Why the extra RED LIGHT on freeway ramps?
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- čas přidán 27. 07. 2024
- All you want to do is get on the freeway. Then a seemingly superfluous traffic signal stops you. Do ramp meters work?
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Additional reading:
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"Ramp Metering: A Proven, Cost-Effective Operational Strategy-A Primer," Federal Highway Administration
ops.fhwa.dot.gov/publications...
"Ramp Meters," Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramp_meter
"Cost Estimates for ITS Devices of the T-REX Project" Summary, US Dept. of Transportation, 11/2001
www.itskrs.its.dot.gov/its/be...
"The Minimum Yellow Timing for Ramp Meters," Wang, Liu
www.sciencedirect.com/science...
"Case Studies of U.S. Freeway-to-Freeway Ramp and Mainline Metering and Suggested Policies for Washington State," Jacobson, Landsman
onlinepubs.trb.org/Onlinepubs/...
"A Case for Freeway Mainline Metering," Habobian
onlinepubs.trb.org/Onlinepubs/...
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Time sections:
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Introduction: (0:00)
Traffic Flow Fundamentals: (2:15)
Ohm's Law: (3:23)
Platoons and Shocks: (5:19)
Traffic Responsive Mode: (7:26)
Greenshields' Model: (10:19)
Effectiveness: (12:21)
Freeway-to-Freeway: (13:21)
Conclusion: (14:02) - Auta a dopravní prostředky
5:40 am and here I am watching a video about red lights. What a time to be alive.
5:08 AM here 😳
seems we all like to watch this in the morning, 05h58 here and I'm now late for work 🤣
5:23 AM and I have classes at 9. wish me luck folks
Don't drop your papers
Squeeze those papers.
This is QUALITY content
He is the best!!!!
What _kind_ of quality?
Agreed!
QuAlItY CoNtEnT Keepo
This guy will literally trick you into LEARNING traffic history and rules while being entertaining as hell. Great job man!
6:06 “it’s like an accordion...”
Caption: “Audio muted for your safety”
Lolololololololol so subtle and brilliant!
Accordion music isn't that bad.
Can't stop laughing!!
I call my platoon _“Leeroy Jenkins”_ when we are merging on the highway.
It’s not my fault!!!
@@ShrekSwag At least I have chicken :D
I call mine James Van Der Beek.
The good old reverend himself
Didn't Leeroy get them all killed?
That's why I love these videos over a talk show rant. I've actually learned the reasons behind the meters and traffic flow rather than just be upset with traffic.
So the ramps are working out well for you, then?
Think for yourself. Now traffic has to slow down because the new cars are trying to merge while accelerating from 0-60.
They should add more lanes instead of intentionally forcing you to stop at a DAMN RED LIGHT ON THE HIGHWAY.
@@hxhdfjifzirstc894 Adding more lanes every time you have traffic problems is how you end up with the I-10 in Houston.
And as said in the video, these have been demonstrated to work. There are a lot of things in urban design that don't make sense intuitively.
@@hxhdfjifzirstc894 except you aren't stopping ON the freeway. You are stopping at the entrance just before actually being on the freeway.
@@hxhdfjifzirstc894 I've never seen traffic going 60 mph when the ramp lights are activated. If the density is high enough to turn on ramp signals, traffic flow is at 30 mph or less. Plus, entering vehicles are able to pick a place to merge and zipper in much safer when not having to account for the merging ramp lanes. The data tells me that ramps are working out for all of us. Oh, wait, I didn't notice your all caps and expletive, of course you're correct, my mistake.
Rob is a QUALITY ADDITION to the educational video essayists on CZcams. I don't know of any other transportation science channel with this much charisma
Rob reminds me of an early 2000s educational kids show host in the best way possible
@@Nuclear_Gandhi yes i love his videos a lot compared to some other channels
The biggest problem with ramp meters is how they conflict with many people's views of how a highway on ramp is supposed to work. It takes cars a bit of time to get up to highway speeds because we don't all drive fast corvettes. Common sense dictates that a highway on ramp is the perfect space for this, so having to stop at the end is a bit frustrating for many people. It's also difficult for someone who is unfamiliar with an area to know how much traffic might be expected at any given time, so it might be a surprise to come up to a metered ramp and have to stop when you can't see how much traffic is on the highway due to obstructions. I would really love to see an experiment where they test if many of these frustrations could be solved by putting the meter at the top of the highway ramp, or at least a little closer towards the top, and then creating a longer turn-lane to get onto the highway. Gives people comfort that they can get "Up to speed" (even though there's no speed during a traffic jam) and also gives people a better indication of how much traffic might be on the highway because you can better see the slow traffic in front of you. I have no idea if this is a viable option because I am just a random person and not an engineer of any kind, it's just my observations from occasionally driving through cities with ramp meters and feeling somewhat uncomfortable.
