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Thursday, February 7, 2008

DART has now decided to re-design HOV lanes

by PegNews wire

Two months after opening its kludgy, unfriendly, obvious-to-everyone-on-the-planet-that-they-blew HOV lanes, DART has decided to redesign them.

Drivers complained about the fact that the row of plastic sticks made it hard for people to enter and exit. No, REALLY? Since it opened, drivers have crashed through more than 500 of the plastic stanchions. So now DART has decided to remove half of the plastic sticks and add access points.

I guess it's good that they are open to responding to drivers' needs, but seriously, are they just designing out of their ass or what?

Posted by T.G.

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Pavel Lishin, says:

I always did kind of wonder what people did if they had multiple occupants, but needed to get into/out of the HOV lane on 75 anywhere besides the beginning and end. Oh well.

On another note, every time I drive next to those things, it's so tempting to swerve over just a bit just to see how sturdy those things are.

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1 year, 10 months ago
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Scott Doyle, says:

I'm just going to direct you to my <a href="http://www.pegasusnews.com/news/2007/nov/08/dallas-area-hov-lanes-open-soon/#c17434">previous comment</a> on this ordeal.

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1 year, 10 months ago
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Alex Bentley, says:

Just call me Nostradamus, per my comments in the story that Scott just referenced:

"I don't know about those other ones, but I have serious doubts as to the effectiveness of the HOV lanes on 75 going to and from Allen. First of all, you have to live in freakin' Allen or points north to even access the dang thing (unless they're planning on removing those poles, which doesn't seem to be happening). And secondly, if those poles do remain, any car that breaks down in those lanes is going to cause a massive HOV traffic jam. Any lane that doesn't allow you to freely exit in case of emergency (like the one going to and from Southern Dallas) is my idea of a traffic nightmare. Sorry, folks, I'm staying away from those lanes at all costs."

Seriously, any idiot (myself included) could've foreseen that those poles were going to be a problem from the beginning -- why couldn't DART?

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1 year, 10 months ago
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Scott Doyle, says:

Seriously, any idiot (myself included) could've foreseen that those poles were going to be a problem

Hey! I prefer 'reasonable person', sir!

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1 year, 10 months ago
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Jeremy Dunck, says:

Apparently there's a fair amount of research in support of "managed" HOV lanes like this. Even so, I quickly came to the conclusion that the lanes were dangerous.

One morning on my commute, I saw a driver attempting to enter the lane by driving between the poles (nearly perpendicular to the flow of traffic) and then get t-boned in the driver's door by an SUV going nearly full speed.

There were many examples before and after. They are apparently good in some situations, but clearly not in this one.

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1 year, 10 months ago
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Sander Wolf, says:

I'm not a traffic designer but I can't understand how things like this could happen. Other peevs:

on 75 the entrances and exits are shared. this makes for a game of chicken everytime I'm trying to get off while someone's trying to get on.
the one lane going on and off bush from the (original) tollway (that then splits into east/west or north/south) -- that thing's always backed up for miles. Add another lane!
on bush at the big toll booths there's a phantom lane on the far left that only appears near the toll booth. people jump into it to try to outflank the fast lane, but just end up merging back with it after the toll booth where the phantom lane vanishes. People that jump in that lane bug me. Selfish pricks.

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1 year, 10 months ago
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Scott Doyle, says:

Managed lanes are fine, but let's be honest - taking an HOV lane and putting up plastic sticks to restrict access is far from management. 'Managed lanes' implies the lane's use will change with traffic conditions rather than (poorly) quarantining it.

Speaking of research, <a href="http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3734/is_200502/ai_n9522013">go nuts</a>.

I'd rather them open it up so people between Allen and North Dallas can access it, but if you're going to make the decision to have the lane managed - stick to your guns and actually manage it. Public perception of DART isn't the greatest as-is, now they're just shooting themselves in the foot.

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1 year, 10 months ago
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Andrew Laska, says:

Let's get the facts right. The HOV lane on US 75 north of 635 was configured by TxDOT. Its not a DART project.

The Richardson Echo will be having a story on the HOV lanes soon.

Andrew

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1 year, 10 months ago
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Scott Doyle, says:

Are you implying that MSNBC lied to PegNews, who in turn lied to me?

Says DART opened the lanes, DART spokespeople are talking about it, etc. You sayin' TxDOT designed it, and DART's just on the implementation end? I must have missed something.

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1 year, 10 months ago
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Teresa Gubbins, says:

sorry, andrew, i should have been more specific about it being the doofuses from TxDOT who are responsible for the actual design, vs. the doofuses from DART (although for me, it's splitting hairs).

here, from the city of Richardson <a href="http://cor.net/CityHall/traffic/75HOV/FAQ.html">site</a>: "TxDOT was ultimately responsible for the design and construction of the HOV lanes on US-75 as part of a regional transportation system. DART has the formal responsibility for operating the HOV Lanes as an element of their mass transit planning function, and coordinates this responsibility with TxDOT because the lanes lie within State’s highway right-of-way."

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1 year, 10 months ago
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Chad Jones, says:

Best way I can figger it is if'n we got them fitty-thousan sticks already sittin up in a line down there like the pronged plums on a rooster's noggin we best just leave 'em lie, leave 'em real lie.

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1 year, 10 months ago
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Andrew Laska, says:

I was speaking about the comments and not your presentation. I should have been clear about that. My bad...

Scott,

The MSNBC article is about more than the HOV lanes north of 635 and therefore they were not clear about the varying responsibilities in differing parts of the system.

Andrew

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1 year, 10 months ago
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Scott Doyle, says:

Andrew, the populous obviously doesn't pay attention to who designed what, they call 'em like they see 'em. If DART's out there working on the botched HOV lane, tough luck.

People sitting in traffic aren't worried about whose fault it is, they're worried about who's going to reduce the traffic. While I empathize, I certainly understand why upset drivers point fingers without investigating the architect.

That being said, I sincerely hope TxDOT doesn't slack off like this on the <a href="http://www.635project.org/default.asp?p=2&s=1">635 managed lanes project</a>. The <a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=11854258">epoxy creep debacle</a> has already been played out, and I severely doubt they're going to shut-down LBJ while digging. Burrowing through the (literally) shifty clay of north Texas will be an interesting feat.