Traffic Congestion and Highway Construction

[Crucial_Infra]

57 minutes ago, nicholas said:

Somebody want to let them know that it's uptown, not downtown?

NCDOT wrote that press release and they refer to it as downtown for uniformity reasons — at least they used to. 
 

UPDATE: I’m wrong. Here’s a link to actual release and they refer to it as uptown. Obviously, the AP rewrote it so most of its audience would understand what that means. 

Edited February 6, 2020 by Crucial_Infra

[Dale]

Driving back into town, last night, I noticed that nearly every streetlight on 485 Outer was out from 77 to exit 57. I hope this was due to the storm and not a normal state of affairs.

[Crucial_Infra]

Assortment of recent I-77 traffic/construction photos via NCDOT 

Edited February 15, 2020 by Crucial_Infra

[KJHburg]

the nations first Dynamic left turn lanes are coming to NC and being tested by the NC DOT in Cary.   Actually this makes a lot of sense to me and I hope they would roll out to metro Charlotte.

https://carycitizen.com/2020/02/18/nations-first-dynamic-left-turn-intersection-operating-in-cary/

[Nick2]

2 hours ago, KJHburg said:

the nations first Dynamic left turn lanes are coming to NC and being tested by the NC DOT in Cary.   Actually this makes a lot of sense to me and I hope they would roll out to metro Charlotte.

https://carycitizen.com/2020/02/18/nations-first-dynamic-left-turn-intersection-operating-in-cary/

A nice common sense change for once. Isn't this already available for single turn lane left arrows? As in the flashing yellow arrow is active in non-peak times (with the green hour active after a queue forms) but a cycling red/green arrow during the rush hour?

[KJHburg]

8 hours ago, Nick2 said:

A nice common sense change for once. Isn't this already available for single turn lane left arrows? As in the flashing yellow arrow is active in non-peak times (with the green hour active after a queue forms) but a cycling red/green arrow during the rush hour?

Yes I do think they can do that with a single left turn this is the first time with double left turn lanes

 

[JHart]

While I think this is an improvement in my mind for off-peak traffic flows, I honestly think this is too complicated for the level of average (putting that nicely) driver here. I would be willing to bet you still get people trying to make unprotected lefts from the other lane, even with the giant red X.

[CLTranspo]

I totally agree, they have already had issues with people still using the outer left turn lane even when it’s supposed to be closed. I don’t think it’s worth the safety hazard during the off peak hours. 

[KJHburg]

I would say give it more time and maybe more signage but I do think this can work.  Diverging diamonds confused people at first too when the built them in this area but they soon learned.    It is like the driver from Ohio slowly down and stopping at the toll gantries on the Monroe Bypass when it first opened. People will learn.   (and Cary is the most educated city in the state I think they will figure it out LOL) 

[jjwilli]

Hypocrisy is strong at NC DOT. Will not allow for a Scramble Crosswalk in Carolina Beach because it is not used anywhere else in the state yet are willing to try one of a kind roadway changes like this. 

https://portcitydaily.com/local-news/2019/06/11/ncdot-wont-allow-scramble-crosswalk-at-deadly-carolina-beach-intersection-open-to-other-improvements/

[CLTranspo]

They definitely need more and clearer signage. The current layout just has one red “X” hanging next to the stoplight that illuminates when the lane is closed. I anecdotally have heard from people in the Triangle that they thought it would eventually turn green and waited in the closed lane. 
 

I personally think this is an unnecessarily complicated design for an intersection that does not need it. During off peak hours the congestion isn’t heavy enough on the mainlines or left turns to need this. In my opinion it compromises safety for a few seconds of delay savings. 

[rjp212]

Interesting diagram of street orientation in major US cities.  
 

 

[elrodvt]

@rjp212, I don't know if this is accurate. Maybe I don't get how to use it? When we lived in Denver I thought the streets were offset by around 30° from North/south. More like the MHT one below. People say it promoted snow melting so the city seldom needed major plowing. Probably an urban legend.