12:08 The peaks are sharper both at the onset and end of rush hour. This explains why departing 5 minutes later can make such a big difference.
I love the b-roll footage of San Bernardino and Riverside County.
I always love it when I can recognize the places in the videos, especially when it's around Loma Linda
san bernarghanistan
Same! Recognizing every entrance and exit
Me: I wonder if he's going to mention how ramp meters were first used in Minneapolis
Rob: Nah, I'm gonna do a whole VIDEO on Minneapolis ramp meters!
Dude I was wondering the same thing lol.
growing up in the twin cities, i remember family members coming in from out of town thinking stop lights on the freeway ramps was the craziest thing they'd ever seen.
My problem with the meters have always been how much they slow down semi trucks. They always have hard enough time getting up to speed anyway, but these meters reduce their on-ramp even more and causing backups on the freeway.
Live it when people don't know how to merge into a highway. Trying to merge 20 under the speed limit of the freeway forcing everyone to brake behind them.
Unfortunately the lights on the ram make it worse becuase it conditions these drives to the idea they should be merging at 20mph.
Best I have seen was a ramp with signs literally saying to speed up and merge lol.
I’ve actually pulled over on the shoulder of an onramp and waited for that a$$hole to get a mile up the road so I could actually get up to a proper speed before merging and not die getting on the freeway.
@@jefffinkbonner9551 Same, except it was to drive past him... he was also too stupid to know that during rush hour the shoulders are extra lanes that start on that exit.
The problem is that there's not enough ramp after the meter. You either have to completely floor it or drive a completely overpowered vehicle in order to get to up to that speed of traffic after being completely stopped. If the ramp was longer after the meter, it wouldn't happen.
@@AlexandarHullRichter that's what happens when the meters were designed and installed after the original highway project - onramps have meters installed, but aren't lengthened because that costs a lot of money.
you should do a video on how building more lanes affects traffic
true
that is why Ontario Hwy 401, which is the busiest freeway in North America uses collector lanes and express lanes.
@@croissantdiet7513 yep especially considering whenever a road has traffic problems the most popular suggestion is to build more lanes, when that just induces more demand to use that road and can make little difference.
ON-402 does too lol
He already has.
Love ramp meters. Learning to drive in LA, they were like little legal drag strips 😂😂😂
Except 99 percent of the time you are stuck behind grandma's buick so you can't.
@@TigerWon 💯
Especially if you drive a Tesla! :-)
lol thats great thinking
5:50 - a "simple" lane change
_highlights a car changing two lanes at once to reach the off-ramp_
Another great video Rob!! 🤙🏼
😭
another bad video Rob!! 🤢
Lol wierd yo see yiu here claw boss
I watch you!
First I see you on a weird TikTok and now a YT video, what’s next the same school bus?
2 seconds following distance? *laughs in 18 wheeler*
All cars use your "Safety Zone" as their safety zone, which actually makes them your cushioned stop.
I live in the middle of The Ruhr. The busiest motorway here is the A40. It is practically the most important motorway in the entire area. It passes through all of the Ruhr, connects all major cities and goes all the way to the Dutch border. If the A40 is deadlocked, nobody gets anywhere any time soon. Traffic lights on the ramps have indeed improved things here. Sure, traffic jams still do happen. But compared to before the traffic lights were a thing it has gotten a lot better.
HOW are all these SUCH high production value?! Feels like I'm watching a damn documentary I'm hooked
Bruh imagine if Americans knew how to use lanes properly too
Tips for Americans that we use:
-Use the right lane most of the time, left lane is for overtaking.
-When you're on the highway and before reaching an on-ramp move to the left lane to make it easier for the cars coming in.
-Allways keep at the least 20 to 30 meters or more safe distance between cars depending on your speed.
-Dont just look to the car in front of you, try to look beyond him to be ready if something happens and you have to brake.
-Dont just look at your mirrors, use your head to check the blind spot when changing lanes.
