Motorway congestion alleviation idea
Discussion
It seems to me that the majority of congestion on moderately busy motorways is caused by merging traffic.
This traffic on the slip is moving slightly slower than traffic on the motorway, resulting in existing traffic slowing, and creating a ripple effect back along the carriageway until eventually all traffic is grinding to a halt and merging at walking pace.
Would it not be a good idea to extend the slip for say, half a mile along the hard shoulder with clear signage for joining traffic to get up to speed and merge in turn?
There are merge signs in Oz and NZ and they seem to work pretty well.
I can't help thinking a simple change such as this could certainly alleviate or reduce congestion at peak times.
This traffic on the slip is moving slightly slower than traffic on the motorway, resulting in existing traffic slowing, and creating a ripple effect back along the carriageway until eventually all traffic is grinding to a halt and merging at walking pace.
Would it not be a good idea to extend the slip for say, half a mile along the hard shoulder with clear signage for joining traffic to get up to speed and merge in turn?
There are merge signs in Oz and NZ and they seem to work pretty well.
I can't help thinking a simple change such as this could certainly alleviate or reduce congestion at peak times.
I doubt there is a modern car out there that can't get to 70mph before the end of every slip road out there. I never had a problem in any of the 1.0l cars I've had over the years.
The problem isn't the road, it's the stupid drivers who try to merge going 20mph slower than the road they are merging into.
The problem isn't the road, it's the stupid drivers who try to merge going 20mph slower than the road they are merging into.
On the continent, the transition between the inside lane and the outer lanes is prohibited by a solid white line. Merging does not effect the outer lanes.
Whether this would work on our un-policed motorway networks, where poor driving standards like middle lane hogging and tailgating go unchecked by automotons looking only for vehicles moving at 77mph or more to fine, is a different matter.
Whether this would work on our un-policed motorway networks, where poor driving standards like middle lane hogging and tailgating go unchecked by automotons looking only for vehicles moving at 77mph or more to fine, is a different matter.
hornetrider said:
Would it not be a good idea to extend the slip for say, half a mile along the hard shoulder with clear signage for joining traffic to get up to speed and merge in turn?
Would not work There is a very very long slip road going onto the dual carriageway from my work and it is not uncommon to see someone going along the sliproad and have settled into cruise mode who have to suddenlly stop or swerve out of the sliplane as they are too damn thick to see it is a sliproad
The only problem with the inside lane exiting, and then coming back with the joining traffic, (effectively making a 3 lane motorway 2 lanes between the off and on ramp,) is that it would encourage more idiots to sit in the middle lane.
I think it would be better to use the hard shoulder to make longer on ramps, but this would not be useful for emergency services.
Maybe people could just learn to drive better. If there was a need to learn how to use a motorway as part of the driving test it would help...
I think it would be better to use the hard shoulder to make longer on ramps, but this would not be useful for emergency services.
Maybe people could just learn to drive better. If there was a need to learn how to use a motorway as part of the driving test it would help...
I think we need a mechanical solution. Each slip road should end with a loop of tarmac to take the cars back to the start of the sliproad, and a speed-activated pivoting section of road (like the points on rail tracks).
Anyone doing less than, say, 60 mph would never make it on to the motorway.
Anyone doing less than, say, 60 mph would never make it on to the motorway.
holes who think it's a good idea to drive at 50mph in a car on the motorway?deeen said:
I think we need a mechanical solution. Each slip road should end with a loop of tarmac to take the cars back to the start of the sliproad, and a speed-activated pivoting section of road (like the points on rail tracks).
Anyone doing less than, say, 60 mph would never make it on to the motorway.
Bit harsh on lorries that are limited to 56mph. Anyone doing less than, say, 60 mph would never make it on to the motorway.
I understand it is illegal* to travel in the nearside lane in Germany to allow "leavers" and "joiners" room to get on and off within about 300 mtrs of the junction, that would make getting on and off safer here I think.
I wonder if it's still like that'cos this was over thirty years ago and the world seems to have become crappier ever since
- remembered from my Nato Driving tick test when I was in the TA years ago
I wonder if it's still like that'cos this was over thirty years ago and the world seems to have become crappier ever since
I like that 60mph on/off system. We should extend it into a half baked idea 
I propose we have a centrifugal 'on' slip road. Unless you are generating enough momentum you can't get on, like a shuttle attempting to leave orbit. Lorries would be ok as even though they are 56mph limited their extra mass should help (its not based on gravity in this instance but on a momentum limit).
