Eternity RPC Board
06-23-2017, 04:44 PM
You're not dumb, Jam. On low capacity and low traffic roads, this kind of scheme would be completely useless. Even on a high capacity road with low capacity cross streets, I'm not seeing the benefit over a traditional intersection.
However, this kind of scheme is rather ingenious at dealing with congestion at intersections between two high-capacity, high-traffic roads. For example, say we're at the intersection between a highway an a main city arterial street. At rush hour, you might sit through two, maybe even three (if shit's really bad) cycles at the light trying to turn left; this is because, as traffic backs up, it'll eventually back itself out of the left turn lane and into normal traffic, causing even more congestion as people going straight try to get over into the next lane. Then, even when that lane finally goes, you still have people trying to turn left stuck way back in line, who get up to the light right as they lose their signal (I see this here in Columbia A LOT). Eliminating the traditional left (lel) and using this style gets rid of that kind of congestion, reducing commute times.
Furthermore, the "Michigan Left" completely does away with an entire traffic cycle. No longer do cars traveling straight have to deal with sitting at a red light, waiting for a few cars to turn left. There are two signals only: East-West travel, & North-South travel. Cutting the left turn lanes in all 4 directions nearly halves the time it takes to get through a signal pattern on these heavy multi-lane roads; you can now choose to either get through the signal pattern twice as fast, or keep the same pattern length and get twice as many cars through the intersection.
It's a pretty ingenious solution to common traffic problems, assuming the conditions are right for it. I disagree with Sal; I feel this actually works best on busy roads, where Jam's scenario of "going out of your way" essentially doesn't exist, given the circumstances.
It all comes down to the knowledge of the traffic engineer, using his 4+ years of schooling, bazillion certifications & decades of experience to know when to use this thing, and mitigate its problems. It's not intended to be an end-all solution to every traffic problem, but just one more tool to solve certain specific ones.
Also, I just noticed Flo posted while I was pecking away on my phone, but fuq it, I'm not editing this.
However, this kind of scheme is rather ingenious at dealing with congestion at intersections between two high-capacity, high-traffic roads. For example, say we're at the intersection between a highway an a main city arterial street. At rush hour, you might sit through two, maybe even three (if shit's really bad) cycles at the light trying to turn left; this is because, as traffic backs up, it'll eventually back itself out of the left turn lane and into normal traffic, causing even more congestion as people going straight try to get over into the next lane. Then, even when that lane finally goes, you still have people trying to turn left stuck way back in line, who get up to the light right as they lose their signal (I see this here in Columbia A LOT). Eliminating the traditional left (lel) and using this style gets rid of that kind of congestion, reducing commute times.
Furthermore, the "Michigan Left" completely does away with an entire traffic cycle. No longer do cars traveling straight have to deal with sitting at a red light, waiting for a few cars to turn left. There are two signals only: East-West travel, & North-South travel. Cutting the left turn lanes in all 4 directions nearly halves the time it takes to get through a signal pattern on these heavy multi-lane roads; you can now choose to either get through the signal pattern twice as fast, or keep the same pattern length and get twice as many cars through the intersection.
It's a pretty ingenious solution to common traffic problems, assuming the conditions are right for it. I disagree with Sal; I feel this actually works best on busy roads, where Jam's scenario of "going out of your way" essentially doesn't exist, given the circumstances.
It all comes down to the knowledge of the traffic engineer, using his 4+ years of schooling, bazillion certifications & decades of experience to know when to use this thing, and mitigate its problems. It's not intended to be an end-all solution to every traffic problem, but just one more tool to solve certain specific ones.
Also, I just noticed Flo posted while I was pecking away on my phone, but fuq it, I'm not editing this.