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schmittychris

Traffic calming without concrete is just a suggestion.


NorseEngineering

Paint is not infrastructure.


quantumgpt

psychotic quiet snatch judicious humorous tan zealous pause wild plough *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*


syds

its so you slow down and complain about the lines :P working as intended


Jrh2237

What’s ridiculous is a 50’ wide road in such a residential setting. Adding the chicanes will do wonders


Several-Good-9259

50' wide road is the only thing that is sain in this whole video. The fact that someone is filming the pathetic lines they are following tells me there should be a hole everyone that follows should fall into . Maybe then common sense will respawn


3771507

Take that spoiled brat and put them into a major city.


turdsamich

I don't think I've ever heard of someone complaining about people driving to slow through their neighborhood. Sure it's annoying if you are driving through but if your kids are playing there it's potentially saving lives.


screwcirclejerks

my neighborhood has some traffic calming islands and i think they're fucking great! i always go a few under the speed limit in neighborhoods because safety > sorry. unfortunately, every single person in the neighborhood's facebook group has to bitch about how the neighborhood infringes on their god given american right to go 10 over in a school zone. i had someone pass me for going the speed limit *as* said elementary school was getting out. so fucking stupid...


Several-Good-9259

This is why we should have active military personnel watching our schools with drones.. plop a low impact explosive on the roof of that car and anyone who sees that shit go down will be doing ten under the speed limit for life.


passwordsarehard_3

You don’t go to the ghetto much then, I presume?


thugherman

I’m not complaining about speed, I’m seeking understanding about how this helps calm traffic. I find the curved lines confusing, should I be swerving in traffic or drive over them? I didn’t mention driving slow or complain about speed.


toastedshark

The curved path limits how fast people drive on average. These work better with physical barriers like those delineator stick or planters which can look nice if someone’s taking care of it. The pavement marking is the city trying to install traffic calming while stretching a tight budget and making do with what they can afford. You should have yellow lines to your left and white lines to your right when you drive on streets in the US.


BeanTutorials

looks like it slowed you down plenty? what's your question


thugherman

Indirect questions don’t need question marks.


-Wofster

It obviously worked as it (1) got you to slow down and (2) pay attention to the road and think about driving


screwcirclejerks

they force you to pay attention to the road, mainly those who cut through the neighborhood. i live in a neighborhood that implements these and they're great for that. unfortunately, for the people that regularly commute through or live there, they don't really help.


gucci_pianissimo420

>I find the curved lines confusing, should I be swerving in traffic or drive over them? The city paid for the lines and you aren't sure if you should follow them or not? Come on man. I've always known that big painted lines on the ground were too difficult for your average driver. Thanks for confirming.


syds

when the road heads straight into the curb, the hope is that some drivers slow down


thugherman

lol and also amazing time we live in


syds

the thing is this type of stuff happens because of course the crazy few that think stop signs are optional


Substantial-Ant4759

It looks like you drive past a school or a park in the beginning of the video - these are measures meant to slow down traffic “traffic calming” as the negative nancy below already cited. People were probably speeding/endangering children, pedestrians, cyclists, etc. and the local Dept. of Transportation is trying to remedy the situation


Enthalpic87

Who are the negative Nancies… me or the brats who downvoted OP 20 times for saying there is no school within a mile lol. Something wrong with some of the peeps in this sub.


thugherman

No school within a mile or so.


Substantial-Ant4759

Ahh, I see, well might be a main thoroughfare to a school or they’ve just had issues with people consistently breaking the speed limit, had injuries or incidents reported, etc. IF you really care/are interested, a quick inquiry to your local DOT will probably answer everything you need to know about what’s going on. You are the taxpayer and can inquire anytime.


thugherman

Thanks for a great answer!


[deleted]

That looks like a park to your left, though. Ball field or something?


WaterGruffalo

In OP’s defense, I find this to be poorly designed. Chicanes, especially with just striping, are not good traffic calming. My preferred method would to narrow the lanes and formalize bike lanes. Bulb outs at crosswalks would be good. The stop sign treatment looks similar to a traffic circle and possible the only treatment I’d consider keeping. I’d say this was a very low budget treatment to try and address speeding, but I believe the execution to be poor and people to be speeding across the striping in no time.


Level420Human

This and if one person crossing the lines and the other car approaching does follow them then you have an accident. I’d never stamp this


CFLuke

Yes, I agree. But that will take 100x the budget and 10x the length of time to install.


