Crazylegs' lane discipline thread reminded me of this intersection my friend and I have to brave each year as part of our con-going experience.
For the con I sell art at each year in Boston, I save some money by staying with my friend up just across the border into NH and commuting down to the convention each morning via car and then the T. We park at the Alewife station and take the train in from there, and overall it's a bit cheaper than renting a hotel room.
But I dread this one intersection coming out of the station. It's tricky to describe, so I've included a Google maps screenshot with arrows.
See, the exit road hooks around a bit, then comes up to this star-shaped nest of roads (blue arrow). The first light, where it crosses the first road, is simple enough. It goes green, sending the cars traveling with the blue arrow to the next intersection, where three directions of travel cross right in the middle. The light there is red at first as traffic coming off the Concord Turnpike get a turn, and people coming off the Alewife Brook Parkway onto the Turnpike get a turn. Then the blue arrow gets its green light.
At the same time that the green arrow gets a green light. Both going the same direction, two lanes from the green and one lane from the blue. Three lanes funneling onto the red arrow...which is only two lanes wide. No, there are no yield signs. Both roads get their green light at exactly the same time.
Seriously, who thought this was a good plan? I assume it was someone thinking that the traffic coming from the train station wouldn't be too heavy and could seamlessly "zipper" into the other two lanes of traffic.
Except that each time I've driven it, it's been near-midnight and already bad enough. I can't imagine what this intersection is like during peak hours. OI.
And yes, I've been nearly sideswiped once or twice by cars on the other road who didn't seem to realize that my road had a green light too.
For the con I sell art at each year in Boston, I save some money by staying with my friend up just across the border into NH and commuting down to the convention each morning via car and then the T. We park at the Alewife station and take the train in from there, and overall it's a bit cheaper than renting a hotel room.
But I dread this one intersection coming out of the station. It's tricky to describe, so I've included a Google maps screenshot with arrows.
See, the exit road hooks around a bit, then comes up to this star-shaped nest of roads (blue arrow). The first light, where it crosses the first road, is simple enough. It goes green, sending the cars traveling with the blue arrow to the next intersection, where three directions of travel cross right in the middle. The light there is red at first as traffic coming off the Concord Turnpike get a turn, and people coming off the Alewife Brook Parkway onto the Turnpike get a turn. Then the blue arrow gets its green light.
At the same time that the green arrow gets a green light. Both going the same direction, two lanes from the green and one lane from the blue. Three lanes funneling onto the red arrow...which is only two lanes wide. No, there are no yield signs. Both roads get their green light at exactly the same time.
Seriously, who thought this was a good plan? I assume it was someone thinking that the traffic coming from the train station wouldn't be too heavy and could seamlessly "zipper" into the other two lanes of traffic.
Except that each time I've driven it, it's been near-midnight and already bad enough. I can't imagine what this intersection is like during peak hours. OI.
And yes, I've been nearly sideswiped once or twice by cars on the other road who didn't seem to realize that my road had a green light too.
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