Edited February 19, 2020 by elrodvt

[videtur quam contuor]

Geoff Boeing has more than one post about his work. Charlotte and Honolulu are "high entropy" cities, more similar to far older cities

https://geoffboeing.com/2019/09/urban-street-network-orientation/

and this:

https://appliednetsci.springeropen.com/articles/10.1007/s41109-019-0189-1

 

 

 

Figures 4 and 5 put Chicago’s low entropy and Charlotte’s high entropy in perspective. Of these 100 cities, Chicago exhibits the closest approximation of a single perfect grid with the majority of its streets falling into just four bins centered on 0°, 90°, 180°, and 270°. Its φ = 0.90, suggesting it is 90% of the way between perfect disorder and a single perfect grid, somewhat remarkable for such a large city. Most American cities’ polar histograms similarly tend to cluster in at least a rough, approximate way. Charlotte, Rome, and São Paulo, meanwhile, have nearly uniform distributions of street orientations around the compass. Rather than one or two primary orthogonal grids organizing city circulation, their streets run more evenly in every direction.

Edited February 19, 2020 by tarhoosier

[elrodvt]

Cool, that answers my Denver question too.

[Crucial_Infra]

Charlotte is the most disordered large city in the world according to Boeing. And if you wondered how Charlotte compares to other North Carolina cities, he did that analysis, too:

[KJHburg]

^^^ have seen you Boston Boeing?  there is no rhyme or reason in Beantown.  

[Cassman]

When we as a city look at other cities to try to find examples of "good" transit systems and design principles, would it be best to look at cities with similar orientations according to these analyses?  In other words, rather than trying to replicate Denver's systems, should we instead draw inspiration from Boston, Sao Paolo and Stockholm?

[Matthew.Brendan]

On 2/19/2020 at 9:31 AM, jjwilli said:

Hypocrisy is strong at NC DOT. Will not allow for a Scramble Crosswalk in Carolina Beach because it is not used anywhere else in the state yet are willing to try one of a kind roadway changes like this. 

https://portcitydaily.com/local-news/2019/06/11/ncdot-wont-allow-scramble-crosswalk-at-deadly-carolina-beach-intersection-open-to-other-improvements/

Disappointing for Carolina Beach. However I would love to see a Scramble Crosswalk implemented in Charlotte! What intersections are some good contenders?

[elrodvt]

They had those in Denver (called Barnes Dance there) but shortly after we moved in they took them out. If I remember correctly it presented challenges for light rail schedules syncing with traffic lights. 

https://www.denverpost.com/2011/04/05/denver-to-eliminate-diagonal-crossings-at-intersections/

 

I was disappointed because it was very nice for pedestrians.

[Matthew.Brendan]

Yeah "Scramble" is probably not the best name, as it implies a hurried or dangerous dash.

 

 

Which is pretty much of the opposite of what the experience should feel like for pedestrians (safe, calm, orderly).

 

Still would love to see these implemented in Charlotte, whatever you want to call them.

[elrodvt]

I agree. It could cut down on pedestrians being got as well. I always felt safer in them.

[Nathan2]

22 hours ago, Matthew.Brendan said:

Disappointing for Carolina Beach. However I would love to see a Scramble Crosswalk implemented in Charlotte! What intersections are some good contenders?

Plaza and Central would be amazing. The lights take forever to change so this could help pedestrians from waiting twice for long amounts of times to cross central and plaza.

[Matthew.Brendan]

Oh yeah! Great example. Always a ton of foot traffic in that area. I wonder if it would also work at Central and Pecan or if would cause issues being so close together to the other.

[michaelef]

1 hour ago, Nathan2 said:

Plaza and Central would be amazing. The lights take forever to change so this could help pedestrians from waiting twice for long amounts of times to cross central and plaza.

I'm in Plaza a lot and that intersection is busy, but what I've noticed is that sometimes all of the lights are red to allow pedestrian crossing for both sides of the street. No car traffic is allowed through. I think CDOT might be testing it because it doesn't always happen.