Keaau Bypass Merge

[punaticbychoice]

Good one wegian.
Thank you too.

[Bullwinkle]

Those merging lane thingies way too stressful for the average puna driver .... keep it simple - grin

maybe a practice interactive merge lane and then one for a roundabout!

[tndhansen]

Part of the problem is addressed under the "how do you know u are in Puna" thread. Some folks do 40 in the 55, and then 65 in the 45. Also, technically speaking the left lane is the "fast" lane...yet often we find there's someone "camping" in the left lane.

Lomax--rofl. That's why when we think of the one drawback of Cali... we think of traffic jams.

Hot= so true~ Right lane should merge...but doesn't. It seems to b the "hurry up and get ahead of the left lane camper" mentality.

Sadly...sounds like this will b the good ole days. =(

T~N~D Hawaiian Acres

[Bullwinkle]

I was taught the left lane was the "passing lane" pass the slower vehicle on the left, merge back to the right

[mdd7000]

Keep right,except to pass, is not understood here!

[cwoods61]

The way the bypass is designed (going toward Hilo) encourages drivers to stay in the left lane. It should have been designed to dump traffic into the right lane, not the left.

[KeaauRich]

You're opening a whole new can of worms if you start talking about the bypass going towards Hilo... I can't think of a better design for a speed trap than a narrow, two lane 55 mph road that dumps into a spacious four lane divided highway that drops in speed down to 35 mph within the course of a mile...

Me, bitter? nah! I got caught once, learned the limits, paid my legitimate fine, and now get routinely passed on the left by cars going significantly faster than I ever did on this road. By the way, the cop who ticketed me actually advised me to contest the ticket. (Hmm, note to self: go to "You know you're in Puna..." thread and add "when the cop who is writing your ticket gives you advice on how to contest it...)

[TomK]

Have to admit I kind of liked the original idea by the OP; two lanes controlled by traffic lights before the merge with only one having a green light at any one time. It would solve many problems. Unfortunately I suspect it'd cause chaos as well. This is Puna, a mix of people that have learned to drive responsibly, those that may have driven responsibly once in their lives but have forgotten how to do so and those that haven't a clue. And then those that have a clue but will just ignore traffic lights or driving laws anyway. Just look at the number of drivers that ignore the don't turn right on a red light at the junction of the bypass and Keaau Pahoa Road (the junction right before the bottleneck).

cwoods61 - couldn't agree more, but it doesn't matter. Many drivers here will go into the left lane anyway, no matter what, and then drive at 50 or 70 and either slow traffic up or create a hazard (and while I'm ranting, why do so many drivers that do 50 in the left hand lane between Keaau and Hilo continue at the same speed in the 35mph zone?).

Getting back to the bypass merge, the problem is caused by a few selfish drivers and an utterly insane design by our civil engineers, and you only need one of those to cause a backup. This could be someone failing to merge or trying to compete with someone in the other lane. It doesn't matter. You will always have an idiot, on any commute, that will screw it up for everyone else.

Just for fun, google "physics of traffic jams". There are a lot of solutions available but they tend to rely on people driving sensibly and you know that isn't going to happen here. I'm normally an optimist but look forward to many more years of things just getting worse.

Tom

http://apacificview.blogspot.com/

[cwoods61]

"cwoods61 - couldn't agree more, but it doesn't matter. Many drivers here will go into the left lane anyway, no matter what,"

A really bad spot for that is on Hwy 11 coming out of Hilo toward Puna. Often when attempting a left turn off Lama St. onto Hwy 11, I'll think I have a chance to turn, then some joker coming off Kilauea decides he just has to be in the left lane. Even if he isn't turning for miles. Of course, there's a huge cluster of cars right behind him. I rarely flip other drivers off, but this definitely earns the finger. :-)

[punabound]

Lets be real ,the real problem is most,i say most not all ,but most people driving thru the bottle neck either dont know the rules of the road,have forgtten ,or just dont and never did learn to drive you can build additioal lanes,then we will have 2 lanes traveling 30 mph in a 55mph problem solved? i dont think so