefficient transportation method when we can be making massive improvements in modes that are much more efficient.

Making bus lanes at least to break even in terms of persons per hour is fairly difficult.
Traffic lane without signals can handle about 1 vehicle every 2 seconds, or 1800 per hour. Traffic light push the number down, but something like 1000 cars per hour is achievable
A packed bus can hold 100 people with comfort of sardines in a can, so dedicated bus lane needs a packed bus every 6 minutes, and every 3 minutes to allow passengers breathing out of sync - just to break even. 60 buses an hour would make it a good improvement - but I doubt that is possible logistics wise.

[D-Dey65]

Okay, but you have to admit it's not always easy to find a parking spot.

Yep, I have hit traffic in NYC, too.  But, perpetual gridlock every day all day?  Nah.
Other cities in the U.S. have worse traffic.

That's definitely true... unless somebody has evidence that NYC has surpassed LA and DC (not likely at this time).

[vdeane]

At least LA and DC don't require some of their suburbs to go through congested choke points to get to or from the entire rest of the world.  And if anything like another 9/11 happens, Long Island becomes completely isolated from the entire rest of the country, with no way on or off except for some slow and expensive ferries.

The problem is that fixing this costs far, far too much because infrastructure is very expensive in the US in general and downstate NY in particular.

[SignBridge]

That's why we need another bridge across Long Island Sound. But it doesn't seem like that will happen in my lifetime.

[Roadgeek Adam]

And never will.

[SignBridge]

Never say never. Things change over time. Public attitudes change. At some point in the distant future public pressure may finally favor such a crossing. We simply can't predict the future.

Ten years ago the Long Island Railroad couldn't find enough public support to build a third track from Floral Park to Hicksville, and everyone thought that idea was dead. But ten years later now there is public support, largely from the business community and construction is slated to begin soon.

[Rothman]

NEVER.

[Mergingtraffic]

Never say never. Things change over time. Public attitudes change. At some point in the distant future public pressure may finally favor such a crossing. We simply can't predict the future.

Ten years ago the Long Island Railroad couldn't find enough public support to build a third track from Floral Park to Hicksville, and everyone thought that idea was dead. But ten years later now there is public support, largely from the business community and construction is slated to begin soon.

Soon, the anti-freeway people will die off.  Those that were born when freeways were all the rage and were growing up during the anti-freeway crusade.  Younger people won't see what it's like to see suburban sprawl take place because they're already living in it.

[froggie]

^ I don't think you fully understand this younger generation, Mergingtraffic.  Not only are they smaller than the Baby Boomers who are starting to "die off", but it has been well demonstrated through drivers license and vehicle registration data that they are less interested in driving than older generations.

[vdeane]

I suspect that is far more economic than pundits claim.  Back when my generation first started graduating, they were little different than the boomers in terms of attitudes towards cars.  Trouble is, that was when the recession was at its worst, leaving many with a lot of debt and no job or one that didn't pay the bills... not exactly a situation amenable to getting a car.  If my generation ever became more economically sound, in the sense that the previous two generations take for granted, that might change.

Take my coworker, for example.  When she first started, she didn't have a car, and had no plans to buy one in her life.  She took the bus to work and Amtrak to visit family.  Trouble is, traveling by Amtrak with a cat isn't exactly easy, so she started renting cars for those trips... and the costs of the rentals eventually exceeded the cost of owning a car.  At that point, she bought a used Prius, though she planned to continue taking the bus to work.  She started driving in two days a week since parking was scarce on those days due to street cleaning and construction, discovered how nice it was to not have to worry about the unreliability in the bus schedule (or to have to walk a few blocks to/from the stop in winter when nobody plows their sidewalk in a timely fashion), and now drives in every day.

[froggie]

My observations from other parts of the country outside of Upstate New York are a bit different, Val, and more in line with what I had posted earlier.

[kalvado]

My observations from other parts of the country outside of Upstate New York are a bit different, Val, and more in line with what I had posted earlier.

Can also be "sour grapes" thing. Then it would look a bit different from inside than from the outside.

[vdeane]

I see it as part of the larger trend of pundits blaming millennials for things and claiming we have different preferences while not factoring in the fact that our buying power is significantly less than what other generations had at our age.  It's as if they're trying doing everything possible to avoid this fact.  It's worth noting that the economic gains of recent years by and large have NOT trickled down to young people.  This single fact explains just about everything pundits try to pin on changing culture.

http://fortune.com/2014/08/29/millennial-car-buying/

It turns out that Millennials like cars as much as any previous generation. They just haven't been able to afford them until now. The same applies to other life-changing events: They weren't avoiding marriage and child-rearing, they were just putting them off until they could afford them. They were just being practical.

