Ohio State Route 91 North of SR-640 (Vine St.)
Get rid of the lights everywhere but the legacy roads. Let us take a trip northbound using Google Street view to review the intersections that make sense.
Why are we allowing all of the suburb traffic to enter a 4 lane 50 mph median divided road? Get rid of the lights everywhere but the legacy roads. Let us take a trip northbound using Google Street view to review the intersections that make sense:
The first intersection we come across northbound on SR-91 is with Stevens Blvd. This is one of the two legacy east-west roads north of Vine. We see a decent separated pedestrian bridge for the kids at the school on the corner (off to the left of the picture) to get back home, definitely a good piece of infrastructure. This is about a half a mile from Vine St.
This is the final intersection before the northern most terminal of SR-91. This is the second legacy road north of Vine St. There was a time before these developments and during that time these two roads were the primary east-west connectors of Erie Rd. and Lakeshore Blvd.
Do you know where most at-grade median seperated freeway accidents occur? The intersections. I hear people now, "But Caleb it is not a freeway north of Vine St." You can say that, but the speed limit is 50 mp/h which clearly indicates this is not a traditional residential or rural street. This is further supported by the lack of direct access development on this section of SR-91. Functionally, it is a freeway.
Detroit is a city designed with the car in mind and they have figured out a solution to reducing the number of conflict points with the use of "Michigan Lefts." Ohioans shut up for a moment; we can rename them "Buckeye Lefts." A "Buckeye Left" is where a U-turn lane is installed after the traditional four way intersection. This means that intersection roads will be right turn only with a this U-turn lane a bit further up (500 ft.(?)). This will reduce the number of conflict points and allow for a more traditional seamless freeway experience.
We do not hate roads and cars here. We understand that the level of infrastructure we have invested so far in right of ways need to be repurposed, but cars are now (generally perceived as) too integral to American culture that we will never break free of them completely.
We also understand it is kind of weird that the government spent so much money on infrastructure that made Henry Ford, Mr. Goodyear, and Mr. General Motors the most money.
Comments ()