Talking Traffic

Internal Documents from MnDOT About I 35W Bridge Maintenance: The Star Tribune of Minneapolis/St. Paul is digging into the recent history of bridge maintenance activities and decisions.

China Trying Dictatorial Traffic Congestion Solutions: Want to cut traffic congestion?  Just ban 50% of the vehicles from the road.  It certainly cuts down on the need for driver incentives.  As it turns out, it might not make much difference.

Kerfuffle on the Zakim Bridge in Boston: Some of the plates that attach the cables on this cable-stayed bridge are a bit warped, raising questions about safety.

Urban Transportation Report Card: Streetsblog discusses the urban transportation report card, a listing of the carbon-friendliness of some American cities.

Topics: I-35W bridge collapse; bridge sufficiency rating; ethics and legality of being a professional engineer. 

 

 Episode 2 - Bridge Sufficiency Rating and Ethical Obligations: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Talking Traffic Episode 002 - Bridge Sufficiency Rating and Ethical Obligations

Good day, and thanks for listening to Talking Traffic, the podcast about explaining the basics of transportation issues. I’m Bill Ruhsam and I host this podcast and its sister website, talkingtraffic.org. Today is August 20, 2007 and this is episode 2, the Bridge Sufficiency Diaries. Continue Reading »

• Five Cities awarded Close to $900M: Five american cities have been awarded funds as a part of the US federal government’s Urban Partnership Program.  New York, Minneapolis, Seattle, San Francisco, and Miami have been awarded varying amounts of funds.
• Minneapolis is Respecting the Disaster Site: The site of the I-35W bridge collapse is being restricted from view as much as possible, in respect for the dead.
• Traffic Light of Death!: Any blog entry that pops into my feedreader with this title gets a look-see. The topic may not be wholly fascinating, but the prose that accompanies it definitely is.
• US DOT Not Committed to Bicycles: Malcomxpark reports that Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters does not feel that bicycles are transportation.  He links to another blog with transcripts of interviews with secretary Peters.  You won’t find me being the administration’s defender all that frequently, however Mary Peters seems to be a levelheaded middle-of-the-road Transportation Secretary.  The policies being criticized are rampant throughout the country, not only with this administration.  Americans love their cars and trucks and have not been culturally raised to respect the bicycle.  This attitude is reflected at every level of the transportation infrastructure process, from policy to planning to construction, including funding, which is the linchpin that everything turns on.  To have a bicycle-friendly nation, we need to work with everyone, not just rail at the administration.
• German Prognostication: German Autobahn traffic experts want to predict traffic jams a day in advance.  Sounds cool, I hope they manage it. 

• Don’t Know which way is North? Fight about it! Two men have a round of fisticuffs due to an argument whether Pennsylvannia is north or south of Virginia. As someone mentioned in the comments, I sincerely hope that the drunk one though VA was north of PA.  This link brought to us through the kind services of Matt Rosenberg who also has a link to an article about the Clearview highway sign font.
• Improving Traffic Safety in the US: If you’re interested in a very very long report, please click through to the Improving Traffic Safety Culture in the United States: The Journey Forward, produced by the AAA foundation.  I haven’t gotten through this whole thing yet, but it is cogent and the introduction is worth the read for anyone.
• Arbitrary Speed Limit Changes . . . Don’t Work: The Chattanoogan reports on speed limit changes on Signal Mountain.  The article describes the enforcement regime, which claims to have reduced the average speed, although they don’t say by how much.  The article uses a bunch of numbers that don’t necessarily demonstrate any changes. Reductions in certain speed bins do not (necessarily) show a statistically significant change in traffic patterns.  I’m going to call the police dept. at Signal Mountain and see if they documented this study.
• Bridge Collapse in China: This bridge was under construction when it collapsed, not in service.  Thanks to the Transportationist for the tipoff
• Angkor Died due to Infrastructure Collapse: According to this article the ancient city of Angkor in Cambodia was the largest metropolitan area of a preindustrial nation.  It failed due to a lack of basic infrastructure maintenance.  This has some resonance given all the uproar about the I-35W bridge collapse
• Senator Clinton Urges a Quick and Thorough Analysis: In 2005 Senator Clinton amended the SAFETEA-LU (”Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act—A Legacy for Users” and don’t get me started about names for transportation bills…) to include a comprehensive study of the nation’s infrastructure.  It isn’t complete yet, so Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton is using the political hay that has fallen to pad her race to the presidency.  In case you can’t tell, I do not support Senator Clinton in her bid.

• Virginia’s Latest Transportation Plan:  Find some details, here.
• Truck Traffic around a Port: Details about the types and amounts of truck traffic at a busy port.
• Taxes for Bridges: As a consequence of the I-35W bridge collapse, an increase to the federal gas tax was proposed.  I think this is less for the direct purposes of allocating money to bridge improvements than for the purposes of political bludgeoning.  We’ll see where it all goes.
• Green Lights mean SMASH!: Scottish hoodlums are smashing green signal lights.
• Don’t put your Brain on Cruise Control . . . like this kid does. Pay attention to your driving.
• Seeing 2000 A.D. from 1966: Chairman of the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority predicts the future of transportation, looking forward from 1966.

• New Roundabouts in Detroit: Many intersections are being replaced by roundabouts in the Detroit, MI, area.
• Innovative Traffic Calming:  This man used cardboard likenesses of his children to slow vehicles through his neighborhood [video].
• British Airports Are Having Long Lines, Too: Transport Blog debates whether the government-run British Airporty Authority should be broken up.
• NASA Solicits Information:  If you can provide efficient logistical support to a far off outpost, e.g. the International Space Boondoggle, NASA wants to talk to you.  Of course, any commercial or private service that can lessen the cost of achieving low Earth orbit will benefit the entire space program, Space Station or no.
• Traffic Prediction:  NPR stands up for us traffic engineers!
• Bicycles in the Traffic Stream: Mr. Viddy discusses his experiences with being a bicyclist mixed with cars in the Pacific Northwest.
• Physics of Inductance Loops: Physics is Phun explains the inductance loops used to detect vehicles at stop bars.

Topics: Introduction. Basic traffic signal coordination.  Definitions of “coordination, synchronization, and actuation.”

 

 Talking Traffic Episode 1 [9:21m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Tonight at midnight, 0000 local time August 6, the first episode of the Talking Traffic podcast will be up.  What does this mean? 

• Most of the traffic- and transportation-themed postings at The Evil Eyebrow will now be posted here instead (possibly crossposted back to The Eyebrow).
• This blog/podcast will be undergoing tweaking for thematic purposes, and suggestions are appreciated.  I realize that the format is a bit plain at the moment.
• I intend this to be a twice monthly podcast, but you know how things go with respect to time.  Perhaps they will come faster, maybe slower.
• Any suggestions that people have regarding topics are also greatly appreciated.  I happen to know what I like to discuss, but I’m an industry insider and may not have the best grasp on what somebody looking in from outside would be fascinated by.

Please alert me if you find anything on the site that is broken or confusing.  I hope you enjoy the podcasts!

Crossposted to The Evil Eyebrow