According the results of a new J.D. Power study that tracks buyer behavior reported last month in WardsAuto: "As Gen Y consumers enter new life stages, earn higher incomes and grow their families, their ability and desire to acquire new vehicles is increasing."

[cpzilliacus]

N.Y. Times editorial: New York City Is Thriving. Why Is Transport Such a Nightmare? - The New York City Council considers a package of bills to freeze the number of Uber-type cars on city streets. But that's at best a partial answer to a systemic crisis.

New York is one of the most prosperous cities in the world, yet it has one of the world's most dysfunctional transportation systems. Delays plague the subway a year after Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority promised to fix that mess. The roads, especially in Manhattan, are in not much better shape. Average traffic speeds south of 60th Street have fallen nearly 22 percent in the past seven years, according to the City Department of Transportation. At the same time, many taxi and livery drivers say that they can barely afford to make ends meet – six of them have killed themselves in recent months. One shot himself in front of City Hall to protest officials whom he accused of flooding the streets with for-hire cars and driving him to ruin.

The New York City Council will soon vote on a package of bills that lawmakers pledge would reduce congestion and improve the lives of taxi and Uber drivers. While the bills offer some important progress, they wouldn't do nearly enough to address the city's transportation woes.

[D-Dey65]

I have some neighbors. The husband is from Pittsburgh, the wife is from Brooklyn, and their kids were born in the Tampa Bay area. Recently, they came back from a drive to NYC, partially because they wanted the kids to see where their mother grew up, and give them tours of the Statue of Liberty, and possibly the 9/11 memorial, the latter of which they passed up. When they finally arrived the husband was overwhelmed by how bad the traffic was not only in the Tri-State area, but in Baltimore, Metro DC, and a few other regions. And this is a guy who thought traffic in Tampa was bad.

[The Ghostbuster]

I saw on Wikipedia that Interstate 84 changed its exit sequence from sequential to mileage-based last month. Can someone confirm whether or not this is the case?

[hotdogPi]

I saw on Wikipedia that Interstate 84 changed its exit sequence from sequential to mileage-based last month. Can someone confirm whether or not this is the case?

Some people on Wikipedia are just too eager to change. I-195 in Rhode Island, RI 10, and RI 37 are also listed as having switched on Wikipedia, even though I don't think they have.

However, if you read the article on I-84 in New York:

These exits are numbered sequentially; however, NYSDOT has begun plans to convert its section of I-84 to mile-based exits.

[machias]

I saw on Wikipedia that Interstate 84 changed its exit sequence from sequential to mileage-based last month. Can someone confirm whether or not this is the case?

It is the case. See NYSDOT plans D263712.
https://www.dot.ny.gov/portal/pls/portal/MEXIS_APP.BC_CONST_NOTICE_ADMIN.VIEWFILE?p_file_id=21436&p_is_digital=Y

[Michael]

I'm looking at the NYSDOT projects page, and I never thought to ask this in this thread until now: Why does NYSDOT seem to be replacing stoplights that seem fine?  I just saw that this signal is going to be replaced with a set of mast arms as a part of project D263544.  Here in Auburn, both the eastbound and westbound lights on the Arterial at State St were replaced in 2016.  The current Street View images for both directions show both the old and new signals.  I don't recall ever seeing these replaced, but they didn't look that old.  My best guess is that they were replaced for better visibility, but then why were these replaced?  I remember them being replaced as a kid in the mid 90s, and they were replaced again in 2013 or so.  I think both the signal heads and the poles were replaced in the 90s, so I don't think they would have been replaced because of weak poles.

As an aside, I saw an all text "WALK/DON'T WALK" signal in Rome a few weeks ago.  I think it was this one.

[Plutonic Panda]

And never will.

It will happen.

[froggie]

^ You really don't understand Long Island if you think this is going to happen.

[seicer]

Despite having driven I-99 a lot, I just noticed the final service signs going northbound still read for Exit 4, when it's (long?) been Exit 13. (e.g. https://goo.gl/maps/9CLZcNQ1eFA2)

[Roadgeek Adam]

Despite having driven I-99 a lot, I just noticed the final service signs going northbound still read for Exit 4, when it's (long?) been Exit 13. (e.g. https://goo.gl/maps/9CLZcNQ1eFA2)

Street View is 2013.

Also, sometimes they miss signage if it's still like that in 2018

[seicer]

It's based on my experience driving through last night that it still reads Exit 4A/B.