Anyone else think this freeway situation is dangerous?

(I apologize if my graphic is unclear; feel free to ask a question for clarification)

I'd like to vent on something that has bugged me for a long time since I've been driving. Is it just me or does anyone else find this particular situation dangerous? Here's the situation. You're on the "feeder" road going about 45mph and you decide you want to get on the freeway so you get on the on ramp and as soon as you get on it you have about 75ft until you're FORCED to merge onto the freeway with other cars going about 70mph. Now, I know everyone is going to be like "Well just drive faster slowpoke; dont expect to get on the freeway driving 55mph". The thing though is that other cars are in front and you have about 5 cars behind you and you have to practically turn your head left 195 degrees to see if any cars are on the lane that you're about to merge on which requires to get your eyes off the road. At the same time the car in front is doing the same thing but he brakes in the middle because he almost gets hit by another car. Not only is he totally stopped but now he has to merge on the freeway from 0mph. And everyone else basically has to too because he stopped traffic. AND thats not it, heres the other likely scenario....While the driver of the car behind him was too busy looking behind his shoulders to make sure it was clear he hits the frantic & scared drivers' car from behind. This is just one of many dangerous merges in Houston's freeways which bother me very much. This particular one is on 610 and San Felipe if anyone else is from Houston.

So anyone else find them annoying & dangerous? I've seen many accidents occuring on them lately and as I was merging one day It frustrated me. Houston has alot of traffic troubles. I dont know if the civil engineers are to blame or the drivers themselves. It wouldn't be a problem if you had a few more feet more to merge but the fact that you have to basically accelerate hard as hell and make an attempt to merge on the freeway with cars going at about 75 is whats dangerous.

Oh and if anyone knows what this type of merging is called please fill me in. It's not the other type of merging where one merges to freeway traffic on their OWN lane as opposed to directly merging on a freeway lane from the on-ramp.
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Yeah those red rectangles are danerouse indeed! They are even more danerous if they are in a parking lot!

I know what you mean, we have a few of those in N.S. We even have off ramps that are about 50 feet long with a wicked turn. So you have about 50ft to get in the lane, slam on the brakes and crank the wheel. I guess if there isn't much room in the area to build with then just lump it. Same if there is no more money in the transportation budget.

 

Around here, when going from the "feeder" to the freeway, the lane you use to merge continues into the freeway for about 500 ft, so you can safely merge without having to stop or else.

Anyway, people in the right lane on the freeway usually don't go over 50 mph, so it is not that much of a problem to merge, regarding speed.

 

I encounter that situation on an every-bay basis. (Merging onto the M5 for you Sydney-Siders)

Basically the trick is to get onto the Freeway about 20-30Km/Hr more than the people actually on the Freeway. Having a powerful car helps, so if you have power, try that out for size.
And i know that you said that there are cars in front of you, but is the merging lane wide enough for two cars? Even if there is one lane, you can still go around and drive down the Emergency lane. My favourite move.

Or you could always get one of these.....
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Its not the engineers. Nope, never the engineers. Nothing to see here. These aren't the droids you're looking for.

 

Even if that were the case it is still many cars going at 50mph. Some people can't seem to do the zipper effect when merging so people just find themselves either flooring it or braking heavily to merge on to traffic and with a situation like this where you have no where to go all it does is make a perfect recipe for a disaster. Not to mention that if you own a VW bug, a KIA or any other weak 4 cylinder car you're basically screwed. 45-75mph within 75 feet?

 

We have many roads designed like that here in the greater New York area. The danger you speak of is compounded by the fact that, at least in this area, people running in the right lane are not necessarily the slow drivers. In fact, because the left (formerly known as the passing) lane is now usually bogged down with ever larger SUV's with names like ARMADA and GiGantisaurus, being driven by distracted phone talkers who really don't like to drive anyway, the right lane that you are merging into is usually the habitat of the hell-bent. Here, they don't want to give you the courtesy of moving left, to free up that right lane so you can merge. In fact, if they see you on the approach road, they will usually target you, and accelerate, just to make sure that you don't get ahead of them.
So, the recipe, assuming decent road conditions, is an extremely fast car- i've used my Porsche GT2 for this purpose many times. Let them think they are going to keep you from entering. Then, if you are handy at shifting fast close to redline, let them realize that, no matter how BIG their ****box is, and how many notches they have in their belt, they just cannot out accelerate you. Cars incapable of intense bursts of speed force you to be even more careful.... OH, yeah, i forgot to mention, the sign "MERGE" in the greater New York area is considered an insult equivalent to being given the "finger." When most drivers see that sign, they mutter to themselves, "**** you , **** you, **** you...." That's why many people here take the bus or subway. It's just too dangerous out there,...

 

That was one of the first things I noticed when I moved to Texas..... In my experience Oregon, Washington and California usually seem to have nice long on ramps that allow you to get up to speed. I'm not at all opposed to rapid acceleration but it is a pain when you get stuck behind a timid driver who stops and waits for a big gap before getting on.

 

I sympathize with you.

When I was in Maryland, north of Baltimore, I was surprised at how short these 'feeder' lanes were before you entered the surface level highway at 60+ speeds.

Case in point, in California, the right of way is given to the car merging onto the freeway. I don't have the law exactly in front of me, but freeway traffic has to yield to cars merging on because of this very reason.

If drivers are paying attention, the situation you describe isn't a big issue even out here on our congested highways. If an accident is caused because someone couldn't merge, the person most likely to be at fault is the person who didn't yield to merging traffic. It is dangerous when both cars slow down because the person merging doesn't "claim the right of way." People are, barely, smart enough to use more caution in these areas.