This would then lock away the idiot drivers who can't comprehend the system and eventually the roads would be free of them.
In reality the problem is one of simple maths. If you have 1 lane running at full capacity (the on road) and 3 lanes running at capacity (the motorway), they all are trying to use 3 lanes of capacity. 1+3 does not equal 3. The only way to cope with this capacity issue is buffering (queues) to reduce the throughput to that of 3 lanes or alternatively ensuring that you never reach full capacity on any of the incoming lanes.
I propose we have a centrifugal 'on' slip road. Unless you are generating enough momentum you can't get on, like a shuttle attempting to leave orbit. Lorries would be ok as even though they are 56mph limited their extra mass should help (its not based on gravity in this instance but on a momentum limit).
This would then lock away the idiot drivers who can't comprehend the system and eventually the roads would be free of them.
In reality the problem is one of simple maths. If you have 1 lane running at full capacity (the on road) and 3 lanes running at capacity (the motorway), they all are trying to use 3 lanes of capacity. 1+3 does not equal 3. The only way to cope with this capacity issue is buffering (queues) to reduce the throughput to that of 3 lanes or alternatively ensuring that you never reach full capacity on any of the incoming lanes.
kambites said:
deeen said:
I think we need a mechanical solution. Each slip road should end with a loop of tarmac to take the cars back to the start of the sliproad, and a speed-activated pivoting section of road (like the points on rail tracks).
Anyone doing less than, say, 60 mph would never make it on to the motorway.
Bit harsh on lorries that are limited to 56mph. Anyone doing less than, say, 60 mph would never make it on to the motorway.
I think its a cracking idea, a loop of mindless idiots trying to get onto the motorway....
As I've mentioned on another thread today, I've really noticed a difference in the last ten or so years in how bad congestion is. It used to be that I could do the trip London to Newcastle at a fair pace as long as I did it outside of rush hour. Under four hours was pretty normal, and I did in in closer to three on a bike once through the night (300 miles, all motorway or fast dual carriageway), but now I need to budget five hours to be comfortable, and even that will mean putting my foot down a fair bit on the odd empty stretch.
It's bad enough that I rarely take the car on this trip now, preferring to either ride, fly, or take the train. I'd be happy to see all sorts of schemes to try to free the roads up a bit more, including raising speed limits, encouraging commercial vehicles to travel at night, or even road pricing.
When I'm sitting there at 60, for hour after hour, it makes me wonder if I should have a small, cheap car with good mileage to do the trip in, but that would take away one of the few justifications I still have for owning something fast.
It's bad enough that I rarely take the car on this trip now, preferring to either ride, fly, or take the train. I'd be happy to see all sorts of schemes to try to free the roads up a bit more, including raising speed limits, encouraging commercial vehicles to travel at night, or even road pricing.
When I'm sitting there at 60, for hour after hour, it makes me wonder if I should have a small, cheap car with good mileage to do the trip in, but that would take away one of the few justifications I still have for owning something fast.
thinfourth2 said:
hornetrider said:
Would it not be a good idea to extend the slip for say, half a mile along the hard shoulder with clear signage for joining traffic to get up to speed and merge in turn?
Would not work There is a very very long slip road going onto the dual carriageway from my work and it is not uncommon to see someone going along the sliproad and have settled into cruise mode who have to suddenlly stop or swerve out of the sliplane as they are too damn thick to see it is a sliproad
renrut said:
In reality the problem is one of simple maths. If you have 1 lane running at full capacity (the on road) and 3 lanes running at capacity (the motorway), they all are trying to use 3 lanes of capacity. 1+3 does not equal 3. The only way to cope with this capacity issue is buffering (queues) to reduce the throughput to that of 3 lanes or alternatively ensuring that you never reach full capacity on any of the incoming lanes.
in reality the 3 lanes are no where near their maximum capacity though are they???the issue is slow car joins motorway, fast car/truck in lane 1 needs to move over to pass, faster car in lane 2 joins lane 3, thus LANE 3 ONLY reaches capacity due to the delay in lane 1 and the knock on in lane 2!
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