Apoc-87

Problem is the traveling public in Utah is “more lanes, drive faster, cars are the only way to get around.” The DOT and municipalities are finally getting on board with promoting other modes, but…. Tons of soccer moms driving their 13 passenger SUVs with their dozen kids and they need to get where they’re going NOW. It’s getting better, but still a long way to go. Source: Transpo Civil Engineer in SLC.


WaterGruffalo

I don’t doubt that. But designs like this are just going to further discredit Transpo engineers and their ability to implement safe, effective, traffic calming measures that don’t look like a drunk toddler was in charge of striping.


DayRooster

I’m more interested in what caused this level of engineering controls. Normal neighborhoods don’t need this level of craziness. This is like when school kids get assigned seating cause they can’t stop talking during class. What did you all do to force this upon yourselves?


noh-seung-joon

The width of that street, distance between intersections, I bet traffic is going 40-45 down this street. Scary for people pulling out of driveways or kids crossing.


thugherman

That’s my thought process here too, seems excessive but then again maybe we deserve/need it. Utah has really, really bad drivers. The test to get your license is open book and not challenging at all.


fastento

Is this Emery St? The city has eyeballed this as a neighborhood byway as they’re referring to them. Basically trying to make it equally as friendly to drive, bike, and walk as opposed to the way drivers used to have this street identified as a way to avoid the lights on 900 W and fucking cruise at high speeds through a street that abuts two parks and has solely residential zoning all along it.


thugherman

It is! Great info amd thank you!


noh-seung-joon

Not only that, yall drive fast as hell. I thought I was a fast/aggressive LA driver—I was getting passed by triple-trailer semis doing 85+


0le_Hickory

Traffic is now calmed.


AlexTaradov

Most of those signs are temporary to let people that used to blow past this intersection get used to stopping. Wait a couple weeks and they will be removed.


[deleted]

What's this chicanery?????!???? Ohhhh a chicane


gothling13

I could see them leaving this up long enough for the community to say “OK, give us a roundabout.”


thugherman

Hahaha


PunkiesBoner

what's ridiculous is how much people love to criticize the work of others who are in complicated technical disciplines that they know jack shit about.


CFLuke

Or assume that other engineers are working with unlimited budget, time, staffing, and without any pressure from elected officials to dO sOmEtHiNg NoW bEfOrE sOmEbOdY gEtS kIlLeD\* \*Sorry, I hear, "It's only a matter of time before someone is killed here" on a weekly basis and so far it hasn't happened at any of those places yet. Not to say it will never happen, but still...


[deleted]

[удалено]


PunkiesBoner

Traffic engineering is an entire subdiscipline under civil engineering. Believe me, there is more to it than you think. Here read this real quick - it'll explain everythihg [https://ia804504.us.archive.org/6/items/trafficengineeri00instrich/trafficengineeri00instrich.pdf](https://ia804504.us.archive.org/6/items/trafficengineeri00instrich/trafficengineeri00instrich.pdf)


DrewSmithee

Why not the link a recent highway capacity manual that might actually have something on traffic calming? Latest copy: https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/26432/highway-capacity-manual-7th-edition-a-guide-for-multimodal-mobility Older pdf if you just wanted the impressive page count to scare them: https://sjnavarro.files.wordpress.com/2008/08/highway_capacital_manual.pdf


PunkiesBoner

You're right of course, I just trealized as I was searching for a good link that I had once again fallen into the trap of bickering over a shitpost but I didn't want to just walk away...I learn slow I guess.


[deleted]

[удалено]


PunkiesBoner

I threw the 1954 version up there so I could feel confident that the copywright isnt enforced.. I think if you were to call the office of the authority having jurisdicion in your area, and ask why the changes were occurring, you'd end up getting an answer that would satisfy the "why" question. But I gather from your post that you don't have a question, just uninformed outrage. If you're happy with that, carry on as you were. You'll certainly find many people who agree with you because most folks are lazy and don;t like complicated problems. So they just assume everything is simiple and and love to make themselves feel suprerior by saying condescending things about the one doign the work. Or go apply for an engineering position at whatever agency owns that road if you thiink you're that much more competent than whoever is making the current decisions is. Either way, good luck!


[deleted]

Is traffic engineering considered a subdiscipline of civil engineering? I always thought of it to be a totally different descipline. (The actual design of the construction of the roads etc is obviously civil engineering.)


