🚀 go-pugleaf

Who's the brilliant traffic engineer that decided to paint the unaturally 
abrupt lane shift on I-66 just barely west of the interchange with 495?  
Those of us who drive it all the time have learned to be wary of the 
vehicle to our right lest they not notice the sudden shift to the right 
forced by the lane striping.  

What makes this sudden change ever more deceptive is the fact that the 
concrete slab continues on an even, steady arc that serves as a 
subconscious lane guide while the paint makes the shift.  

I recognize the need for this redirection of the lanes--before the new 
two lane flyover from the inner loop was completed (which now dumps 
merging inner-loop traffic on the RIGHT side of Westbound 66), the 
concrete slab was built to allow inner-loop traffic its own permanent 
lane.  This is the same lane that becomes the HOV lane.  Now, however, 
with the left-side exit ramp razed, it became neccessary to move all 
traffic one lane to the left.  However, VDOT also started the HOV lane 
back a half mile earlier than before, inside the beltway and a good deal 
prior to the interchange with 495.  This is all well and good, and in 
reality, an improvement over the old set-up which forced slower on-ramp 
traffic into the left lanes with much swifter fast lane traffic.  BUT, 
couldn't they have eased the abruptness of the shift by starting it much 
farther back, like at the trailing edge of the beltway overpass and 
gradually moving traffic to the right?


	 ~~~~	  Jonathan
	~c--oo	  thonhazz@clark.net
	     >
	    -	 "Read a good book, or take up bowling..."  
					- My President