Friday has arrived… it’s one of my top- three favorite days of the week! Roads are clear, nothing to get in the way of your easy ride. No fog, no rain, no rocks, no deer, no wrecks…. All clear: Stab it and steer!
Today’s column/ report/ drivel/ pontification is more rant than anything else… I just need to vent a little here, I suppose. It’s those ramp meters… you know, the traffic signals that CA has installed on many freeway onramps, right near the point of egress?
The very PURPOSE of onramps is to provide a “runway” for a vehicle to build up speed before entering the freeway, and thus be able to merge at a similar speed as the traffic flow. Ramp meters negate this possibility, by requiring a stop, juuuuuuust before the merge. This is especially appreciated when big rigs have to stop before merging: Instead of entering traffic at 50 or 60 miles per hour, they now get to merge at FIVE MPH… but who doesn’t love having a rig pull in front of them at that speed on the freeway?
Perhaps, if this is such a good idea, they should apply this concept to airport runways: The aircraft can build up their speed for take- off, accelerating down the runway… then, at the end of the runway, they could come to a stop— just for a moment, of course— before “wheels up!” Brilliant concept applied again!
I heard a CalTrans official on the radio a few years ago. He was being grilled about the inanity of these devices. He finally confessed that the MAIN intent is to “reduce freeway congestion,” by “irritating and annoying drivers enough that they find alternate routes!” It actually serves no DIRECT traffic improvement purpose… they are there to make it so inconvenient for commuters that they stop using the freeway…. Riiiiiiiight. That’s pretty reasonable. I just love the idea that my tax money is being used to agitate me, so that I’ll go somewhere else out of frustration.
I’m ALWAYS irritated by the things… but yesterday’s commute delivered an extra little twist of the salted knife, as a ramp meter near my freeway entrance was malfunctioning. Now, this was NOT the onramp that I needed to use, but was for traffic headed the other direction. However, the extra- offending ramp meter was stuck on red… and the resulting traffic jam spread to other roads, side streets, even parking lots of businesses (because cars were unable to exit the lots) for a great distance in EVERY direction (Note that the freeway traffic itself was moving right along!). Gridlock ensued, spreading like a cancer… of course, a few motorists simply ran the perpetually red light (thus risking a citation), while others simply sat there, dull- eyed and clueless, too lily- livered to take the logical and rational step… but not risking that citation, either.
And, has the environmental impact of adding stops- and gos ever been considered? I can assure you, a vehicle that cruises through a given stretch of road produces far fewer emissions, than does a vehicle that must decelerate (typically creating brake dust), come to a stop (which, incidentally, is a time when most vehicles are running/ burning fuel, but getting exactly zero MPG), then re- accelerate (creating additional emissions)… and this is even without considering the idling, hurky- jerky, waiting- in- line time that results when the traffic is backed up on these ramps. In addition to the mechanical emissions produced by these vehicles— millions of times over, throughout the state— consider the blue air produced by the cursing of annoyed and irritated drivers. Oh, but I guess there’s no possible negative effect of pressing the “agitation” button on drivers, before putting them onto a freeway filled with CA’s polite, considerate, and skillful drivers.
So, sure, they add harmful particulates to the air… they also add wear and tear to your own vehicle! It’s far harder on a vehicle to go, then stop, then go again… than it is to simply breeze right along at a steady rate of acceleration. It puts additional strain, wear, and tear on your brakes, transmission, and engine… and reduces your fuel economy.
Okay… I’ll admit, these ramp meters might be inefficient, annoying, irritating, prone to failure, an incredible waste of time, damaging to your vehicle, and harmful to the environment… but at least they’ve cost us mega- millions of $$$dollars$$$ to install and maintain!
I guess I need a weekend… maybe I’ll be less cranky afterwards, especially if I don’t have to deal with any ramp meters.