-Before reaching slow traffic or a traffic jam, or suddenly braking turn on your hazard lights to warn drivers behind you..
-Dont stay in someone else's blind spot, move out fast when you're in that position.
Bonus tips:
-Use the left blinker when you're on the left lane and want to overtake the car in front of you, so he knows to move over to the right lane.
-Use the hazard lights blinking once or twice to thank someone behind you.
-Use the hazard lights to warn other drivers of cops and radar
-
@@ElySky95 umm merging traffic is responsible for merging safely not the main traffics job to move over left...
@@truckercowboyed2638 You don't have to move to the left it's a matter of courtesy, but as long as you can do it safely, you can do so to help other people out and avoid traffic jams on the on-ramp, and in smaller countries it helps a lot, but if you're a selfish lazy person just keep going as you wish.
@@ElySky95 we flash out high beams here for that, using a left signal would probably just confuse someone or they'll just think you left it on by mistake
@@plingket we also so that here, the left signal is just one more hint
As someone from Germany, I ask myself how I got here, watching traffic about us roads n stuff.... dude great video, had to subscribe :D
Ramp meters also exists in many European cities..
@@2Fast4Mellow never seen them, not in Germany nor in the Netherlands, Belgium or northern France
Though some quick research shows they do indeed exist in Europe, in Germany and NL at least. Though they don't seem to be as common as in the US
@@vnixned2 just looked it up myself. There was even an EU funded research project called EURAMP
@@vnixned2 In The Netherlands they are called '(toerit) doseer installaties' and you often find them on onramp of highways that have a high frequency of traffic jams. They usully have a sub sign that reads 'bij groen 1 auto'. I had to do some searching on Google Maps, but I found one of the A28 onramp of 'De uithof': www.google.com/maps/@52.0922308,5.1945102,3a,75y,92.68h,85.5t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sTzWm8EiDNFtcWkdrgv54AA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192
In Germany they are called zuflussregelungsanlage and can be found near Duisburg, Dordmund and Oberhaussen. At least that is where I spotted them before I migrated to the US in 2009.
As a truck driver, I prefer having these instead of 20 cars merging at once. I can't always get over for the cars, so having fewer cars merging is much safer.
I live in a city with no ramp meters (Orlando). I've only encountered them as a tourist, and my main issues is with on-ramps that give you insufficient distance to get up to the speed of highway traffic. When you are in a vehicle with a 15-25+ second 0-60 time, you have to stand on the gas and pray there will be an opening for you to cut someone off, because there isn't enough room for you to slow back down on the ramp. Not everyone drives a modern passenger vehicle with good acceleration. I drive a cargo van, and am blown away by how sporty my friend's civic is (with the base model engine).
this channel is criminally underrated. You deserve more subs.
This channel is criminally overrated. You deserve less subs.
A year later IT STILL IS
Colorado Springs has recently installed ramp meters on the I-25, and so many people complained. CDOT had to send everyone a little pamphlet to explain how and why they work, and this video was very similar to it. You are such an awesome video creator, I’m surprised you don’t work PR at some big company!
Reality trumps theory.
If they worked, YOU WOULDN'T NEED A PAMPHLET. Or a video.
Start thinking for yourself. Traffic slows down the instant the meters switch on.
@@hxhdfjifzirstc894 no, it's the difference between individual and global optimization, like "tragedy of the commons". There are situations where making something 5% worse for 50% of people makes something 20% better for everyone.
It feels bad when you are in the 50%. If *you* didn't have to sit in line, you'd be home 5 minutes sooner. But if *nobody* sat in line, it'd take 20 minutes longer to get home.
Yes, they are there because people are clueless on how to drive in the first place.
@@PsRohrbaugh eh, we don't have this in most of the Northeast. Probably because we drive aggressively and don't have time for people who don't understand the rules of the road. For those that want to merge, they need to find a way to blend in as they do not have the right of way. If you are timid, you'll get honked at like crazy. Those that hit the brakes in the slow lane to allow someone to merge will get honked at like crazy. Those in the slow lane may ease off the gas slightly to create a pocket and the one merging needs to get up to speed to merge effectively. Maybe in the West and South people use their kindness to override any sort of proper driving order and they think we are rude. But, again, we don't have these wonderful "aids" that other parts of the country have. Woe is us...
Was that really a year ago?
