Clayton bypass traffic shift begins Sunday

Saw the 'traffic pattern' signs this morning, was wondering what was up.
It will be interesting to see if this really does help!

http://www.wral.com/news/news_briefs/story/10128730/

Clayton, N.C. — Beginning Sept. 18, traffic on I-40 West near the Clayton Bypass on ramp will shift one lane to the right in an effort to improve travel time and safety.
The shift will eliminate the third lane that motorists coming off the bypass have been using to pass backed up traffic during heavy volume times. Vehicles attempting to merge back into I-40 West traffic from the third lane have been creating additional delays.
Traffic will shift back to the existing alignment as the third lane ends. The test, which will last several weeks, could become the permanent pattern if traffic flow improves. North Carolina Department of Transportation workers will put portable signs on I-40 West and the Clayton Bypass this week

 

And if that works, they'll close the 2nd lane figuring that will help traffic even more. :lol:

 

I can't quite picture what they are doing...it sounds like they closed down the extended merge lane from the bypass to 40W? Seems to me they should close the third lane on 40W before the bypass, not after.

 

The way I understand it, they're closing the left lane of 40W and shifting traffic to the right two lanes, so the extended merge lane from the bypass will be the right lane of 40W until it currently goes to two lanes, then traffic will shift back to the left (existing two lanes).

Does 40W go to three lanes right at/before the merge? I usually get on 40W at the bypass, so I don't recall. If that's the case, it'll just stay two lanes.

 

If you're confused, say "Aye"...Aye.:lol:

 

aye

 

Sounds like another poorly thought out project by NCDOT. Politics aside, we need to completely remodel our government and its agencies from top to bottom.

 

:iagree:

1.) Let's start by replacing Auntie Bev.
2.) Make a constitutional amendment for term limits for all legislators. The conservatives love to make constitutional amendments for things they disapprove of.
3.) Replace all the higher ups at DOT
4.) Have an outside agency approve and write all the checks for the DOT.

We had the funds to build all of I-540. Where did the money go?
In this economy they still seam to have the money to pay for the beltline around Charlotte and Fayetteville. Their reasoning is Fayetteville is a military town and Charlotte is the financial capital of the state. But the last time I checked Raleigh was still the state capital.

 

That sounds like horrible idea! What twisted mind thought that will help at all? Back to using business 70...

 

It's not the motorists coming off the 70 Bypass, it's the short bus jerks using the third lane to the right before the merge with the 70 Bypass. You know, all those people who think they're special and don't have to wait?

The DOT observation camera that's been out there is in the wrong place to see the problem! Bozo's, all they have to do is close that stupid right hand lane to nowhere.

If they were smart they'd make that 1/4 mile stretch an HOV lane and park a cop there every morning. They could build another bypass with all the tickets the jerks would be paying.:jester:

 

I agree! Maybe u should email them your thoughts, concerning the camera? If DOT would read all the comments on wral, they see that most people are not in agreement with them about this.:banghead:

 

I agree with ddrdan. It isn't the road or the DOT. It is the morons who try to zoom to the front of the line and wait until the last minute to merge.

Of course, the best option would have been to extend that lane all the way to 70 in the first place.

 

The bypass project came in under time and under budget. They had the time and a portion of the funds to do it, go figure?

 

there are permanent DOT cams at the bypass (just east of the merge, on the westbound side) and at the white oak overpass (in the median). i saw that temporary one out there the other day. honestly i haven't worked traffic in the last month or six weeks, so i'm not sure why the temporary one is there...but you can see every inch of road very well on a daily basis.

still, it's not the road, it's the jerkweeds. this is obviously just an experiment to see if the jerkweeds can be herded differently so that they can't be quite as big a jerkweed and screw up the drive for thousands of other people every single day. the third lane from there to 70 bus would help immensely.

 

I was always taught that if you can't say anything nice, then don't say anything at all so I'll go halfway and just stop at saying I think some housecleaning at the NC DOT would do the whole state a fair bit of good.

 

Of course, the best option would have been to extend that lane all the way to 70 in the first place.[/QUOTE]



What traffic engineer thought that dumping 4 lanes of traffic into 2 lanes would work?
Jethro with a 6th grade education could have seen that won't work.

 

As we recall reading the article from N&O there will eventually be three lanes from 42, but the construction won't begin for another 5 years. So in the meantime ...

 

Well it has started......what a pain...i saw on wral this morning they are TESTING this 2 lane traffic pattern for 6 weeks(?) to see how it works out...what a pain traffic was already backed up to 42 exit at 715 this morning....i did get to work 5 mins faster...i think just by luck!!:cheers:

 

Looks like my new route might be Cornwalis up to Raynor, to Bus 70......:banghead:

But then if everyone starts taking alternate routes, they'll think their experiment worked! :banghead: :banghead:

 

I think it should help some....

if they don't have 2 lanes coming OFF the Clayton bypass (which is the main problem IMO) onto 40 at the speed of sound trying to merge, it should be fine. works everywhere else in Raleigh.

what also would have helped the initial change (today) is not letting the media be all up in it and talk about it for two days nonstop and have "live" news footage from the side of the road!! HELLOOOOO! good grief! people can't handle someone changing a tire on the side of 40 as it is without slamming on brakes.... :roll: