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When there is one exit lane that comes from the left and one from the right, but the right one has right-of-way, is there there a name for such ramps merging into a road? There is so much confusion at such ramps because the yield signs often are awkwardly and unclearly placed. Ramp from left; ramp from the right; pedal to the metal; fight! fight! fight!
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Carpal Tunnel
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When there is one exit lane that comes from the left and one from the right
I don't even understand this much of your question. Exit lanes don't come from, they lead to.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Well, in the instance of which I'm thinking and have experienced, one exit ramps comes off I-95 from one direction and the other comes off I-95 from the other. The two exit ramps merge precariously. I was just wondering whether there is a term for two ramps merging into one area--I would think there would be such a term in the civil engineering lexicon. My term is: Danger!
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I always call those types of configurations "Suicide Ramps". I usually see something more like an on ramp merging with an off ramp. What am I saying, I don't even have to deal with traffic lights anymore! Everyone here drives politely and rarely exceeds 35 MPH. It's a whole 'nother world...
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one exit ramps comes off I-95 from one direction and the other comes off I-95 from the other. Uh--as in, one from the southbound lanes and one from the northbound lanes? The two exit ramps merge precariously. In a rest stop in the median, maybe? Sorry, I just can't visualize what you're talking about.
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DubDub, maybe you could post a close-up mapquest of what you're talking about; I too am a little confused (which is the norm, of course, but).
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here in NY(C) we call them 'Robert Moses' Ramps. RM didn't drive, and one of his 'innovative' money saving features was to use the same (short!) strip of roadway for 'accelerating' and 'de-acelerating'--so on many NY roadways, you come down an enterence ramp onto as little as 100 feet of roadway. as you are trying speed up, and merge into the right lane, traffic from the right lane is trying to merge into the same 300 foot strip and slow down!
in other places the overlap is on the service road or local city street-- you are coming off a highway/parkway, trying to merge into traffic, and traffic (planning to enter the same highway) is trying to merge into the same lane.
and some of robert moses merge lanes are as short as 80 feet! (yes, about 4 car lengths. the worst?
Cross Island parkway, (come down a incline, STOP Sign at bottom of ramp, traffic on cross island is coming round a turn, (so you can only see 'back' about 300 yards!) and you have 2 car lenghts to 'merge'. one of my least favorite enterences.
there are several 'entry ramps' like that on X-bronx expressway (i-95), Meadowbrook, Wantagh, and Southern (state) parkways as well. some have been 'improved' but some remain.
another 'innovative' space saving feature of highways RM designed are left hand exits and entryways.. How would you like to come round a left turning spiral ramp down to a highway that has traffic coming out of a right spiral, onto a left hand entryway? (it is about 200 yards long, so its not impossible short, but its no fun!--location? (south on Whitestone expressway, 3rd exit (highway split) for Grand Central Parkway --then take Grand central EAST (at that point, its really heading south, but it turn again in a few miles and resumes its easterly course. (this path takes your right past Shea Stadium)
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I found the map, but the link is too long. What's that 'shorter link' url? Post it here and I'll take you to the map of the ramps in question. There has got to be an engineering term for such ramps. I liked consuelo's 'suicide ramp' term and of troy's 'RM' ramps. Those are terms that do apply to the place I'm thinking about.
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'Entrance' ramps "merge" into a road and 'exit' ramps "peel off".
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Pooh-Bah
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escher
formerly known as etaoin...
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I like this one, WW. I'm no expert at combinations and permutations, but I'm constantly amazed at how tiny the URL comes out, given the millions (billions?) of web pages out there.
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an experiment: http://snipurl.com/bf5hhttp://tinyurl.com/6rm7xedit: I used a known long url that I had sent someone, generated via snip (I guess they save these in a data base for a while as I was informed "We have snipped this URL before") and ran the same address through tiny.
there seems to be one tiny advantage to using snip; it automagically pastes your paste buffer into the text box, thereby saving you one tiny step.
ASp, notice that I didn't claim an advantage for snip based on length, as it was only one try.
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How many did you try?! [scientific method-e]
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I don't even have to deal with traffic lights anymore! Everyone here drives politely and rarely exceeds 35 MPH. It's a whole 'nother world...
On the Hawaiian island of Moloka'i, there is not one single traffic light. There is one intersection (called "four corners") in the main village -- Kaunakakai -- which has a stop sign on each corner. Pretty high tech. Mostly, people just look out for one another. Not a bad metaphor for life, eh?
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Are you talking about something like this: |
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<= | \
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=> | \
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\____/
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Yes, Faldage. The northernmost part of your map is very much like what happens in the area that is a suicide merge. One road goes beneath the interstate, however, and the other one ramps off the interstate directly. I'll try to link up. http://shorterlink.com/?W5ARKVThe ramps are where you see the northernmost green 54. If I take the ramp that goes southwest off exit 54 as you read the map, the other ramp becomes a small access road that merges with the southwest ramp--and it's a bear. A suicidal bear. Now, is there a term for such a mess of a merge? Early Morning Edit: Oh, and by the way, Faldage, your graphics are just amazing.
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Mostly, people just look out for one another. Not a bad metaphor for life, eh?
