Thursday, August 21, 2008

on a lighter note:

I saw this one on someone else's blog and had to share... I got a big kick out of it.

Venting or Will I Be Heard?

I don't know how many readers commute Northbound in the morning out of Lehi, but I am quite distrot with the new lights on the on-ramp. There is a lot more congestion on our on-ramp with no more cars than before. Sometimes the line is 40 cars long to get on to a previously clear on-ramp. In addition, the road is so short that most cars can't get going fast enough to get on the freeway safely.

So here is my letter to UDOT. Hopefully someone who makes decisions will look into this problem.


August 21, 2008

To Whom It May Concern:

I am a Lehi resident with a concern regarding the new on-ramp light at the 2100 North entrance to I-15 Northbound. I feel that, in general, the stop lights for entering cars have been a positive thing for the freeway traffic. But in this one case, I feel it is more deleterious than helpful.

I sense two problems. In the last few weeks since the lights at 2100 N Lehi Northbound on-ramp have been functioning, I have seen the following. First, the lane entering the freeway after the lights is quite short. From my observation, in this short distance, most vehicles are only able to accelerate to about 45 miles an hour by the time their lane ends. This seems to be causing more congestion than previous because the oncoming traffic has to merge or slow down to accommodate those entering the freeway. Previous to the light, the on-ramp road was longer, allowing for cars to accelerate to freeway speeds before merging. This is the main problem. This endangers both us getting on the freeway as well as those already traveling at freeway speeds.

In addition, the lights change so quickly that if a car is able to accelerate quickly enough to reach freeway speed, that car is usually stuck behind someone who cannot accelerate quickly enough. So there is additional congestion in the entering lane due to the lights. This causes even more congestion when 2 or more cars enter the freeway at low speeds.

I realize that these lights are supposed to decrease congestion, but it appears that at this location, they are causing more congestion; in an area where there wasn’t congestion prior.

Thanks for your consideration...

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Update

we're back. It's been a few weeks since our last post. Scout camp, school beginning, family in town, and other events and duties have all been keeping us enjoyably busy. Here are the favorite landscapes from scout camp.