Roadway Designs with Truckers in Mind

wide sweeping corners, wide travel lanes and shoulders.....truck only lanes would be nice, easy on/off access, rest areas

think about that one time you took a long road trip......what would you have liked to see (keep in mind most truckers dive around 500 miles a day....some more some less)

 

Make the bridge clearance higher, the curves less sharp, if there's no shoulder there make one and for God's sake stop with the roundabouts already (Unless they are huge and wide and the exits are clearly marked and understood)..

 

Trucks are 8' wide. Anything wider is oversize.

Up/downgrades can be annoying with a heavy load, but they are part of the job and there's really no getting around them. Same with curves. Making them as gentle as possible is really the only solution here. It's just not pratical to blast every mountain out of the way!

Long accel/decel lanes are a boon to truckers. With our weight, it naturally takes us longer to speed up/ slow down. When we're coming up on a short exit ramp, we have to slow down before leaving the traffic lanes, which causes tie-ups, beacause there is nearly always a four-wheeler tailgating us. Having to merge before getting up to highway speed causes problems, too, for obvious reasons.

A truck only lane is cool, as long as that's not the only lane we're allowed in. We need to be able to pass each other as we're all governered at different speeds, and we all take hills at different speeds due to differing weights.

I'd also add the concern of roadway smoothness. Our trucks don't absorb shock like a four-wheeler will, and a rough ride makes for a sore neck and a headache.

 

14' wide would be absolutely wonderful! Average 18 wheeler is 102 inches wide 13'6 tall and around 65-80' long give or take a few feet depending on style of truck, wheelbase etc.

Truck only lanes are a good idea, but also when ending a lane, where possible, why not end the left lane(s) as opposed to the right lanes where most trucks reside?

Longer accel and decel ramps are ideal. Grades, well there's not a whole lot you can do about mountains go up em' around em or through em. Hills can be a pain with a heavy load, just the way it goes. If it's not too much to do, keep it flat as possible.

Left hand exits can be a pain as well (E.G. I-40 Memphis and Nashville) giving the trucker little time to run across several lanes to exit or continue on a highway is dangerous IMO during high peak traffic hours.

 

Obviously geography plays a big role in how you guys design a stretch of road but what other factors are involved? Do you run into property rights issues a lot and have to start from scratch? It seems in some places, some of the curves seem to be a bit on the sharp side for no apparent reason.

What are some of the things you guys pull your hair out over? I realize you are a student but I would imagine you've talked to those you aspire to be and heard some of the pitfalls of the biz. Just wondering really how some of these things are planned.

Some places, it's an amazing feat of engineering to see if you pay attention to the thought and labor that had to go into laying these routes down.

 

Thanks! I prefer concrete because asphalt always seems to have those ridges in them from the constant heavy truck traffic and at times those ridges can be a real pain. 1/4 mile is plenty I think just try not to put the get on ramps going up a hill lol. I know that's not always possible.

The most retarded scalehouse I've seen yet is on 495 around D.C. If you're coming southbound on 95 to 495 West/South, you have to enter the scale when it's open and the problem is, when you get back on 495 WB, they put you on the left (a truck restricted lane to boot) going up a steep hill.

This wouldn't necessarily be so bad but the curve on the ramp to get to the accel lane is rather sharp so you have to take it easy and can't build up speed. Then they expect you to cross several lanes of traffic to get to the outside lane. It's ridiculous!

If I think of more things (I'm sure I will) I'll surely add them. For the most part, you guys do a great job! Oh and the EXIT left and right on top of the sign, I didn't know that until I became a trucker. I also never really understood the number schemes, like odd for N/S and even for E/W. I never paid attention that belts off a main interstate (285 connector loop around Atlanta for example) always start with an even number and spurs always start with an odd number. I also didn't know the interstates were numbered from E/W according to how much land mass was left in the country to the south and the N/S interstates were numbered according to how much was left west of them. Pretty cool stuff and amazingly simple as well.

 

Concrete is better than asphalt not just for smoothness, but traction as well. Asphalt gets slippery quicker in rain and snow.