What upsets me are people who drive on the shoulder when the feeder lane is tied up due to traffic and they end up forcing in a few hundred feet ahead. I saw someone get pulled over once for it and wish others would get the hint.

Sunny

P.S. Traffic on one of our most congested freeways flows better in rush hour in the wet. Too bad no one has a clue on how to improve conditions in the dry.

 

Incidently I hate the following the most. I experianced this in the Midwest near the twin cites. Horid design.

Basicly you have slow traffic coming from the right, and soon after their merge you have an important exit to the left. I cannot count how many times I saw people swearing into the left lane after just merging.

(Incidently I was bored enough to make the image and use your style)
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I love that feeling, when not only do you have the right of way, but they couldn't block you in.

 

Whats wrong with the design, because it doesn't allow you to get from point A to B in the shortest distance? Merge on one exit prior or circle back by taking one further down. Now how hard was that?

Yes, I see your point. I'm feeling confrontational.

Sunny

P.S. Woohoo, 2500!

 

What a bunch of wussies. You ain't see nuthin till you exit onto a two-way feeder road. That right. The left lane that you would normally use to merge off of a freeway is actually a lane coming right at you!

Only in Texas.

Dale

 

Most Texas roads were designed & engineered by Aggies.

'Nuff said.





(OK....I am ready for the inevitable backlash )

 

.
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A more dangerous situation in my opinion is when the freeway onramp has a light to stop vehicles before merging. In many many cases out here in southern california there is hardly enough distance between the light and the lane itself for most motorists with normal cars to get to 40-50mph. When a freeway is moving fast and you have someone trying to merge in at 40-50mph on the right hand lane it causes that lane to back up, in turn causing drivers already established in that lane to dart a lane or two left to avoid the traffic backup. Ive seen many accidents in situations like this coming from drivers carelessly and hastily changing lanes to the left to avoid merging with slower drivers, and slower drivers having a difficult time building up enough speed to merge safely with drivers in the first lane not paying attention to their speed and surroundings.

 

Do you think you could find the aerial photo of the interchange on Terraserver? (www.terraserver.microsoft.com)? I'd be interested to see if I can find why the onramp is so short.

Do you know when the interstate was built? The interstate that runs through my hometown was built as a regional highway before the Federal interstate system really took off. It was eventually absorbed into the federal system (I-74, through Peoria), but it was never built entirely to Interstate standards.

Oh, and BTW, while most standards are based off of a national organization (the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO)), each state sets its final minimum requirements for things such as ramp lengths, curve radii, etc. Its not an uncommon desgin technique (unfortunately) to just set all of your variables to the state allowed minimums.

 

http://www.terraserver.microsoft.com/image.aspx?t=4&s=14&x=76&y=1024&z=15&w=1&qs=%7csugar+land%7ctexas%7c
If it is in his home city listed.....just a starter.....

 

How about the greater than 1/4 of a mile, fellas? Want to hit 120mph or more before you merge, check this baby out! Its right by the new Auto Gallery showroom, so when your shaking from adrenaline (not), you can cool off or claim you were just taking a quick test drive.

Sunny

 

I couldn't find a picture of the exact location im talking about because it's from 2002. There has been massive construction recently so it's changed considerably. But I did find another of the VERY MANY dangerous merging spots.

Here it is. Let me add that the 'feeder' road is on a different elevation than the freeway; it's a lower. You have no way of seeing who is on the lane you're merging on until you're about 90% on to the on ramp. Trust me, it's worse in person.

(This is Main St and 59 for those from Houston.)
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Given the size of the cars, thats a lot more than 75 feet for the length of the feeder road. You don't need to turn your head 195 degrees, one eye at a 100 degree glance should be enough or you don't have proper vision out of your car or truck.

Given the length of the road, speed isn't an issue but it looks like braking zone might be if you "came up on someone" and one of you had to slow down. Dangerous but really a no brainer easy to deal with situation unless people are consistently (daily) running into a problem here.

You mentioned the construction, exactly what are they doing? You could write your state transportation office, I suppose.

If you think this is rough, try merging onto highways at 60+ mph from a dead stop where all you get is 100ft on the East Coast. Even with line of sight, people are the same (they only move out of your way if they have to), it becomes quite fun. They aren't proper on ramps by our standards, and are more like small turnouts, where you have to punch it when its clear.

I don't recommend posting this in the Mid-Atlantic region, the responses won't be favorable.

 

Try merging onto (or off of) the Pasadena Freeway (I-110) which was designed in like 1947 or something and is still in use by our well-trained and polite Southern California drivers.

Also it is very bendy and catches people out - there is always a half-dozen bumper covers and a veritable carpet of yellow and red plastic shards in the (extremely thin) median and shoulder!!

Cheers
Kevin

 

Texas freeways suck.

I drove to Dallas for the first time from Sugarland (hey anothe SLer!) and I got a ticket

Damn small towns.

AND DAMN FREEWAYS WHERE I HAVE TO CROSS THE OPPOSITE LANE!

 

Did you get your ticket in Sugar Land (SL) or Houston? If it was in SL i'm not even suprised. SL police will try to give ANY ONE a ticket for anything they possibly can; I know of tons of people who have gotten tickets for jay walking.

Houston is full of speed traps. Funny how they started the 'clear safe' program and cops still sit on the sides of the freeway to point their radar guns at cars.

 

there's an answer to this kind of problems, it's the magic word in the url of this site
it's fun to redline on the feeder and to wiggle immediately through all lanes directly to the left.
if you want the challenge, go drive in paris or rome. if you want the thrill, go to cairo or china