http://www.talkingtraffic.org Traffic, Transportation, and Mobility Issues for the Everyday Person Tue, 19 Aug 2008 20:16:39 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Fail Blog is a compilation of user-submitted images and videos with the colloquial title of "Fail". If you don't know what that means, I suggest perusing the latest postings and it will become obvious. Signage is often a topic. This one just came up and I find it horribly ... http://www.talkingtraffic.org/index.php/2008/08/19/fail-blog-signage/ Topics: National Traffic Signal Report Card, 2007 Fataliity Rates, ITE Annual Meeting http://www.talkingtraffic.org/index.php/2008/08/18/episode-24-national-traffic-signal-report-card/ Topics: Autonomous Vehicles http://www.talkingtraffic.org/index.php/2008/08/04/episode-23-autonomous-vehicles/ One of the more frustrating parts of my day job is when a project requires the calculation of a Benefit/Cost ratio. This ratio is simple in concept: add up all the financial benefits of a project including the projected reductions in congestion, crashes, etc. and divide it by ... http://www.talkingtraffic.org/index.php/2008/08/01/benefitcost-ratios/ Today is the one year anniversary of the I-35W bridge collapse in Minnesota. If you don't know what I'm talking about, check out the wikipedia article. Most of the relevant info is there. The Interstate bridge collapsed during evening rush hour on August 1, 2007. Thirteen people died and ... http://www.talkingtraffic.org/index.php/2008/08/01/i-35w-anniversary/ Topics: Ramp Meters, Podcast Schedule http://www.talkingtraffic.org/index.php/2008/07/21/episode-22-ramp-meters/ Yes, yes. I know it's been a while, but I finally polished up Episode 22 and will be recording it this weekend. You'll get to have it on Monday morning, as usual. Also, stay tuned for more changes to the blog theme. This one, unfortunately, has some issues ... http://www.talkingtraffic.org/index.php/2008/07/18/episode-coming-and-blog-changes/ The Theme I had originally installed on Talking Traffic was dissatsifying me. So I've changed it. What do you think? I plan to alter the header image to something more transportation-engineering centric, eventually, but until then it's a nice picture. http://www.talkingtraffic.org/index.php/2008/06/19/blog-theme/ Alluding to yesterday's post concerning the inaccuracies in an Atlanta Journal Constitution article about Ramp Meters, I have an anecdote: My wife and I go to plays at Oglethorpe University in Atlanta every few months. In order to get there from our house (during rush hour), we avoid the interstates ... http://www.talkingtraffic.org/index.php/2008/06/18/ramp-meters/ Why do I do this Talking Traffic website, with its podcast and tidbits? Because of this: From the Atlanta Journal Constitution: Ramp meters are traffic lights that are intended to control the number of vehicles entering and exiting the highway. They are to reduce traffic congestion on the ramps. [emphasis mine] Argh! This ... http://www.talkingtraffic.org/index.php/2008/06/16/why-talking-traffic/ Housing & Transportation Costs in your Neighborhood: If you live in a metropolitan area, it's possible that your town is on this survey of transportation & housing costs by median income. Check it out. A Blow for Gender Equality: Sweden introduces a new walking-woman symbol to optionally ... http://www.talkingtraffic.org/index.php/2008/05/05/traffic-tidbits-5-may-2008/ Hold the Presses! US Trans Sec has a Blog!: US Transportation Secretary Mary Peters announced that she has a blog now! Call my cynical, but how much "blogging" is really done by the top politicians, rather than their staffers. I may be giving Secretary Peters short shrift here, ... http://www.talkingtraffic.org/index.php/2008/04/30/traffic-tidbits-29-april-2008/ Topics: Consultants, Hiring a Consultant http://www.talkingtraffic.org/index.php/2008/04/28/episode-21-consultants/ It's been a while since my last tidbits post. Let's try to make this a good one! Laser walls!: Laser walls for visual cueing of the car/pedestrian interface and trying to make it safer for pedestrians in urban areas. It's interesting. Canadian Airspace for American Airliners: When flights heading to ... http://www.talkingtraffic.org/index.php/2008/04/24/traffic-tidbits-25-may-2008/ Topics: The Aging Population, Designing for the Elderly Driver and Pedestrian http://www.talkingtraffic.org/index.php/2008/04/22/episode-20-the-aging-population/ Topics: ITE, Institute of Transportation Engineers http://www.talkingtraffic.org/index.php/2008/04/14/episode-19-institute-of-transportation-engineers/ Topics: Red on Top, Traveling with a Traffic Engineer http://www.talkingtraffic.org/index.php/2008/04/01/episode-18-red-on-top/ Regarding last night's PEBKAC posting, I've made a couple changes which should have my Itunes feed showing the most recent 30 episodes. That will give me 13 weeks to figure out category posting, or some other method to make sure that older episodes are available to people who want to ... http://www.talkingtraffic.org/index.php/2008/03/24/fixed-a-few-things/ Topics: Red Light Enforcement, Red Light Running, Clearance Intervals http://www.talkingtraffic.org/index.php/2008/03/24/episode-17-red-light-enforcement-red-light-running-clearance-intervals/ I've discovered a PEBKAC error on the itunes feed for talking traffic. I'm only sending 10 episodes through the xml code to itunes. As I'm up to 16 (17 at midnight tonight), that's a problem. I'm working the issue right now. Hopefully I'll have it fixed soon. http://www.talkingtraffic.org/index.php/2008/03/23/pebkac/ Topics: Project Development Process http://www.talkingtraffic.org/index.php/2008/03/18/episode-16-project-development-process/ Topics: Professional Engineers http://www.talkingtraffic.org/index.php/2008/03/04/episode-15-professional-engineers/ Topics: Functional Classification http://www.talkingtraffic.org/index.php/2008/02/25/episode-14-functional-classification/ My good friend, James Cronen, maintains a physics blog. Today he's talking about salt and ice, with a roadway topping. http://www.talkingtraffic.org/index.php/2008/02/21/salting-the-roadway/ Over lunch I thrashed out the outline of some upcoming episodes: Speed, Speeding, and Speed Limits Functional Classification: Why you can't put a driveway on an Interstate 511 Traveller's Information System Autonomous Vehicles and the Wire(less)d Roadside Enviroment No particular order, although Functional Classification will probably be next week. http://www.talkingtraffic.org/index.php/2008/02/21/upcoming-episodes/ Topics: Safe Routes to School http://www.talkingtraffic.org/index.php/2008/02/19/episode-13-safe-routes-to-schools/ Topics: Signal Installation, Signal Warrants, How to Annoy a Traffic Engineer http://www.talkingtraffic.org/index.php/2008/02/12/episode-12-how-to-get-a-signal-installed/ Anti-Trust in the Transportation Sector?: If you're not a net junky like me (and if you weren't, would you be reading this?) then you might not have heard of Traffic.com, the company responsible for the vast proliferation of Intelligent Transportation Infrastructure throughout some of the nation's major metro areas. ... http://www.talkingtraffic.org/index.php/2008/02/07/traffic-tidbits-7-january-2008/ Topics: Traffic Calming, Chicanes, Speed Humps, Speed Bumps, Safety, Statistical Analysis http://www.talkingtraffic.org/index.php/2008/02/05/episode-11-traffic-calming/ Look for Episode 11, on Traffic Calming, tomorrow. Busy weekend. http://www.talkingtraffic.org/index.php/2008/02/04/episode-105-episode-11-not-done-yet/