Road Construction

I finally had to write to my state assemblyman about some new road construction:

I met you briefly at a local meeting a couple of months back.

I like your newsletters, they are informative and to the point, covering issues that affect us all. Development and growth come with prices and it is good that elected officials are aware of the situation and working toward making things happen properly.

The point of all the activity is that our town outgrew its infrastructure. So much has needed to be done lately and getting around is not easy. I have to use from 3 to 5 detours just to get home. I keep telling myself "It'll be nice when it's all done!"

3 small issues that I wanted to mention:

New roads with curbs: Why square curbs? I keep looking at these beautiful new concrete curbs and thinking, "I hope I never drift over into one - it would wreck my car". I see no reason for this design. A gentle curve would be better for mowers or bikes moving from the roadway to the sidewalk, and would be more forgiving if someone breaks down, drifts off, or falls asleep. Why design a hazard right into the side of the road? I also noticed that the turtles are migrating in their mating season right now, and the curbs are a death sentence for them. As long as you're designing a new system from scratch, you might as well put the gentle curbs in.

Roadway lighting: Again, since we're doing this new from scratch, let's do it right the first time. If you need a light by the road, I don't need that light 300 yards or a mile away. Let's pick light designs that are shaded from lateral light and just cast their light downward. This cuts down on glare that obscures oncoming traffic and creates a dangerous driving situation. It also cuts down light pollution, which is a big issue if you live in the country and used to be able to go out and look at the stars, but less and less with each passing year. I'm sure there have been many complaints about the lighting on the new baseball fields, and it's all a matter of designing it correctly the first time. Just because you need light in one place doesn't mean it's a good thing to share with everyone within sight of the light fixture.

Stoplights: Metropolis is working on approving cameras on stoplights to catch people running the traffic signals. I think this is a terrible idea. Paying to make the lights more synchronized or to make them smarter to the traffic flow is always said to be too expensive, yet they seem to have plenty of money to bilk the public out of funds for traffic tickets. Sure, accountants are probably telling the government people that this program pays for itself, but that doesn't make it right. It's just a form of taxation at that point, not a safety issue. No one has conclusively proved that running stoplights is such a menace and danger to the public that it must be stopped, IT'S JUST REVENUE ENHANCEMENT. Revenue enhancement projects breed mistrust between the public and their elected officials. If you want to spend the public's money on projects around intersections and their traffic symbols, spend the money to make them smarter! Think of how much gasoline is being wasted idling at intersections. Think of how much money and time is being wasted by citizens at these intersections. If you want to put a camera on the intersection, make it to control the lights. Don't make someone want to run a light by having a dumb signal that is doing more to impede flow than promote safety. Make the lights smart and people will trust and obey them more. This will have all the benefits: more safety (because of more compliance), less fuel and time wasted, and a reduction of road rage. I know this metropolitan issue isn't yours to vote on - but again, if this does come up in state legislation, I would appreciate it if you can push to make this smarter. It's easier to put smart technology into a new light than to have to retrofit later. My understanding of existing lights with roadbed sensors is that it's not the sensor array that is lacking, it's the controller software. Current software still has to cycle through the same or similar sequences in each cycle. It doesn't have the logic necessary to open channels where traffic is heaviest. The light should be able to change the sequence so that solitary traffic always gets a green light. Do the right thing here and the public will respect government, rather than learning to resent them.

LATER I sent another letter:

I'm the one that wrote about the square curbs they put in the new streets - how the turtles can't climb them, mowers and bikes can't go over them, and they are an inattentive driver hazard. I've been going down a just completed road now for some months and would add that the snow plows can't get too close to them and that narrows everyone down to the middle lanes, as people mostly stay out of the outer lanes. Even when it's dry, people stay away from the sharp curbs. It's almost like not having those extra 2 lanes at all. I've been trying to figure out why they would design a road with the curbs like that, and I think it's a money saving effort. No shoulder work required. When cars break down, they have to just stop right in the lane of traffic. I'm convinced it's a really bad design.

LATER thoughts:

I think they put those curbs on to keep storm water on the road so that roadside erosion is less. Bad idea. You slope everything away from the road and make sure your drainage is good. Using the road as a big gutter just puts big puddles in the road during rainstorms and makes for a hydroplaning hazard.