On the way home, I threaded my way off of U.S. 1 onto I-40 and suddenly appreciated just how broken that interchange really is. There is zero distance for merging. It’s a “cluster,” no doubt about it. Makes me think the DOT engineers were high on crack when they put that together.
Another broken spot is the merge lanes for Western Boulevard and southbound I-440. It kills traffic during every rush hour. Traffic peels off on the right and peels on on the left: you have to look in two directions. Broken!
Other accidents-waiting-to-happen include the 70 and 401 split on the edge of Garner. In the mornings, cars regularly weave across five lanes of traffic to get where they’re going. That’s one reason I take an alternate route each day. Too dangerous.
How about Wake Forest Road north of the Beltline? You know the one: where the road was “widened” to six lanes by magically repainting the lines? You take your life in your own hands every time you drive on that road!
So what am I leaving out? Where are the other malfunctioning intersections in the Triangle area?
Crappiest intersection in RTP. I can see the traffic engineers now.
“Hey, Cletus?”
“Yeah, Jethro?”
“We’ve got this big-ass new interstate. Supposed to be the main road around these parts for the next 50 years. All the new housing in North Raleigh is going to end up near it. Everyone there who works in RTP will be on this road. They all want to get to I-40. What should we do?”
“Well, Jethro, how about this? First, we’ll take five lanes of new I-540 interstate and merge them down into one right when it’s time to get onto I-40, causing miles of backups. Then, for the people who manage to survive that without popping a blood vessel, we’ll have their merge lane onto I-40 turn into an exit onto Page Rd. within a quarter-mile, meaning that the people on I-40 who want to get onto Page Rd. and the people coming off of I-540 will be competing for the same 200-foot patch of asphalt. That way we can screw up the traffic on I-40 too, as people try to inch around the mess.”
“Hot damn, Cletus. No wonder they made you supervisor. Let’s go down to Big Ed’s, my treat.”
How could I forget that one?