That's one of the things I love about this island. Most everyone here does look out for one another and lends a hand when needed. Most people know or know of everyone else on the island. If Maria knows that Juan is on his way to work and she's just off to do some shopping, Maria waves Juan through even though she has the right of way and Juan has the stop sign. Many times you'll come across friends pulled up side by side having a chat, blocking the road. Nobody honks and the chatters finish their talk and move on in a matter of a minute or less. The attitude is that life is too short to get stressed. A minute here or a minute there isn't going to send the world spinning out of it's orbit. Rumor has it that a traffic light is being contemplated for a certain intersection. We fear that will only cause accidents!
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re Is there a name for such ramps?
There's an off ramp known as a "Trumpet"
You'll know why when you try to get off it
Many horns will blare
And it'll give you a scare
so bad you'll never forget it.
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There's an off ramp known as "Volleyball"
It's an exit you won't want to recall
You will fly in a curve
That will test every nerve
And you'll be lucky to exit at all.
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There's an off ramp known as "the Stack"
Once in it, there's no going back
You start in a file
And you end in a pile
As each car in the stack takes a "whack".
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So what makes this merge different from any other merge?
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So what makes this merge different from any other merge?This merge ends up in Emergency. 
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Clever, plutarch.
Faldage, I wasn't interested in learning about what made this merge different from any other merge. I was wondering if there is a name for this particular category of merges. I imagine that merges must be categorized by civil engineers. This particular one that is so difficult is difficult in part because it is so hard to see the oncoming traffic that drives underneath the interstate bridge; it is also difficult because I'm not completely trusting of those coming from underneath the interestate to yield as they're supposed to do, but don't. Those in the northernmost merge lane have great difficulty in seeing back at the angle you can see on the map. There are other merges about town that are not close to being as difficult as this one, and, as of troy pointed out, there are contrary directions: slow down, speed up, slow down and stop all by the time you get to the light at the end of the merge access road.
I'd just like to know the name of such a merge that requires the right-of-way drivers to hold their breath and hope that the yielders will yield, especially when line of sight is extremely difficult for the right-of-way drivers.
This part of 95 has numerous traffic accidents, not only because of this precarious merge, but also because of a terrible bottleneck where 85 branches off from 95, especially when travelers are moving north on 85 into 95 north. Whoever were the team that designed the roadways and merges around the Colonial Heights/Petersburg area failed in many ways. And our accidents in the area are proof of the problem.
Oh, well. Thanks a lot for taking a look at all this. I suppose I'd have to talk to an engineer with special expertise in highway design...and I don't know anyone.
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Oh, well. Thanks a lot for taking a look at all this. I suppose I'd have to talk to an engineer with special expertise in highway design...and I don't know anyone. I do! I do, Wordwind, and I called him. His name is "Major Hate" Autin and he works for the Alabama State Highway Department in Guntersville. Major said that that type of an exit was usually found on Interstates that are designed for all exits to exit to the right (so as to avoid crossing lanes to exit) and are called Teapots, because all exits are shaped like teapot handles. "But Major," I said "Wordwind wants a name for the occasion when the right exit ramp in one direction joins the right exit ramp from the other direction and requires the outside laners to merge to the inside lane in order to continue in the single lane that goes in that direction." Major said nothing for a full minute then he said... "Tell her that that type of ramp is called "Twin Teapots" and tell her to be careful, those ramps are dangerous." And Major oughta know. He's been sitting behind the same desk at the Highway Department for twenty five years now and is counting.
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Wordward,
I've been sitting here, bemused by all of these word pictures, for long enough; so now I'm going to add my own, which most likely will cloak somebody else(s) here with the mantle of invisibility, but that's of little import to me in my current state of mind (bemused, as you'll recall).
to wit, how does your example of two exit ramps differ (if at all) from the classic (at least around here it's classic) accelerating-to-merge-into-traffic-from-an-entrance-ramp-while-someone-else-is-speeding-by-you so that he (or she) can cut-in-front-of-you-and-brake-so-as-to-flow-into-the-exit-ramp-traffic, all with the two ramps in question being separated by 50 feet or less (or fewer)?
in my situation, this is called the classic-entrance-exit-two-ramp-poor-planning-bad-driver-conundrum.
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Thanks, Milo. Teapot/Twin Teapot. It's all a matter of batrachomyomachian determination in civil engineers.
Thanks, tsuwm, too, for adding to visual term palette. Maybe I should just print out this thread and send it to the Va. Dept. of Transportation.
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you know, the Plutarchian linkage was quite extensive.
formerly known as etaoin...
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Pooh-Bah
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Yes, and interestingly they all avoided the danger that WW described. Perhaps that one is not officially recognised in case someone gets sued!
Ed.: When I think about it there is one like WW's that I use frequently, where the exit from the clockwise track of the M25 merges with the exit from the anticlockwise track before joining the southbound M23. The lanes are quite wide though, so it is not that difficult; in fact the tricky part is where the anticlockwise exit slip narrows from two lanes to one and most drivers are still doing about 80mph by that point. And jostling for position in an attempt to be first into the zipper. Good fun. Commuter driving as a competitive sport.
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