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Diverging Diamond Interchange

I like it. Anything to make KC's freeways easier to navigate is OK with me. "thumbsup"

Roundabouts are fun too. They were building some in the Phoenix area before I moved...make freeway exits/entrances pretty smooth. There is one, however, in eastern KS that is way too small for the traffic it sees. I have yet to follow a truck through that didn't have to ride up and over the center median or bounce off the outer curb to make it through.
 
Duuuuuuuude said:
I have yet to follow a truck through that didn't have to ride up and over the center median or bounce off the outer curb to make it through.
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The center medians are typically designed with rollover curbs to allow larger trucks to do that. It is a sacrifice between traffic calming and volume of large trucks. I work on a lot of 2 lane roundabouts that are designed this way.
 
Hurley0706 said:
The center medians are typically designed with rollover curbs to allow larger trucks to do that. It is a sacrifice between traffic calming and volume of large trucks. I work on a lot of 2 lane roundabouts that are designed this way.
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That makes sense...but I think they compromised the wrong way on this one. :ror:

When you say "2 lane" you are refering to the road on either side, or the lanes available within the roundabout?
 
ok.. my dyslexic ass cant comprehend it.. lol but im assuming this is the flow of traffic... these are "on-ramp's correct? that will connect to the green/teal'ish road

road.jpg
 
Duuuuuuuude said:
That makes sense...but I think they compromised the wrong way on this one. :ror:

When you say "2 lane" you are refering to the road on either side, or the lanes available within the roundabout?
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Roundabouts are refered to by the amount of circulating lanes within them. So a two lane round about means there are two lanes going around, usually used on 4 lane roadways.
 
awesome work man. the town i grew up in could have used someone like u when they planned/developed/built this in my home town.

this road WAS a major passage for semi trucks and logging trucks (my fathers 53' of truck and fifth wheel too) passing through my home town... they can no longer use this "highway" due to how tight the round about is and it does not have the center that is talked about at the beginning of page 2
sedroroundabout.jpg
 
Hurley0706 said:
Roundabouts are refered to by the amount of circulating lanes within them. So a two lane round about means there are two lanes going around, usually used on 4 lane roadways.
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Gotcha. Then the one that I'm complaining about that the trucks keep hopping the curbs on is a single. Yes, its on a 2 lane highway, but it gets alot of truck traffic. It looks alot like the one Robbio posted, but more f'd up...like if you hop the outer curb you aren't on a solid surface...you're in what was once grass but is now worn down to a deep muddy pit. Hooray KDOT! "thumbsup"
 
robbio4422 said:
awesome work man. the town i grew up in could have used someone like u when they planned/developed/built this in my home town.

this road WAS a major passage for semi trucks and logging trucks (my fathers 53' of truck and fifth wheel too) passing through my home town... they can no longer use this "highway" due to how tight the round about is and it does not have the center that is talked about at the beginning of page 2
sedroroundabout.jpg
Click to expand...

That doesn't immediately look bad but it all in how they allowed for the trucks. That large area in the median is typically how we do ours and the inside curb is just one of those gentle rollover curbs like going into a driveway.

The geometrics get tricky to get just right, there are a lot more bad ways to do it then good ways. We have one of the best in the country here at my firm, he has helped write the rules on how they should be done.

Honestly most US drivers don't like them, but they better get used to them because they are going to just keep getting more and more popular.
 
round abouts are the new big thing here, only hitch is they still make you stop before entering, kind of defeats the purpose:roll:
 
slobin3d said:
round abouts are the new big thing here, only hitch is they still make you stop before entering, kind of defeats the purpose:roll:
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Really? :shock: Got any addresses? I'd like to see if there is Google Streetview there.

Some of the ADA people keep pushing to have signalized pedestrian crossings at roundabouts. So lets put stop lights in and a roundabout, makes total sense. Sometimes the ADA rules really piss me off, I have been kind of the one to try and keep up with that here at my office.
 
here's one of the first. Its older and is a "fix" for an older existing intersection. The newer ones aren't on google maps yet.

stopsign.jpg
 
Does that count as a roundabout? Its more like a circular median in the middle of a square intersection...
 
Duuuuuuuude said:
Does that count as a roundabout? Its more like a circular median in the middle of a square intersection...
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its one of the first, it was a standard 4way that they cut the corners off the sidewalks and put in the center median. there are a few around like that, the others are all new intersections or completely reworked intersections. but they are all too new to be on google maps. most are less then 1 year, a couple are 2 years old.
 
I learned roundabouts in the UK. They're everywhere, and people know how to use them. With competent users, they work real well.
 
I drive through that new intersection in Springfield, and it just feels wierd to me. Doesn't seem to fix the flow of traffic. I still have to wait just has long as before.

Josh they just finished an new job at Glenstone and hwy60 (Jamesriver).. Not sure what it's called, but they tore a lot of land up and made it harder to get on the highway.

I've been through a few roundabouts in Cancun and Puerto Rico... Puerto Rico was ok, but Cancun was crazy. Those guys drive like they are on crack.
 
That looks alot better than what they are planning to do here this summer. They will finally be widening out a bypass road and turning stuff over to some "Superstreet"...It looks like a clusterfawk :roll:


Here's a video i found of what it is going to look like

http://www.bctid.org/BCTID/Downloads/Videos/superstreet2.avi

Heres a pic of a recent article showing it also..
 

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JeremyH said:
I prefer the round-a-bout....
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Round-a-bouts are fun if the people in front of you know how to use them.

Hurley0706 said:
I have been slammed here at my day job for the past couple months trying to finish up the final design of a new Diverging Diamond Interchange here in the Kansas City area. I design all the signals, signing, pavement marking, ITS (intellegent traffic systems, basically all the fancy changable message signs, CCTV cameras, and car counting/sensing loops), and fiber optic lines.

diverging.jpg


If you guys haven't seen one yet you probably will sometime in the next few years. The first US DDI opened up this last summer in Springfield, MO and there are a couple others under construction.

These actually shift traffic to the other side of the road to allow for uninterupted left turns. These are extremely efficient at locations without heavy thru movements. They freak people out when the look at them like this but when you are driving through one they feel pretty natural. Interested to see what some of you think of them :lol:

Take a look at some of these videos:

Video

Video
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Looks like a good idea

C*H*U*D said:
Where are the bicycle lanes?
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those went out of style with cordless phones.:lmao:
 
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