cars sharing left hand turn lanes with METRO

[trymahjong]

I attended the community meeting at St. Stephens where HEB and METRO were to get public feed back.

Metro seemed to have negative views on shared left hand turn lanes and cited information about shared left hand turns lanes datagleaned from Medical center section of the Main Line. But I'm thinking that if left hand turn lanes were shared with cars on University line la lot of real estate would be saved and perhaps wider sidewalks and more tree plantings might be the result.

Parts of Richmond between Shepherd and Yoakum where the METRO will be laying track are EXTREMELY narrow. METRO will only plant trees if the sidewalk is at least 6' wide. If the public can bend METRO to it's will and only have 10' traffic lanes a small amount of extra easement can be gained, But NOT having automous left hand turn lanes will save MEGA easement! This should lead to wider sidewalks and more trees.

But. . . . is it worth it?

So what do you think about Metro's shared left hand turn lanes?

[mfastx]

It's a tough call. Many will argue that cars should not be sharing ROW with METRORail at all. Plus, some find the signals to be quite confusing in the TMC in regard to when cars can enter the left turn lane, etc.

As far as I'm concerned, as long as the signals are properly timed, it shouldn't be a problem. But I don't believe that the signals are properly timed in the TMC.

[kylejack]

Increased signage and signals has decreased accidents significantly in the shared lanes, but riding the train every day, I see the hassles the drivers go through. You wouldn't believe the chutzpah of some of the people who cut off the train and the driver has to slam on the brakes throwing everyone standing in the train off-balance just because some jerk didn't want to miss his chance.

It's a tough call, but the sooner we get a real transit system with dedicated ROW, the sooner we can improve our traffic situation.

As far as I'm concerned, as long as the signals are properly timed, it shouldn't be a problem. But I don't believe that the signals are properly timed in the TMC.

The timings are right in the Medical Center, but they can't account for human factors. As an example, I saw someone this week in front of the train SW bound on Fannin who was totally out of it. The light changed and they were playing with their phone or fiddling with the radio or whatever. There were about three cars behind this car and in front of the train. They must have had their tunes up, because they didn't hear the driver blowing his loud horn. They finally realized it was green about the time it turned yellow. Only 3 cars were able to get through before it turned red, leaving a car and the train waiting.

[mfastx]

The timings are right in the Medical Center, but they can't account for human factors.

Ideally, the train should never stop along it's route except for at station. That would increase transit time by alot, but signals would have to be cafefully prioritized. I agree that the TMC signals are mostly OK, but the train still has to stop for red lights.

It would be quite complicated, but it would require that the left turn lane (on the train's side) would be turned green as the train is approaching, so cars can clear out. But that's tricky, what if there's a train coming in the opposite direction at the same time? You can't let the cars turn into the oncoming train.

It really is a sticky situation. To make trains have full priority, there should be a sensor on the tracks that turns all lights red when the train is coming, and after it passes, the lights revert to their original cycle. But that would mean that the original cycle would have to be on a seperate computer, as to not be interrupted by the train. That would be interesting to see how they would program the signals like that.

[urbancowboy]

Couldn't they just restrict left turns all together. I know that would be a hassle for motorist but it would certainly make things easier for transit.