🚀 go-pugleaf

In <1992Nov16.172634.12698@rock.concert.net> abc@banjo.concert.net (Alan B Clegg) writes:

>The roadwork on highway 54 at 55 (Railroad crossing) has been completed and
>the road is open again.  Now all you have to wait for are the trains which
>COMPLETELY shut the road...  I liked two lanes that were open all the time 
>better....
>
>[I think this piece of work should get one of the "golden turkey" awards for
> stupidity in planning].

Oh, I don't know. It seems to me that whoever "designed" the traffic flow
for Crossroads shopping center ought to get 2 or 3 years worth of golden
turkeys. At least 54 only shuts down when there's an actual train there.
--
Gordon Keener         SAS Institute, Inc.
flash@unx.sas.com     SAS Campus Dr, Cary,
+1 919 677 8000       NC 27513-2414 USA
"There is a heppy lend, fur, fur a-wa-ay." - _Krazy_Kat_, George Herriman

It does appear a bit strange that while everyone else in the
world is trying to eliminate railroad-road crossings at grade,
this particular situation went the opposite way.

-- 
"My other computer is a Nikon N8008." -- Ernest H. Robl
Ernest H. Robl (ehr@ecsvax)  Durham, NC, USA   +1  919   286-3845
                                         FAX:  +1  919   286-1696
This .signature exceeds plate C specifications (for rec.railroad fans)

At the risk of swimming against the mainstream, I have to point
out what's good about the changes on 54/55.  Anyone who's tried to 
take a left onto 54 from the shopping center on the corner should
agree that it's much nicer to be able to see the oncoming traffic.

I haven't been down the new stretch, so I don't know all the changes
they've made, but that was one of the worst intersections I've ever
seen.  (And I go to Crossroads a lot!)

...Greg Byrd             North Carolina Supercomputing Center
   gbyrd@ncsc.org        P.O. Box 12889
   (919)248-1439         Research Triangle Park, NC  27709-2889

In article <1992Nov16.221304.9906@ecsvax.uncecs.edu>, ehr@ecsvax.uncecs.edu (Ernest H. Robl) writes:
>
>It does appear a bit strange that while everyone else in the
>world is trying to eliminate railroad-road crossings at grade,
>this particular situation went the opposite way.
>

   I can't understand why people think this was a bad idea.  The old trestle
only allowed two lanes to pass under it, one in each direction.  At busy times,
westbound cars would be backed up from the stop light at the 54-55 intersection
for minutes.  It would take several light cycles to get to the intersection.  
Lunch time was a madhouse with cars trying to turn right into Pizza Hut and 
Arby's or turn left into Kerr Drugs.  
   I, too had doubts about how the engineers would build up the area to raise
the road to track level, but they did it and other than Arby's, the tire place
and the shopping center east of the trestle being in a hole, it looks safe.
I'm not positive, but doesn't this crossing have warning lights and crossing
arms, unlike many RR crossings in this area?  I seem to remember seeing them.
It also probably cost a LOT less than building a new and longer trestle, but 
this was probably impossible without closing the train track for several 
months.    
   Eventually it looks that 54 just west of the 54-55 intersection will be 
widened to at least 5 lanes to allow a left turn lane, 2 west bound lanes and 
2 east bound lanes.  Traffic will be a lot better. 
   Now does anyone know what the construction on I-40 between RTP and the 
Airport Exit is all about?  A new overpass for the highway between I-40 and
HW 70?  Is that part of the outer belt loop?  Is Raleigh gonna get cold feet
and wimp out on providing adequate roads from North Raleigh to RTP even after
years of debate and deciding to do it?  

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SAS Institute, Inc - QA/Graph           it adds 150 expansion teams or hell 
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In article <Bxv7xp.Cp2@unx.sas.com>, sasbrb@rolypoly.unx.sas.com 
(Brendan Bailey) writes:

|>   I can't understand why people think this was a bad idea.  

The problem I have with it is demonstrated by the 
following equation:

      train + car -> train. 

Note that the car has ceased to exist on the right hand side
of the equation
 
>It also probably cost a LOT less than building a new and longer 
trestle, but this was probably impossible without closing the train 
>track for several months.    

This is exactly the reason. This ignores the fact that lights or
no lights, people are going to become impatient or careless. Its
a fact of physics that if the path of a car and a train never
cross, they can't hit one another. Arguments about personal
responsibility and natural select not withstanding.

|>   Now does anyone know what the construction on I-40 between RTP and the
|>Airport Exit is all about? Is that part of the outer belt loop? 

That is correct. The first stages of the outer loop.

Joe Slater
sasjzs@vms.sas.com
Mine opinion is just that.