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| Re: ''World Class Bus Rapid Transit'' for Woodhaven Blvd... lol (299874) | |||
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Re: ''World Class Bus Rapid Transit'' for Woodhaven Blvd... lol |
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Posted by BrooklynBus on Thu Nov 13 16:00:53 2014, in response to Re: ''World Class Bus Rapid Transit'' for Woodhaven Blvd... lol, posted by RIPTA42HopeTunnel on Wed Nov 12 15:33:46 2014. No, you just narrow the median to accommodate the left turn lane. It fits, but the policy in the conceptual design is not to allow left turns at SBS "stations."If that were feasible, and I am not saying it isn't, why would you even consider banning such a high left turn movement and inconveniencing motorists by adding time to their trip? Even if you save a cycle and get more throughput along Metropolitan, you will just need added protected left turn signals at Cooper and Metropolitan and another at Cooper and Woodhaven that would delay Yellowstone traffic going south delaying traffic there so I do not see what you are gaining by banning left turns at Metropolitan. That's NYCDOT's traffic count, not mine. NYSDOT's 2010 count shows southbound traffic peaking between 5 and 6 p.m., but it's 16 percent higher than 3 p.m., not 50 percent. According to the traffic counts, the peak is between 5 and 6, not between 6 and 7. From my experience, the peak occurs after 6 PM, not before it. I measure the peak by demand, not by throughput. Cars travel much slower after 6PM than before it because of the increased traffic. Naturally fewer cars will pass a given point when they are traveling at 10 to 15 mph, than when they are doing 25 to 30 mph. If the demand is 16% greater at 5PM, than it is at 3 PM, I would say that it is much higher at around 6 or 6:30 PM. I'm pulling nothing out of thin air. "About 15 seconds" was the time you said you waited to turn left from Cooper onto Metropolitan. And you are assuming that everyone who had to wait for me to make that turn would still get through on the same cycle if they all had to wait behind me. A few would miss the green signal causing them to wait much longer than 15 seconds. That's a lot less than 22 cars per minute, which is 1,320 per hour, but it still relies on a lot of assumptions. Did you observe 11 cars arriving in each direction each cycle for the hour? Time the cycle? If 11 cars were waiting to turn when you arrived, are you sure they all arrived on a single cycle and there were none who didn't make it through on a previous cycle? No one turned left during the permitted phase? Any trucks? I did not wait to study the intersection because I was driving. Of course there may not be 11 cars turning at every cycle change. However, whenever I have passed that intersection, I have always observed heavy turning movements, and it makes no sense to ban turns where they are needed only for the purpose of inconveniencing people. More possiblies and abouts. NYSDOT has a 2004 count on Cooper. The exact location isn't given, but westbound traffic peaks at 243 vehicles per hour. I sure hope that DOT isn't planning using ten year old traffic counts. And please do not tell me that isn't a possibility. When I was at the Department of City Planning about 1980, all the politicians were in favor of creating "Queens Plaza's Marketplace" in Long Island City. I was asked to review the traffic studies to attest to the fact that that the development would not negatively impact traffic. I was handed ten year old traffic data to analyze. I refused to do it telling my boss that I couldn't conclude anything one way or the other with ten year old data. He just told me to keep quiet and not tell anyone the data was ten years old. So like a good boy I complied. Knowing what I know today how political decisions are made, and how data plays the least part in making those decisions, I would have told somebody what the city was doing. Those are the harsh realities. Data is not what is determining the need for SBS. It follows that your hyperbolic assumptions about traffic volumes would result in a hyperbolic increase in travel time. Your assumption is that you would be averaging less than 1 mile per hour along Cooper and Metropolitan. And what would you say if that turns out to be the case? A few weeks ago I was driving on Second Avenue on a Saturday afternoon toward the Queensboro Bridge. I was stuck for 45 minutes between 69th and 65th Streets due to traffic. That is much less than one mph. I finally was able to turn off at 65th Street and use another approach. Are you saying that speeds of 1 mph in this city are impossible? You will also find it interesting that I never passed a single bus all the way from 126 Street until 65 Street. Eliminating the "88th Street alternative" eliminated a merge point that was a safety problem. It also took impatient cut-through traffic off of residential streets, which is a nice by-product. Nice try but untrue. There was no merge point and hence no safety problem. If you don't believe me, just check the hybrid view for Google Maps which still shows the traffic patterns. A straight path from the service road to the right lane of the service road. No merge. Now I believe they striped off a lane to further reduce capacity and inconvenience motorists. DOT's goal is to create as much congestion as they possibly can. You say that the community has some input, and DOT will change their designs if necessary. I wish I could believe that. When I told them a year ago about how the bypass was being used, they told me they had no idea that cars were using 88 St as a bypass thereby relieving pressure at a choke point on Woodhaven, they told me they would take another look at the situation with that in mind. The result? They changed nothing and traffic on Woodhaven is worse than ever today. I am just glad I no longer use it one a daily basis. It will only become that much worse. It's just that the city will never admit it and will never provide the statistics needed to show what is really happening. |
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