🚀 go-pugleaf

Bentley wrote:

[quoting disgusting whines from mayor]

> "...bridge of 10 lanes -- not the 12-lane, budget-busting, environmental
> disaster that some officials in our region refuse to let die."
> 
> [One wonders exactly how 2 lanes -- 24 feet -- are going to dramatically
> change the budget of this bridge, and, I have any less environmental
> impact.]

IIRC, what the mayor envisions is a 10-lane bridge divided into two
5-lane roadways.  The 12-lane proposal would have four roadways
(2-4-4-2), all with full shoulders.  The extra dividers and shoulders
add at least 32 feet to the width of the bridge, in addition to the 24
feet occupied by the two extra lanes.

The 2-4-4-2 configuration has significant advantages over 5-5 (among
other things, 5-lane wide roadways lead to less efficient use of lane
capacity, and are less safe because the middle lane is so far from the
shoulders).  But you do have to pay a price, in the form of a wider
shadow over Jones Point in Alexandria, as well as higher construction
costs.

Too bad.  Had Alexandria shot for a 10-lane bridge from the outset,
instead of holding out for an outlandishly expensive tunnel, I might've
been more sympathetic.  But now we're at the point where we have hardly
any time to spare, because the time needed to build the new bridge is
about as long as the old bridge can hold out until it has to be closed
to truck traffic (a major disaster if the new bridge isn't ready by
then, given the poor alternatives available).

In short, it's time to stop screwing around, and for the city of
Alexandria to gracefully concede that this time it isn't going to have
everything its own way.    

-- 
Oscar Voss (ovoss@erols.com), Arlington, Virginia
--
Take my photo tour of Alaska's Dalton Highway to the Arctic Ocean, on
Andy Field's http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Lobby/3175/corr24a.htm 
Coming later this year -- my Alaska Roads web site!