I just returned home from a short drive into Maryland, and I must say that DelDOT did a remarkably poor job handling a planned lane closure on I-95 at DE 141/US 202 (which coincidently is at a crucial point in the I-95/I-495/I-295 sequence of splits).
All four lanes carrying through I-95/I-495 traffic were closed—apparently to accommodate work underneath the DE 141/US 202 overpass. So all I-95/I-495 traffic was forced to merge into the two lanes marked for I-295, and vehicles came to a crawl back to the Christiana Mall and beyond. But I’m not complaining about the backup; that’s perhaps unavoidable if the lane closure was necessary.
What I found troublesome was the lack of any temporary guide signage whatsoever. The only signage I saw merely warned of the impending lane closure. As I passed the point where the I-95 and I-295 carriageways begin to separate, I began to worry that there was no path back to I-95 and that I’d have to make a quick exit onto US 13 and detour through Wilmington to avoid an unscheduled (and unwanted) trip to New Jersey. But again, no detour signs were posted.
Then as I was looking up ahead at the US 13 signage preparing to detour, I noticed a car, two vehicles in front of me, shoot through a gap in the construction barrels, across an emergency turnaround, and back into the I-95 carriageway. Looking further, I could see a few more vehicles further ahead on I-95, and way off in the distance, I could make out an “END CONSTRUCTION” sign. So I quickly concluded that these weren’t lawbreakers—just a ridiculously poorly signed work area—and I shot through the gap.
I’d really be interested to hear whoever at DelDOT was responsible for the handling at traffic controls through this work area attempt to offer a defense.
Ah, that elusive gap in the median! Brian is referring to this:
https://goo.gl/maps/ifN7kGp3gF32 (GSV:
https://goo.gl/maps/ZhRLfTP4wsn ) which was built specifically for this construction project. However, it lacks any striping and is usually just blocked by some barrels, as shown in the GSV link. I've never seen it used myself, probably because I haven't been on 95 late at night.
The closure he describes is somewhat hard to sign. They need to convey what's going on, with as few words as possible. You also have to account for the stupidity factor and the GPS factor - both want to keep left, even though the left lanes are closed.
Probably the best thing that could've been done is by utilizing the variable message sign on 95 north of Rt. 1, stating "I-95/495, Follow Detour". Delaware has a very poor history though of using those signs in any meaningful way other than with cute messages or vague messages ("Slow Traffic Ahead").
Just off the top of my head, DelDOT could've done this: After Rt. 1, the most important thing is to taper down the 5 thru lanes to the two right lanes. Then, after the 95/295 split (ie, the point of no return), have signage that states "95/495, Keep Left", then 95/495, and the squiggley left sign, such as a W1-4 sign. I specifically mention the point of no return ( here:
https://goo.gl/maps/kugqfuDUKfk ), so that you don't have people cutting thru the barrels if they see a premature 'Keep Left' sign)
It's a bit tricky to do, and not a lot of room to do it. I think they sometimes overly rely on the thought of most people are probably going to be locals and just know what to do, or motorists will see what's happening and just make the transition.