You are to yield when you are merging on the highway - you do not stop on the highway. Driver Ed 101.
Love it! I went to college for Civil Engineering, and my focus area was transportation engineering. I had a professor who had a lot of involvement with MNDOT and the ramp metering system in the Twin Cities.
In his classes, we made extensive use of TICAS to gather typical data and PTV Vissim to do traffic modeling, including an awful lot of study into ramp meters, using real data and existing roads.
This totally brought me back to those days, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
You did a much better job presenting the material than that professor did - thank you!
Wow, this is cool and makes me want to study harder since I'm doing the exact same thing since now I'm about to be in my junior year major courses😂🙌🏾 my local cities in the suburbs of Atlanta are finally getting metered lights since traffic is abismal
Ugggh mn is the worst lol. I’m sure I am wrong but I thought I remember hearing MN is one of the only remaining states that has this? I’m sure they others but it doesn’t seem to popular. Wonder if more are being added in other states now. I can not recall seeing too many in the other states I have drove through. Interesting
@@chozen_1309 there in Atlanta.
I can tell alot of effort goes into these videos and the end result is amazing, keep up the good work.
This reminds me of the movie quote “You are me density” lol.
Why don't you make like a tree and get out of here! What are you chicken?
Hahaha
I lived through the MN ramp meter experiment. I was hoping you were going to mention it here and I'm nerdily excited that you're doing a whole video on it!
This is one of the most niche channels on CZcams and I love every second of it! I love when my super specific and weird nerdiness collides with someone else's! :)
8:40 is exactly how the stupid average motorist defeats the best planning. A vehicle easily capable of adjusting speed to smoothly merge into a large gap instead creates a conflict by entering the freeway at a location occupied by an existing traveler.
I love the drivers who choose not to accelerate (when traffic is free flowing) and feel it's perfectly ok to merge onto the freeway at 30 MPH, slowing the line of traffic on the on-ramp as well as causing needless merging and slowing on the main line.
Ramp meters do not help either. It takes much more effort to speed up from 0 then say 40
@@wotm8870 My 72 hp mirage have no issue dragging itself to 40 mph onto NY I495, like no sweat, 3000 rpm max. Your car has to do better than mine.
If you are 10 mph below the speed limit, or traffic flow (which ever is slower), other cars will be more inclined to just overtake you than slow down for you.
I am trying to encourage more people 1) when driving on right lanes , to be ready to give way to mergers and 2) when merging, to drive fast and follow the traffic flow and not to break it (be sure the ramp is sufficiently long and provides a clear sight of view of the traffic).
Don't take it as an offense.
This is the main issue that ramp meters are made to address! Still, some drivers are gonna go "Durr Hurrrrr".
@@navyguyhm3 they slow everything down. bunch of rookies who need to go to traffic school. They are often nervous to do 3 things at a time. 1) Accelerate 2) Find a spot over your left shoulder 3) Make sure you dont hit the wall on the right or go off the road.
This channel definitely deserves more than 100k subscribers. C’mon people, let’s get this channel to a 100k subs.
I'm a picky viewer but I subbed after this one!!
I agree 100%, just subbed today! This guy is interesting, informative, has high production value, and covers unique topics. I'm surprised he doesn't have more subscribers.
Not even american never been there but I still watch and subscribe anyways
There is a critical failure adding these to some existing highways that we have seen in the Denver area. You need a long enough merge lane after the light to ensure the oncoming vehicles have a chance to get back up to highway speed before they merge in, and unfortunately many of the denver on-ramps have extremely short merge lanes that do not offer nearly enough lead in time to get back up to speed after the newly installed lights, since they were designed for the merging traffic to come up to speed as they leave the side-street and sometimes you only have 200-300 feet from the bottom of the ramp where these lights are, until the lane ends and you *must* merge. This has resulted in scenarios where light traffic on the highway and side street end up significantly slower due to these stoplights, as people end up merging into what was a 70mph highway traffic flow at 20-30 mph tops even if they floor it once they get the green, completely up-ending the highway flow and forcing people in the right lane of the (often only 2 lane) highway to slam on their brakes to avoid hitting the mergers or try and fly over to the left lane before running in to the merging traffic. I agree if the highway is designed for these lights with sufficient run-in distance to merge after the light these may benefit flow but unfortunately in areas where these were added after construction not as part of the design process, they can cause significant disruption of the flow and lead to bottlenecks and increased accident rates on the highway side since you are essentially forcing people to get onto the highway at extremely slow speeds.
