In Cleveland on Carniegie they have reversable lanes where a lighted X markes the lane open. They have 3 lanes open inbound rush hour and the 3 Lanes open outbound evening rush hour. The only problem is that there is not much buisness on that street to begin with and the bus on the line runs rather infreiqently. It just seems to me rather then having a perm lane for bus and trains is to close down the lane for rush hour only or some cases close down the street during rush hour. They should have done that on the Arborway Line (The last trolley line lost the battle to cars....) Trolleys only and HOV traffic only
This is exactly the principle for the counterflow bus lane at the Lincoln Tunnel,except for additional safety (or perception of safety) they put plastic columns in sockets to separate it physically from the travel lanes.
We had the reversible-lane system on Union Avenue in Memphis for years. A clever idea that led to more trouble than it was worth, really: there was no practical way to make left turns without blocking traffic massively, and invariably there would be a few nasty collisions when people forgot what time of day it was and veered into what turned out to be the wrong lane. This was not a true 'counterflow' system, it just reversed the direction of one or more lanes depending on the time of day.
I suppose it would be fun to make one lane a 'reversible' priority bus lane as you indicate, but I'm not sure speed on it would be competitive without more well-defined barriers keeping errant traffic where it belongs. I have not yet seen the idea of allowing HOVs and buses to share a dedicated counterflow lane with proper barriers, but I think I'd want to see adoption of accurate self-driving assistance for a fairly wide selection of potential drivers in that situation... ;-}
The problem I see with closing lanes 'reversibly' just for rush hour is how you get people to remember when the lane changes, and clear it first. Usually this involves putting up the red X in both directions for some time, possibly a fairly long time if there is traffic already, and the effect is to remove a whole lane from traffic at times where its capacity might be useful.
I believe New York has a variant of 'close down the street' in that the curbside lane on some of the avenues (and in some cases two lanes at curbside) are dedicated bus lanes at certain times of day. If you are driving and need to pull to the curb, even momentarily when there are no buses, you will receive a failrly stiff ticket. But most of the time it does appear to facilitate bus movement... for a while.
I also don't recall seeing a dedicated 'trolley lane' at rush hour. Be interesting to see if part of a 'busway' and trolley/HOV traffic could coexist on what would be essentially a dedicated directional lane. Again, I'd be worried about things intruding on the special lane at just the wrong moment, if differential speeds large enough to make the system worthwhile were being regularly observed...
Whats new about this? I've seen highways, bridges, exits, tunnels, entrances, etc. with reverse traffic for decades...it is set up for peak hours, heavy traffic, changing patterns for any reason. Nothing new at all. Why are we trying to reinvent the wheel and the hub and the spokes?
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Bonasn Cleveland on Carniegie they have reversable lanes where a lighted X markes the lane open.
For many years now the Tappan Zee Bridge has had a "zipper." It is many fairly short concrete lane barriers along with a special crane that moves them from one side of the center lane to the other.
San Juan has a fair number of permanent counter-flow bus lanes in various parts of the city. Most of the counter-flow lanes serve several routes so bus service is on short headways. I have not observed problems with autos encroaching on the bus lanes.
Seattle, WA has seperate Express lanes that are reversible, they are completely seperate from I-5, with automatic gates that close depending on which direction they are being used. No need to worry about remembering what time they are used which direction. Signs before the entrances post whether the express lanes are open or closed, and the gates prevent wrong direction traffic from entering. They have cameras on much of the route, and I believe that they are closed completely for a time before the change, with a WADOT vehicle, doing a drive through in spection before the lanes are reopened in the opposing direction. It is a very good system, except that I always seem to be going the wrong direction to use them.
Doug
May your flanges always stay BETWEEN the rails
Use bikeways for busways during rush hour...most bikeways are only one lane wide sp one way inbound in the morning and one way outbound at night.
Where I live bikeways would not be nearly wide enough for a bus. A bikeway is closer to the width of a sidewalk. In any event, bikeways too are used during the rush hours when people commute by bicycle.
John WR Where I live bikeways would not be nearly wide enough for a bus. A bikeway is closer to the width of a sidewalk. In any event, bikeways too are used during the rush hours when people commute by bicycle.
Correct. Also bikeways are designed and built to much lower standards than roadways. they may have sharper curves, more abrupt grade changes and their structural sections are only adequate to support the occasional operation of a small maintenance truck. One trip by a bus would probably be enough to destroy most bikeways.
I tried to sell my two cents worth, but no one would give me a plug nickel for it.
I don't have a leg to stand on.
Isn't the main street, 7th Avenue, of Calgary, busses and railcars only? Or am I thinking of Edmonton?
I rremember high floor cars with platforms for level boarding ramping to sidewalk platforms for level boarding for low-floor buses. No private cars or taxis. Deliveries during early morning hours.
When this roadway was built in the 1970s it was a huge innovation, along with their HOV designation, which was far earlier than anywhere else in the US. It was created from the fallout from when DC/MD/VA residents forced the DC highway system out of existence in the 1960s. We got the WMATA Metro and aggressive HOV projects.
They're still HOV-3 today. On the weekends they are non-HOV but they reverse them based on traffic trends.
Speaking of zipper lanes, the Theodore Roosevelt Bridge on I-66 into DC uses them, too.
I would love to know how much money has been spent on I-95/I-395 from DC out to where this new project end. I'll be reasonable, say since 1970. Billions and billions, I'm sure.
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