Roadway Designs with Truckers in Mind

I think who ever came up with the cloverleaf on and off ramps was a fool,, they stink in the winter time, up hill and make you go up and around to the top,, many trucks get stuck on them and then have to put chains on to get to the top that is if they dont slide off in the dirt first from the ice,, , straight on and off would be nice, no curves or bends,, or like illinois where you have a short lane to get on and off at the same exit whats that all about??

 

Generally, the height of signs blocks the line of sight for truck drivers entering a road at an intersection or from an exit ramp. Car drivers look under the signs. Truck drivers contend with large mirrors and brackets, door frames and windshield posts, and signage blocking their vision. I realize that signs can not be installed higher. They should be farther back from the intersection.

 

Use brighter paint for striping, is it just me or has the tone of the white turned into beige due to the sand they mix into the paint for reflectivity? Keep in mind drainage slope, some roadways are sloped so steep, you drift to the shoulder because of the slope.

 

Although I have very limited experience, I still want to join in since previous to "trucking" I was putting on 40 - 50 K / year with a four wheel, and this has always been my "pet peeve".

For me, its the lane markings. I saw it mentioned in a few other posts. I don't like it on certain stretches where all of a sudden, you're not sure. Rain, snow, night time, early morning can be "white knuckle" on some roads - all of a sudden, the lane is "gone" and you decide

Also, let me end with a question back. Why is it, do you think, that some ramps change radii? We have one in Milwaukee in particular - I-94W onto I-894W on the Southside - where you enter into the radius, then it relaxes, and then it quickly gets tighter again. I have seen it elsewhere, but very rare - seems to me that it must have been a correction to a mistake, since two points can be connected with one continuous, consistent radius. Just wondering your thoughts.

I bring this up since this ramp probably has the highest truck "overturn" occurrence in the area.

 

That's my biggest pet peeve... here a reflector... there a reflector... oops... where'd they go? Night vision is the first thing to go on us old guys.

Other states need to take a lesson from the state of Florida—liberal use of Stimsonite reflectors and magical lane marking paint that must be a gift from the gods.

 

It's called a decreasing radius turn and big trucks are not the only thing affected by it. Motorcyclists can be caught off guard by these engineering disasters too (ask me how I know).

I think it probably has to do with asthetics from the air. Yes, they do take that into account... the s-curve in Grand Rapids, MI was designed with the way it looked from the Amway Grand Hotel in mind. Nevermind the fact that it was a major contributor to accidents.

Heck, maybe the engineer liked Fibonacci number sequences (Google it).

 

"Slower Vehicles Keep Right" and ENFORCE IT!

...it says "Move Over, Stoopid"...I'm losing a letter there...

 

My thoughts are,
for a 3 lane road that doesnt allow trucks in the left lane, make the right 2 lanes 2 feet wider each and make the left a little narrower if needed.

NO gaurd rails at the end of and on ramp, along with big giant yield signs for merging traffic.

If a left lane exit mark EVERY sign for that exit with the yellow (left exit) ahead at min 1.5-2 miles in advanced.

A little wider shoulders would be nice or every mile or so have a pull off shoulder area that is fairly wide 10-12 feet by 100 ft long min and marked with a simple sign "pull-off 1/4 mile" so that breakdowns or cops can have room so we dont have to change lanes in a hurry, a couple feet of asphalt along with a couple more of hard packed gravel would be ok.

Im not sure why so many places or so afraid of grinding a layer of asphalt off the roads, but places like us 69 I think south of macalester is super rough. There are quite a few team drivers out there that get woken up or get really bad sleep because of roughness.

I dislike concrete because its loud, asphalt i prefer but once it gets worn in with the deep grooves from the tires its annoying.

Oh if they put jersey barriers up for lane closure or construction, BIG CURVES and dont abruptly jog traffic lanes, our trailers hit the last barrier or we have to run into the other lane to avoid our trailer striking the last one. ALSO STRAIGHTEN THE #### THINGS WHEN CARS HIT THEM. nothing sucks worse then running along side them and all of a sudden you got to move over at least a foot to clear 2 barriers that have been > into your lane. Im not sure about the rest of you but in chicago I prefer to run along the barriers on the left side of me, I hate going through 35e north of waco and having the barriers on my right side.

Clover leaf arent that bad to me as long as there is enough merge area and constant radius, those Tennessee suicide ramps that pinch off at the bottom suck ###, I really like texas with the frontage roads but they really need to make the On ramps a lot smoother of a curve, to many cars fly into them and run well into our lane.

 

Good suggestions, except:

Many 4 wheelers think of yield signs as STOP signs. Bad enough they won't get enough speed to merge with traffic, but make the jump in from a standstill? Not good.

 

How about those lanes that slop downward, not sure what there called, like on Spur 408 and loop 12. It makes you feel like your tilting to one side.. That is dangerous, and I avoid them like the plaque..