I did not know those yellow lights on the meters were ever used!! Huh! I thought it was red and green only. Now my goal is to see one in action.
When I was a kid I always wondered that too. It wasn't until I had my license several years that I saw one actually work.
😂 Sticking up for all the perfectly lovely Karens out there 👍🏆
Rob - That's not Ohm's Law. That's the Power Law. *Ohm's Law is Current = Voltage / Resistance.*
Do not evrr stop doing these videos. I fucking know youll be getting a ridiculous amount of views. I love your videos. I love learning all this and i enjoy your on camera personality. Love this channel.
1:33 My name is Hector and that caught me really off guard lol
Would have been funny if said "yes even you hector". I bet would would have been wtf he knows I'm watching him
I really like these videos. Breaking down complex systems in a way that an 8 year old could understand them but without being patronizing
WOW! Super job, Rob! An observation: Caltrans seems to have implemented *very* sophisticated metering control systems. It is possible that the benefits of metering turn into detriments if the metering control isn't *just so* (e.g. dumb timers, or some perverse interaction between model functions in the computerized control network)?
This made me *much* better understand living through the meters-off experiment in Minneapolis/St. Paul. Gov. Ventura (the former WWE wrestler, who "ain't got time to bleed") was a big proponent of turning the meters off. At the time I figured, "Yeah! Shut these nuisances down, man!" But, now I see that doing so only made things worse! Brilliant! (also: the state legislature *really* hated Ventura, so too bad they didn't brand his name all over the experiment, so that when it failed, some guy at MNDoT (or, *you* as their media consultant) could show how much of a brainlet Mr. Ventura was---aside: while he didn't always have the best ideas, I'd vote for Ventura again, if he ever returned to Minnesota from his retirement home in Mexico).
This is your best one yet Rob, informative and entertaining with an excellent understanding of the 4 dimensional puzzle that is traffic flow on freeways.
You've earned the sub
I'm glad your channel is seeing some growth! the content is absolutely worth people's time and it's cool to see these videos gain traction.
John and Ken bitching about freeways on KFI AM640 while you are stuck in traffic is such a Southern California aesthetic hehe
i love it
This guy deserves a lot more followers! The production quality and content is just top notch!
I really appreciate this breakdown showing how city planners can optimize traffic. But I can't help but watch this and think that expanding light rail makes more sense. We design and build our freeways to operate at max capacity for a couple hours a day. Then they are underutilized for 18-20 hours a day. Plus the entire weekend. They are designed around a volume they only see 12% of the time. A light rail could fix this by adding more trails during peak times. And coupled with the urban highways mass transit would level off the peaks allowing a smaller highway to spend more time at peak capacity without being overloaded. Also seems easy for a city to have special services during sporting events, concerts, and other events that would shock the system.
I would love to see a breakdown of how mass transit could be used to delay or flat-out replace the need for a freeway expansion. Keep up the good work.
fascinating video
I don’t think you could have a high enough speed to reach peak density on I-94 in Montana lol.
1. WOOOOOOOOOOOOOO ROAD GUY ROB VIDEO
2. Can you find out why they don't seem to use yellow flashing arrows for California's Left Turn arrows? Working night shifts, I will wait at an empty red light waiting for a green arrow for minutes, when a flashing yellow left turn arrow back in NY would've just let me go.
Good idea. I'll put it on my pitch board. (Wish I was quicker making videos so I go get through more topics more quickly)
@@RoadGuyRob The world would be better with 5 Road Guy Robs so we could get 5 videos in the time it takes to make one.
That being said, I can be patient for the great content you're able to provide :)
Depends on if there is a need check out this video czcams.com/video/dUQbuLzkViw/video.html as a professional I don’t like permissive turns (the flashing yellow denotes that clearly instead of none shown) but with volumes and clear signals (in combination with green - protected left turns- and red arrows) along with enough 3E’s = engineering, education, enforcement- it should work
These videos are great! You either explain questions we always had- or clear up incorrect concepts around things we always thought we understood!
Nice video, Rob! This is an example of a city doing ramp metering right. You were able to catch the meters down during times that they should be running (because of low density). Other cities who put their meters on timers so that they are on from 6am to 9am and from 3pm to 6pm are doing it wrong. You end up at a meter waiting in a queue while the freeway is empty - this is frustrating! It's like the current school zone lights that are flashing while school is out - and a camera van in the school zone catching speeders. Not quite as intended, and frustrating.
