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Re: Brigthline to Las Vegas by 2022-.Aint' no crossings and no I have not much use for mostt of the very poorly done "road diets"...
Author: BOB2
Date: 09-19-2018 - 18:51
I too have seen a very few "road diets" "done right".
I have seen most "road diets" done wrong, resulting in no improvement to safety, and net increases in congestion delay, fuel use, emissions, significant "spillover" onto adjacent streets, and no evidence of any improvement to safety for pedestrians, bicyclists, automobiles, or trucks, and in a few incidences they have even appeared to increase the likelihood of accidents.
In fact, there is virtually no evidence for any improvement in safety on arterials over 15k AADT, and most of the case studies on arterials less than 15K AADT have such small sample sizes with such huge accident variability for these roads, as to be "junk science", from a statistical point of view.
The last FHWA CEU certification class I took was on the new pedestrian and bicycle "warrants" in the updated FHWA Highway Capacity Manual (many of which I had lobbied for years, and many others long overdue).
So I actually know all about "road diets", which were part of the course. Unfortunately, I felt this was the poorest part of the course, since none of the instructors could point to any empirical evidence and all of the "criteria" were just a tad "touchy-feely" and we'll all sing "kumbaya".
So lacking much good evidence on many of the claimed and purported "benefits" of road diets, and from watching how they are currently being misused, they still seem to me to be on the "hip and cool"/"faith based"/"fad of the week" fringe end of traffic engineering to me.
And maybe it's just stupid old BOB again, but I still prefer the good old fashioned "math and science" based traffic engineering, based on sound data, with observable and quantifiable net "benefits", in excess of the "costs" to all users.
As to Brighline from Victorville to LV there are no at grade crossing planned on any of the high speed segment form Victorville to LV line. Nor would there be any grade crossings on the High Desert Corridor between Victorville and Palmdale in the median of a fully grade separated "interstate" quality toll road. And, given your concerns about the technical operational details, you should clearly send them your resume.
I have seen most "road diets" done wrong, resulting in no improvement to safety, and net increases in congestion delay, fuel use, emissions, significant "spillover" onto adjacent streets, and no evidence of any improvement to safety for pedestrians, bicyclists, automobiles, or trucks, and in a few incidences they have even appeared to increase the likelihood of accidents.
In fact, there is virtually no evidence for any improvement in safety on arterials over 15k AADT, and most of the case studies on arterials less than 15K AADT have such small sample sizes with such huge accident variability for these roads, as to be "junk science", from a statistical point of view.
The last FHWA CEU certification class I took was on the new pedestrian and bicycle "warrants" in the updated FHWA Highway Capacity Manual (many of which I had lobbied for years, and many others long overdue).
So I actually know all about "road diets", which were part of the course. Unfortunately, I felt this was the poorest part of the course, since none of the instructors could point to any empirical evidence and all of the "criteria" were just a tad "touchy-feely" and we'll all sing "kumbaya".
So lacking much good evidence on many of the claimed and purported "benefits" of road diets, and from watching how they are currently being misused, they still seem to me to be on the "hip and cool"/"faith based"/"fad of the week" fringe end of traffic engineering to me.
And maybe it's just stupid old BOB again, but I still prefer the good old fashioned "math and science" based traffic engineering, based on sound data, with observable and quantifiable net "benefits", in excess of the "costs" to all users.
As to Brighline from Victorville to LV there are no at grade crossing planned on any of the high speed segment form Victorville to LV line. Nor would there be any grade crossings on the High Desert Corridor between Victorville and Palmdale in the median of a fully grade separated "interstate" quality toll road. And, given your concerns about the technical operational details, you should clearly send them your resume.