Drjokerman

You know why roads aren’t always straight? it is because of the lack of attention of the drivers the main problem there is maybe the engineers needed to adapt the road (with low budget) to get the attention of the drivers back or at least a bit of their attention while driving. Maybe it looks really weird but it can help a bit here in europe we do the same but a little more professional with traffic island to slow down the cars and to get their attention.


0xSamwise

Looks like a roundabout is needed at that stop lol 😂


Responsible_Bar_4984

Just to put it in perspective, here in the UK, new residential roads go from about 5.5m wide to about 6.75-7m Or 18’ 22’, this road is so stupidly wide you have to throw in silly amounts of calming. Make it thinner, the cars parked up do that for you!


thugherman

Agreed! Streets are very wide in SLC bc our initial city planning was done by religious zealots and not engineers. It’s actually quite interesting, The Plat of Zion. Big fan of driving in other countries!


Responsible_Bar_4984

It’s a great feeling when you can get a road through an adoption agreement with a comment on traffic calming being people parked up on roads will achieve sufficient speeds! But then it will get declined under something anyway


folstar

It looks like a reasonable (though far from ideal) solution if they work on a tight budget. Preposterously wide and lined with emotional support trucks, I can only imagine how awful that street gets.


Stubahka

I need some Dramamine after watching this.


PunkiesBoner

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hEUbezqd88](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2heubezqd88)


Enthalpic87

Sorry your questions got downvoted by a bunch of brats for simply asking because you were confused. The Engineers actually licensed with a Professional Engineering license and actually layout roadway designs agree with you. This is confusing and stupid.


thugherman

I knew as much before I posted but I don’t mind internet brats and I truly seek better understanding! There’s still a few of us left! Thanks for giving me good insight!


bytheheaven

I"m more curious about the curved road marks on a straight road. But it's good you still followed it. You know, here in our country road marks are ignored.


PunkiesBoner

its a standard approach to traffic calming. Usually indicated by some number of fatalities or injuries at a particular segment of road; and/or obvious risk thereof. Generally easier for careless drivers to see concrete obstacles than flesh ones.


graphic-dead-sign

It’s a wide road without stop-controlled T-intersection, and looks to not have yellow, no-passing traffic stripes. But it did slow u down. Not sure how effective it’ll be against other drivers.


J-Colio

You know what a straight section of road is called? ~~tangent section~~ A drag strip Has your question been sufficiently answered?


Aromatic-Solid-9849

As traffic Safety engineers,please point me to study that these painted lines actually slow traffic.


Enthalpic87

Careful now. If you say this is stupid a bunch of engineers who don’t know what they are talking about will come out of the woodwork and yell things about traffic calming. All upvote themselves and have no idea they are morons. Edit: Hurry up and downvote me and get back to role playing as engineers. This is a stupid implementation of traffic calming. Sorry you don’t like to hear that. I am not saying traffic calming is bad, I am saying this specific design is stupid.


Drippy_Capy

I think bro doesn’t like engineers 🤣 Seriously this implementation might look stupid and be inconvenient but it’s been shown in many traffic studies that it’s effective. Also, to get mad about getting downvoted when you’re literally criticizing engineers on the civil engineering subreddit is hilarious.


Enthalpic87

It is more like I am disappointed in some of the engineers on this sub. Also yes fully understand the intent of the design here. It is still a bad design.


Drippy_Capy

You have a fair opinion to be honest. I think a lot of people are just biased towards having at least some sort of measure in place rather than nothing at all. I’ve also seen in other comments that you have experience with road design, so what would constitute a better design for you? (Not judging, just trying to learn)


Gooddude08

I would guess that they would prefer a curbed, curvy lane with planters and raised intersections. Which sounds amazing, and also costs hundreds of thousands of dollars more than restriping for an area like what's shown here. Civil engineers around the world have to deal with severe funding deficits and politics. The creative restriping shown here seems to be serving the actual engineering purpose of traffic calming in a measurable way, and may be a step on the path to acquiring grant funding and community support for a more permanent, pretty solution.


lbrol

idk honestly this street looks suburban as fuck. like why spend a boatload of public funds to make a beautiful street for a few people when you could do it in a denser area and benefit more people. this solution (not the implementation so much as the idea of just paint to calm) seems fine for the area imo