Funny rant in the beginning although I feel like I am hearing the term "surface streets" for the first time maybe because I have been living in this country for only over a decade ?
Yeah, it's an American thing.
Because freeways typically travel over ot under cross streets, we lazily call city streets "surface streets" (because they are on the surface -- neither elevated nor depressed).
It's kinda of a California thing, I didn't realize till after I left.
I think because in these big urban centers, freeways are often below grade or elevated.
@@davidgutierrez-aguirre4807 store vs market. Are these terms mutuality exclusive where you speak English? Is a side streets also a surface street, or is a side street more representative of a residential street not intended for through traffic? Wtf is a thoroughfare? Lol cheers from Los Angeles
@@ossumopossum
As long as it's not elevated or depressed, it's a surface street. But the term is usually used in conjunction with roads near highways that change elevation.
@@ossumopossum
And thoroughfare is just a busy, main street.
Synonymous with avenue, boulevard, arterial, parkway or any main street with a lot of vehicle traffic.
Your production levels, delivery of info, the info itself etc etc are all getting better and better! Love this channel
I’ve spent countless hours in the car pondering these very same questions, so cool to find these well explained and entertaining answers! Great channel!
2020 my favorite new channel on youtube. Keep up the great work.
The production quality of your videos is absolutely nuts. Great work!
I’ve never even heard of these, first impressions - seems like a great idea, but me and my clutch would find it incredibly annoying having to stop and start one car at a time to get on the highway lol
Melbourne Australia has installed ramp meters on much of the urban freeway network including the Monash, West Gate, Eastern Tullamarine Freeways and the M80 Ring Road. The typical arrangement has one car per green with two lanes at the on ramp allowing a pair of vehicles to enter each time, and the signals here go green-amber-red rather than green to red. When the system first activates or shuts down the signals flash amber for a short period with electronic warning signs before the freeway entrances warning drivers that the signals are on.
I love your videos, it's not just really high quality and well explained but also interesting topics!
I try to merge at 80 to 140MPH (depends on what I'm driving and length of on-ramp). There is no speed limit on " on-ramps". The faster I merge, people tend to clear a space, or at 90MPH plus, I can find an empty space to safely merge. All cars can decelerate much faster than they can accelerate, so slowing down to fit in to a space is easy. Once on the freeway, I normally cruse at 50 to 60 in the left lane, or just a bit slower than other traffic.
We have a freeway entrance near me with a fairly short on ramp. It is not easy to merge. Inevitably someone will panic and stop just before merging leaving them with no space to get up to speed. This also forces everyone behind them to stop so even when they do get in, the next person has the same problem and now there is traffic on the on ramp. A few people have figured out that by waiting a few hundred feet back for the traffic to clear they can leave room to get up to speed and restart the flow. This is starting to catch on but it leads to people who don't understand absolutely loosing their minds that the car in front of them doesn't move up when there is a gap. They could really use one of these lights here. Ideally with a sensor that makes it red if traffic is detected stopped ahead.
You literally have such a passion for this, you can see it, and this is why I love watching these
The graphs at the end were very insightful.
Great engineering explanation I've been curious to learn about! I'm still amazed at how few cars a freeway moves per hour compared to trains and other modes, yet we still give so much space and money to building out "one more lane." Innovations like these help us better utilize the lanes we already have, and hopefully will free up resources to build more efficient solutions to transit.
just one more lane bro and we'll fix traffic. Just one more lane, one more lane and we can fix it
Just started watching your videos, Rob! As someone who drives the L.A. freeways a lot, I'm looking forward to seeing more. Great stuff!
Great graphics and effects on this one!
"Karen, who's actually really nice..." 🤣🤣🤣
Road Guy Rob,
Your videos are extremely well done, and you relay the information in a very easy to understand and interesting manner.
(i didn't think i would find road infrastructure so interesting!)
Really, great job! Between your in-depth explanations, interviews, and use of graphics your Channel has quickly become one of my favorites.
Fantastic channel! I serve on our local council's Traffic & Transportation Committee, and these videos have been spot on.
