Caltans has failed me again

I had high hopes that the 85/101 Interchange Project would ease congestion in that area, which had a lofty goal of reducing the onramps and offramps in that area from like 8 to 3 in a 2 mile stretch. But alas, after completion of the project congestion really isn't much better, and it leaves me still amazed at how little Caltrans knows about traffic. Although the project did reduce the number of ramps in the area, I think it has some fatal flaws. First of all, from the non-carpool entry to 101 from 85, as traffic enters 101, the two lanes from 85 are merged into one and then about 1/4 mile ahead that lane merges into the lane next to it. If that weren't bad enough, that merged lane then merges with another onramp only perhaps 1/8 of a mile down. Now, one nice thing about the new interchange is that the carpool lane from 85 merges directly into the carpool lane on 101, however, first off, there is about a 1/4 mile where there are two commuter lanes, which then merge into one. And, the best part is that the merge happens around the same spot as all the non-carpool lane merges. So, essentially you have about 3 or 4 lanes all merging at the same spot on 101. How can that not be a recipe for a parking lot? And how did Caltrans even plan it this way in the first place? Do they not have computer models, and simulations and so on that didn't indicate this was going to be trouble? And the best part. They are now making preparations for enabling traffic metering lights from the non-carpool entry of 85 to 101. Why did they even redo the interchange if this were going to be the plan? It would have been a lot cheaper to just put the metering lights in the old interchange. Arg!

(2007-08-28 15:37:02.0) // Permalink