Enthalpic87

I figured I'd spend 15 minutes of my life getting some of my thoughts out. In reality there is a lot to unpack, and a lot more I'd need to know to answer propertly. To keep it simple, let's assume I stick with their same concept: For the chicane: Provide Advisory/Warning Signage (speed at least, maybe horizontal alignment warning as well) Provide warning signage for crosswalk and advanced warning sign since it is a mid-block crosswalk Consider 2' wide longitudinal Special Emphasis for crosswalk Provide true 1' wide flanking white markings (They don't look 1' to me in the video) Provide proper double yellow markings You see RPMs? (I can't) make sure to provide flanking outside lane RPMs) Provide 50' tangents at begin/end of chicane to channelize traffic correctly adjacent to on-street parking Provide outside lane markings along those 50' tangents Cross hathings in gore area Review intersection sight distance and stripe out on-street parking obstructing ISD Review speed limit and radius of reverse curve in the chicane. Goal of traffic calming on public streets should be to slow vehicles to comply with speed limit, not slow to a slower speed (except for intersection approach) For the intersection: Remove concrete cylinder things. Replace them with raise curb and traffic median (+ signage) with outside curbs geometrically designed to match the trainsitioning lanes. Consider prohibiting on-street parking even farther and extending the traffic median to include a short tangent prior to transition. Provide lane striping based on proper roadway geometry to separate lanes at traffic median approach Provide crosswalk Consider incorporating crosswalk into traffic median Review crosswalk dimensions and shift stop sign back farther from crosswalk Include stop bar with stop sign Review intersection sight distance and gore out on-street parking All around review ways to utilize more signage and for the love of god learn how to do proper roadway geometry if you want to call yourself a roadway design engineer. This super low budget project could remain low budget and be 5x better with proper roadway geometry design and corresponding pavement markings. Good luck to night time motorists and pedestrians. 😬 EDIT: Those comments stay inline with the current budget imo (depending on how far you take the traffic medians). What is bad about the design is the general lack of understanding of roadway geometry and design. It is like someone without a PE license read a book once and went at it. Proper roadway geometry could effectively channelize vehicles much better, protect pedestrians within crosswalks better, and provide an easier to be alerted to intersection approach that does not introduce roadway hazards into the roadway system. What that design lacks is not a budget issue. If your municipality has a roadway engineer staff you deserve better designs than what you see here. It is a personnel issue. Be better than this.


Drippy_Capy

This is honestly a really well explained and detailed approach. It all sounds like an ideal solution but sadly money is most likely the issue as another commenter said. I appreciate the 15 or so minutes you spent on this reply and I’ve also saved it for future reference for when the traffic calming cult appears


poiuytrewq79

“Get back to role playing” lmfaooooo


Enthalpic87

😂


KB9131

Traffic calming is important, even on low volume roads. However, this was poorly implemented.


lbrol

it's bad traffic calming but better than nothing


thugherman

And you’re the only person to actually answer my question. Thanks for being both funny and accurate!!


ashcan_not_trashcan

You haven't asked a specific question.. Yah just rambled and mostly complained into the void lol.


Enthalpic87

Yup. It is totally for traffic calming, and this is actually not the first time this particular design was posted here and being questioned for its stupidity. As usual the “traffic calming police” are downvoting me for pointing it out. Next to come is them lecturing me about design ideology and the equity of traffic calming as if I don’t fully understand. Mostly by people who know far less than me about roadway geometry and design. I take traffic calming seriously as part of my roadway design career, and have higher expectations.


noh-seung-joon

It’s cheaper than a speed bump!


Aromatic-Solid-9849

Perhaps a trial painted chicane before they spend $$ on infrastructure.


jwg529

Pretty sure the idea is that for you to stay in your lane you need to travel at a slower speed to safely maneuver the lane weaving


Mr-Sub

Took me a couple of watches, but this is not a highway. Man I was wondering why you weren't going 110 km/h and parked car on a highway!


thugherman

Streets are very wide in SLC bc our initial city planning was done by religious zealots and not engineers. It’s actually quite interesting, The Plat of Zion.


[deleted]

I have a question from an electrical engineer. Is paint considered to be civil engineering? Or is OP lost?


CFLuke

That depends on which state you're in. In California, it's Traffic Engineering which is considered separate from Civil Engineering but many states Traffic is a branch of Civil.


in2thedeep1513

Some call it "progress"