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- The House is voting today on a spending bill that includes $4 billion for high speed rail. Tom Latham, a Republican from Iowa, wants to strip $3 billion of the HSR money and spend it on roads. Predictably, we think that idea sucks. (Greenwire)
- Commercial construction fell 71 percent in June. The bad news: That’s a hell of a big drop. The good news: A construction economist says things will improve in coming months, based on the bid calendar. (Wash Biz Journal)
- Monday we learned the Second Ave subway will be delayed till 2016. Or maybe even 2017. Now the federal government has weighed in and says it might be 2018. At this rate, we’ll be talking 2100 by fall… (Second Ave Sagas and AMNY)
- What’s the difference between a traffic circle and roundabout? Tom Vanderbilt explains. He also makes the case for why roundabouts are a better option than our standard “square” intersections in many cases, despite being vaguely Euro. (Slate)
- Do you know your fire hydrants? When a rapscallion opens one on a hot summer day, that’s 1,000 gallons per minute going to waste. Three hours of watery fun cost the city $1000. Also, check out the titter-worthy diagram of a hydrant’s parts–e.g. “gland stud” and “stuffing box.” (Urban Omnibus)
- In Houston a man was using a legless mannequin as a passenger to sneak into HOV lanes. He got busted after a car crash but protested that he was just “transporting” the fake person. Police confiscated it anyway. (Houston Chronicle)
- In Shanghai a 13-story building just kind of… tipped over. And now it’s 13-stories long instead of high. Who says China has shoddy building standards? Photos after the jump. (Gizmodo)
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Tags: HEADLINES
RE: Roundabouts…
I think this is THE solution for improving traffic safety in the US. To many municipalities (especially here in Chicagoland) are installing red light cameras… but RLC’s don’t improve safety. They’re just there to pad the pocketbooks of the city who installs them and in many cases, the amount of crashes increased instead of decreased.
The only thing that is going to prevent accidents at intersections where someone passes through a red light is to install lowering barriers to physically prevent people from entering the intersection. This is certainly a solution that will increase safety… but the increase in safety isn’t near the cost spent, especially when noted that the majority of crashes that occur at intersections involve cars turning left in front of oncoming traffic (which can’t be assuaged unless traffic lights only allow one cardinal direction to travel through the light at a time… again, this is an increase in safety, but the headache caused by the traffic backups will be immense).
Roundabouts eliminate the main cause of most major accidents: left hand turns. They also aid in the decision-making of drivers. Though it seems more complicated to enter a roundabout, it actually is not… you only have to worry about cars coming from one direction instead of several, and they won’t be crossing your path.
As an aside… I’m not for these purely because they’re a European idea as some might be (or immediately assume). I’m actually probably on the other end of the spectrum… I’d want to NOT use them because they’re European. But I’ve seen them work and I can fully grasp the positive aspects and improvements over light-controlled intersections, so I’m all for them!
This is a great article… thanks for sharing it!
I posted some photos of the new Carmel, Indiana Dogbone overpass roundabout recently. Also some old traffic circles in my neighborhood. Thanks for posting the article, I was glad to finally get a good distinction between the modern and older rotary intersections.
http://www.aplaceofsense.com/2009/07/roundabout-bandwagon.html
The fire hydrant diagram reminded my of the Legendary Golden Fire Hydrant in San Francisco. Every April 18 for many years, historical groups and firefighters have gathered at this hydrant with spray cans to renew the gold paint. Why is the hydrant at 20th & Church famous? When the terrible earthquake of 1906 hit The City, most hydrants were rendered useless as old water mains in filled ground broke apart. Firefighters would race up to a hydrant with their steam pumpers, only to get nothing but a rusty trickle. But the Golden Hydrant was fed by an independent water supply, and provided enough water to save many of the buildings still standing in this neighborhood. Should any visitors be unaware of this history, a bronze plaque set in the sidewalk will enlighten them. I was there in 2006, and as a “San Franciscan wannabe” added my spritz to the gold.
A note about the diagram: This type of hydrant is used in colder climates; one can see that the actual water shutoff is below the “frost line”. Here in Southern California, and other places where ice is found in drinks, not in the streets, the shutoff can be above ground.
[...] a tour of a 13-story apartment building that just kind of tipped over recently in Shanghai. (We ran photographs here.) The structure now resides in horizontal repose, almost full intact. After some political heat, [...]