We're taking a bit of a breather while the world rearranges its underpants. Meanwhile, the other blog is here.

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Free flow

The Milkbeck Road's badly congested due to roadworks at the roundabout at Windscape Lane. The roadworks are a trench seven foot long. The congestion is caused by the traffic lights regulating the traffic flow around the roadworks. When the lights are on green to allow the Milkbeck Road traffic through the roadabout it's green in both directions. Which means that the priority traffic, nearly all of which is turning right onto Windscape Lane, is allowed through first. And the traffic heading for Becup stays stock still while it waits for the gap in the right-turning traffic which never happens.

It takes a special sort of genius to engineer that.

8 comments:

Pearl said...

We have an intersection on a two-lane thoroughfare in NE Mpls that only turns green for people turning left. It remains red for those going straight ahead. It rarely gets used because you must be "first" in line to take advantage of it -- anything beyond that still gets the crushing weight of those coming from the opposite direction...

Oh, and btw Kevin, you are absolutely one of my favorite people on the 'net. I find your comments hilarious; and the fact that you list "goat strangling" as a hobby, twisted as it is, is very amusing.

Your friend in Minnesota,

Pearl

Kevin Musgrove said...

Thank you Pearl.

The cheque's in the post (-:

Affer said...

Even Road Engineers must have their fun, (pace desk-skipping below). I have pondered on the opportunities offered by the new breed of temporary semaphore signals, where they are radio linked to rotate simultaneously. A little repositioniong and they could both show "Go" or "Stop", with excellent results. Or with some 'hacking', one could change at twice the rate of the other....

Gadjo Dilo said...

I once did an Open University module about mathematical algorithms, one of which was to control trafic lights: if I could do it then somebody at Helminthdale Town Hall surely can...

Congratulations, you've made the acquaintance of our Minnesota Viking!

Pat said...

That's Becup - not Bacup is it?

Ladybird World Mother said...

And a special sort of genius to get through...

Kevin Musgrove said...

Affer: now we know what Gadjo really did at the OU (he said he was studying the Carpathian folk song cycles of the Joe Loss Orchestra)

Gadjo: you wouldn't believe what the Town Hall's algorithms are employed at!

Pat: nearly but not quite; "Becup" should have been "Bencup," which is sort-of south and a bit of Bacup. I will try and drag Bacup in at some stage.

Ladybird World Mum: luckily the locals don't go much for respecing traffic lights.

Gadjo Dilo said...

Kevin, if only if only.... One has to make a living, you know.