Why doesn't anyone do anything about this?

[K1052]

Yes and no.

You would have to significantly raise them to have any effect, and you would also have to put tolls on ALL crossings (including the Brooklyn, Williamsburg and Queensboro bridges).

The problem is, you raise GWB prices to $15 a shot, less people might come in there, but you will more than fill the gap from people on the other side that now see it is 10 minutes faster to get in (why take the subway, etc etc).

All they need it to cordon off all internal roads from the bottom of Central Park down (59th?). You can only drive w/o charge on the belt, west side highway and along the east river. As soon as you come in, you get charged for it.

Also, they need to find a way to get those damn delivery trucks OUT of Manhattan in time for rush. Drop your crap and GTFO! Too many box trucks come in in the morning nd stay all day blocking roads and taking up parking.....

Yes, it would be a given that every crossing would be variably tolled based on time of day. That's the only way to keep the overall traffic volumes down during rush periods.

Though I probably wouldn't support such a plan until rail access into Manhattan is further improved. The East Side Access needs to be complete and MTA subway services from Queens/Brooklyn get significant capacity boostes during rush (probably by realigning some routes) to compensate for now heavily tolled crossings that were once free.

As far as inside the city areas should be zoned and priced based on congestion. It has to apply to the entire island or you'll just end up with gridlock north of 59th. Street closings (possibly to private vehicles only, while retaining MTA access) in areas choked with pedestrian traffic should also be considered.

The delivery trucks....yea....that's a real problem for NYC. Street parking should be removed in more locations to create more loading zones but should be tightly restricted to certain hours and heavy fines for blocking traffic levied against companies.

 

[Ninjahedge]

Actually, traffic is not that bad once you get a few blocks north of Times Square.

I usually use 65th street to cross Manhattan by going through Central Park (one of the sunken roads... it is like a different world there).

The congestion only starts getting bad again once you get up near the GWB and into a bunch of streets where the geography does not fit the grid very well.... (near Yankee Stadium would be a good example...)

 

[Ketchup]

Just wanted to chime in with my agreement to the OP's comments. I don't get media attention, but it seems like I am complaining about traffic at least every other day when I get home.

Why doesn't this get media attention? Well, it could be that we are so conditioned to expect it. I live in upstate South Carolina, and you would be surprised how bad the traffic is here. It has been this way ever since moving here.

I have heard that they time many of the lights the way they do to cut down on speeding. Apparently, the thinking is speeding causes accidents, not people slamming on the brakes every few seconds. And as we all know, without traffic lights, we would all go 120 MPH!

Whatever the reason, it is frustration, and I wish it was cool enough to get the media attention it deserves.

 

[hal2kilo]

http://www.weather.com/outlook/weather-news/news/articles/2012-congested-roads_2011-10-26

Amdahl's Law (Generally applied in Computer Science) states that we should optimize that which has the greatest impact. Right now, politicians and the like are so focused on mandating that cars achieve "X" in terms of mileage. If they want to "create" jobs, and if they want to gain public approval, and if they want to help the energy problem, starting fixing the traffic!!

It is so infuriating to stop an intersection where there is literally no one else trying to cross. The light's timer just expired and figured it would check. So instead of in it's most efficient state (Highway speeds), we now have to break (Takes more time) and accelerate from 0 back to our previous speed (The most efficient state of an engine).

Furthermore, I have roughly a 15 mile commute. This commute from Ashburn, VA to Chantilly, VA takes me about 1 hour in the morning. The government is in charge of roads! So not only am I wasting time, but I'm sucking up enormous amounts of gas and not going anywhere. Not only that, I would imagine there would be a lot less accidents, a lot less incidents of road rage, people would have more time in their day to either (A) work more or (B) use as personal/family time.

Any ideas why no one ever seems to talk about this? The Government is in charge of the roads in the nation. If you want to "create" jobs without pushing the boundaries of your Constitutional Powers why not put people to work fixing the roads/interchanges? As a result, not only are people happier and have more time, but you have just but a SIGNIFICANT dent in our energy consumption just by being more efficient about travel.

-GP

(While we are on this topic, a much tougher driving exam which requires recertification periodically would probably go a long way towards improving our infrastructure as well)

You could always pay for the private express lanes.

 

[bfdd]

Preach on brother, I completely agree with you. So much time is wasted in traffic due to poor driving habits and poor design, we could probably shave off tons and tons of pollutants simply reforming and improving our highway/freeway systems. The sad thing, I believe the majority of traffic issues stem from poor driving habits of the majority of those on the road who seem to forget the importance of what they're doing.

 

[shira]

If you're commuting from Ashburn to Chantilly, you're probably coming in on Waxpool to Route 28. Both have lots of cross-traffic at rush hour, so I'm not exactly sure what you're complaining about.

 

[Cogman]

Just a note, Optimal traffic lighting is surprisingly complex. As in, several PDE's complex. Add in the "humans suck" factor and you end up with an impossibly hard problem to solve.

They COULD be done better, however, the requirements would be several sensors placed pretty much everywhere to relay every movement to a central computer which puts together the grand picture and updates the lights accordingly.

Now, what would largely fix the problem? Interestingly enough, the no tech solution of roundabouts is actually a really good one for optimal traffic flow. With at REALLY congested roundabouts, it does become necessarily to place a traffic light in to make sure one lane isn't blocked completely (even though maximum traffic is flowing).

 

[Jhhnn]

Metro Denver is full of traffic lights with inductor loops on the side streets & turn lanes. Lot's of them rarely change except when there's a car present, & even then they're tied to a timer for the whole string of lights on the thoroughfare.

Traffic regulation is an advancing science. One of the newer developments in thinking that seems to help is to throttle back entry to freeways with entry lights on the ramps at rush hour. Lots of times, it's just congestion slowing, and that cuts congestion...

As for the rest of it- meh. There's a price for everything, and when we're cutting taxes & spending lots of money to kill brown people, well, it shows. And traffic is a lot less aggravating when you're riding in the back of the limo... it's even like that sometimes riding the train, or the bus... sit back, watch the scenery, read, catch up on some work, even nap.

There's a price to be paid for living out in the 'burbs, too, particularly when all the suburbanites want to drive back & forth across the city core, not have to pay for it.... live in Longmont, work at the Denver Tech Center, & vice-versa... Low suburban taxes, long commutes, and snarled traffic are part & parcel of the whole enchilada...

 

[Ninjahedge]

What would work better is if people had a concept of fluid dynamics.

"Turbulent flow" slows down everything. So the 1 out of 20 people that seem to like to play slot-car during rush hour ruin the efficiency of everything.

Merging also seems to be a complicated science to some people. For some reason they think that if they stick to the bumper of the guy ahead of them they will get there faster... when all they do is bring the merge to a halt.

The best solution for these large highways would be, eventually, automatic control of the flow. Load your car up in a queue and auto-merge, travel at 70-80mph until you get close to your destination, then come out and go back to "manual' operation at the end of the exit ramp.

Good luck getting that to work, or people agreeing to give up their "freedom" of driving.