Posts
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| How the road had been striped before. |
What I noticed is that it went from one lane in each direction, and a center turn lane... to a lane in each direction and NO center turn lane. The missing lane got divided up as shoulder room on each side of the road.
At first I thought that the new addition was the bike lanes, but you can see bike lanes in the old photos. So I'm not sure how the new striping helps. I'm glad I don't use the road regularly, and never in rush hour, but I see more problems created by eliminating the turn lane than solved with the extra room on the right.
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| Here you see a car turning left across traffic from the south bound lane... without the protection of a turn lane. |
Instead of traffic flowing at a normal pace through Lakeland Village, now you'll need to be on your toes for sudden stops as people will be looking to turn left against traffic from the main lane of travel.
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| Here you see Corydon and the tiny turn pocket that they created instead of the old turn lane. |
One place that looks like it is really going to be a mess is the intersection of Grand and Corydon. At the end of the day, that is the main route from Ortega Highway to the freeway. It's not uncommon for the lineup of cars to reach more than a dozen waiting to turn left.
The new turn pocket looks like it might accommodate 5 cars... maybe 15 if they were Smart Cars. I hope the additional cars at peak usage time will just use the same space they did before and NOT block the southbound lane.
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| A look at the original lane configurations and Grand Plaza on the east side of the road. |
Also, when I've used Grand, going south in the afternoons before, it was common to see cars turning left into the strip mall on that corner. There is no turn pocket for them. I bet this is going to get dicey if this is the final lane scheme they have in mind.
One good thing that I saw, for those that turn right from Grand to a side street, is that it is much safer for them since they have their own 'lane' now... sort of a lane anyway.
Have you driven on it yet? Do you have thoughts on the new lane set up? If so, post them below... just keep in mind that anonymous comments that stray too far afield will be obliterated. Thank you, drive through. ☺
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What is meat and drink to one, is bitter poison to another.
― Titus Lucretius
― Titus Lucretius
Me thinks your jumping the gun calling this a done deal. This project was projected to take 12 weeks and it seems they have only been at it about 4 weeks. With having to keep the roadway open during construction this is more than likely temporary stripping.
ReplyDeleteKenny Mayes
Up front I said, "though the project appears to still have more to do before it's finished."
DeleteI've seen temporary striping before, and this sure seems a better grade of paint than the usual temporary lines. Admittedly, I've never worked for a repaving company, so I don't know how it works. Just what it looks like as I pass by, and comparing it to countless other projects I've seen over the years.
That stretch of road is about 5 miles, and it seems like a ton of wasted paint and future work to sand blast it off if. Time will tell if those are just 'construction lanes' or not. If so, I guess a sign explaining it was too much to ask for.