Here's a good question for you, I live in California too, and I encounter these freeway stop lights all the time. However I've noticed that there's a red light on the other side of the red green freeway entrance lights. But like, what purpose do they serve? They don't change color or turn off if the other light is green, it's just a solid single red light. However, I can't think of the situation where anyone is ever going to see them? So what are they used for?
Good question. Should have included.
The signal on the back is red when the light is red for drivers. It turns off during greens. This lets CHP officers sitting beyond the meter know if a driver ran a red light.
i was wondering that too! from what i remember they only show red when the actual signal is red too. wikipedia says this is for the highway patrol to park further down the highway and spot anyone who’s running a red
@nick fifteen. It's for CHP to be able to tell if a person went through on a red meter or not. If a car goes through and the solid red light is on, the CHP officer will know that they illegally went through it. Hope this helps
Good call
Chp
I find the trade-offs fascinating. I remember the ramp lights in Atlanta back in the 70s. Then they went away. Now they're back. Is interesting to me as what the meter does most is (attempt) to force a gap between cars which allows for smoother merging. (Imagine if we could do the same on the main lane). On the flip side, we also want to maximize the cars through the light back on the side road, so we create multiple turn lanes. And merge them on the ramp. Which increases density on the ramp, the last of which happens right before hitting the freeway. So, when the meters *are* on, they help undo that effect. When they're of though, it's nuts at the ramp.
I believe some ramps address this with signs saying something like "form two lanes when meters are active" -- they're wide enough to fit two lanes, but marked as one lane for off-peak traffic.
Man, I came across your videos like a week ago and you are the perf bro type not taking yourself too seriously host, great content and great ideas for videos. Keep on rockin!
So glad I found this channel. Very cool and informative videos to watch while studying for the FE exam. I bet my professors would've loved this channel. Keep up the great work!
The ramp meter at the 605N/210E is an interesting one and it's on all the time at evening rush hour. That ramp traffic merges into the far right lane which is also interesting. This could make a good video about 'reducing conflicts' and why specifically in California they have so many lanes that just close or merge suddenly with limited-to-no signage. There are a lot of spots around here that the signage is quite frankly terrible and the traffic is totally mismanaged (57S->60W->57S).
Sins of past decades- easier to fix then, now you would have to wait for a big project, data from a bunch of non-fatal collisions, or a lawsuit due to fatal collision... or could be stolen signs or faded stripes. Do report those into Caltrans Maintenance Service Request csr.dot.ca.gov/index.php/Msrsubmit/
And Karen - who is really nice 😂 😂
Ha. I didn't catch that.
She would also like to speak to the manager!
First time coming across this channel. Learned a lot and enjoyed my time greatly! Very entertaining and interesting!! I am now a subscriber! Thanks for taking the time and making this! ❤️
This channel feels like a bunch of news/educational videos I'd watch in middle school.
Awesome- Great Content. Thanks Rob!
They have been installing these all up and down I270 in MD where I live
Their installing them in sydney
Man 695 around Baltimore needs these so bad
CZcams just recommended you to me and im so excited to get some great content i havent already seen. Your channel is great!
Never even knew these existed until I moved to the west coast in 2017. I've still yet to see one of these on the east coast!
Florida has them
Awesome video!!! Here’s a topic- refresher of what you ‘learned’ in drivers Ed. Like how blinkers work, following distance, merging, stop lights are red for a reason 😂 probably not a topic Rob wants to do though 😜 please keep up the great work!!
these extra traffic control devices are for all the stupids out there, as population increases so do the number of stupids
Definitely agree, my school closed its driver's Ed program making the only one in the county a 30+ min drive. Fortunately my dad is a school bus driver so he did a good job as an alternative to driver's Ed.
But a lot of people need to be refreshed on how you are supposed to drive and why, as a society we are a little to comfortable driving 2ton steel boxes at 70mph with honestly pathetic training considering the alternatives are basically non-existent.
This dude seems like a nice guy.
He is! I worked with him at a radio station for a few years.
It makes me wonder if we had longer parallel on-ramps, to let people zipper merge, if that would work as well or not.
It also makes me wonder if you had a ramp meter, and a longer on-ramp after the meter, if that would make the system even better.
Hi Rob, love your channel. I'd love to see an episode on what the most common accidents are, where they happen, and the clever traffic control measures used to mitigate accidents, both fatal and nonfatal.
4 am upload best upload
I have no life lol. 😃
@@RoadGuyRob late night swagger
Thankyou so much for adding subtitles 🙂
I wish the subtitles weren't on top of the information bubbles, but it's better than nothing!
@@PsRohrbaugh Shame you can't move them on mobile, but on desktop anyone can just click and drag (for those who didn't know)
This is why I love YT. Keep teaching us about traffic engineering!
This is a good example of "people only notice when things go wrong."
If everything is running smoothly nobody pays attention.
This guy is a great voice great personality to do what he's doing. I love that he films a lot of this stuff right here in the Inland empire.
Great video! Would love to see an explanation as to why Michigan rarely experiences the type of highway congestion that is documented in this video. Everything I know about highway congestion (admittedly not much) should mean Michigan's highways are gridlock most of the time, but anecdotally that really isn't the case. Southeast Michigan is highly populated (4.25 million + living in just 4 adjacent counties), highly suburban with many subdivision developments, experienced high growth in an era where everyone had cars (1940s/1950s), frontage roads on many highways, short distances between exits/onramps, no car pool lanes, no toll roads, no metered ramps, a lot of cloverleaf interchanges, lots of long-distance commuters, most highways are 3 lanes (with the occasional 4-lane and 2-lane thrown in), I can't think of a single highway in Michigan that is 5-lanes for more than a few miles if that.
I found in Michigan that people didn't understand urban merging. So you'd be in a city like Flint with short Moses-style on ramps and they'd come flying on and just move over and expect you to jump out of their way, even on 475 at rush hour. It was as if they thought they were out in the country on a half-mile-long ramp with maybe one car already on the road. It was my biggest driving peeve there. Cars entering need to yield.
Just found this channel. You are awesome! Keep up the amazing work!
Okay, now back onto binging videos on traffic flow
Wow! This is probably THE best explanation of the relationship of traffic volume vs. speed I have ever seen. Thank you so much for this. You mentioned the Minnesota study... The Minnesota study was very conclusive in finding that in general ramp meters do cut down on accidents and also helped average freeway speed. But the reason for the study was that many people accused Mn/Dot of abusing the ramp meter system by punishing drivers with ridiculous wait times. If you look at a map of the Twin Cities, you will see a lot of freeways..The system they have is comprehensive but the Twin Cities grew substantially throughout the 80's and 90's while freeway capacity did not increase at the rate it needed to in order to keep up with the demand due to funding. So while they have a lot of center-lane miles, the actual lane miles was not enough in many cases. There are still some some sections of freeway like I-494 through Bloomington near Mall of America and the airport that are still their original 1960's design with cloverleaf interchanges between freeways. A lack of funding for freeway expansion in the Twin Cities could be blamed on the way that roads are funded in Minnesota with a lot of money going outstate to rural areas when it should have been pointed to the metro area. Mn/Dot's defense was that they had to use ramp meters as a tool to increase capacity on the freeways because they lacked funding to build more lanes. They did this at the expense of the arterials and backups would occur quite frequently onto streets that could not handle the congestion. I experienced this first hand back in the 90's when I lived in Minnesota.. if you were sitting on an on ramp on some of the most congested freeways in the Twin Cities, the time between greens could be as much as one minute in some cases. While the study concluded that ramp meters worked, it also concluded that there were instances where metering was not necessary and some meters were removed altogether. I believe they put a limit on wait times at red lights as sort of a compromise as part of the new law that was passed. I'm not sure about that but I thought I remember reading that.
Was that the good ol' 105 freeway meter?
Back to Cities: skylines
The sheer absence of lane mathematics irl smh my head
@@mfaizsyahmi What can I say? Irl drivers have fuzzy logic and Cities: Skylines drivers don't.
I was thinking the same thing! Makes me want to start it up again! Maybe a timed traffic light can make this affect
@@icantthinkofaname2176 except when someone change lanes out of nowhere and other drivers a mile away patiently queue up behind rather than change to an empty lane.
@@juch3 that's the definition of no fuzzy logic
Love the local shots you made off Blaine Street and the 215, I live right up the street by UCR and see the evening rush hour daily! Another great video Rob!
Woah! I've been following your channel since the beginning. You've really reached a great production quality. Bravo!
This is a super cool video! Talk about dynamic traffic monitoring! I just wish more people understood that when you are in a jam related to a lane reduction you need to take turns, that’s what the ramp meter does, it supports taking turns!
2 second follow rule? That made me laugh so hard I almost rear-ended the guy in front of me with my BMW.