Bike Lane to Nowhere is Repainted and Bad Road Signs

[BrooklynBus]

http://www.sheepsheadbites.com/2013/07/zebra-stripes-and-the-bike-lane-to-nowhere-are-repainted-and-more/

[peacemak3r]

Wow, I haven't been to the Manhattan beach area in ages if they reduced the 4 lanes to 2 lanes.  I hope they fixed some of the pot holes forming on Oriental as well.  Though for the summer times, I'd wonder if it'll be better to have 4 lanes on Oriental rather than 2 because of the beach traffic you'd create.

 

Now on to the speed limit signs.  For the Gowanus expressway, the signs are not as much for the construction zones but for the merging lanes and the retarded lane patterns when the BQE merges in.  So for that, I can see why they put 35 MPH signs there.  But of course like you noted, no one ever (myself included) ever did 35 at that stretch.

 

Another note, would be there is like a silent rule of thumb that most people go 10 over the indicated speed limit anyway and most of the time cops and highway patrol don't care.  For example, I believe the Belt Parkway is 50 MPH and most people do 60-65 MPH along the entire stretch. [Most people do 70 on the Belt if no cop is in sight, but you'll definitely get pulled over for 20 over limit.]

 

On curves, I'll tell you a lot of the speed limits on most curves are over-exaggerated and can be taken 5 or 10 over their limit.  The obvious curves are the very sharp ones and most of them are too high for most people (should be taken maybe 5 or 10 under limit).

[BrooklynBus]

I was told in school that speed limits we're deliberately designed to be 10% lower than what it is safe to drive. The city highway speed limit is 50 mph. Before they had a city speed limit, the limit on the Belt was 55. That means it is perfectly safe to do 60. When traffic is light, 65 is even safe.

 

Regardingthe BQE, the 35 is definitely there because of the work zone and narrow lane exit. There is no merge near the sign. The regular limit is 45.

 

Oriental Blvd was reconstructed in the mid 1980's. There are a few dips but no real potholes. The time you need 4 lanes is when classes at Kingsborough is beginning and ending. With only one lane, it is very difficult to find a break in traffic to cross Oriental for cars and for pedestrians on the streets crossing it.

[peacemak3r]

 I was told in school that speed limits we're deliberately designed to be 10% lower than what it is safe to drive. The city highway speed limit is 50 mph. Before they had a city speed limit, the limit on the Belt was 55. That means it is perfectly safe to do 60. When traffic is light, 65 is even safe.

 

 Regardingthe BQE, the 35 is definitely there because of the work zone and narrow lane exit. There is no merge near the sign. The regular limit is 45.

 

 Oriental Blvd was reconstructed in the mid 1980's. There are a few dips but no real potholes. The time you need 4 lanes is when classes at Kingsborough is beginning and ending. With only one lane, it is very difficult to find a break in traffic to cross Oriental for cars and for pedestrians on the streets crossing it.

 

Then my statement stands on why most people driving above the speed limit in my cases.

 

Never-mind, I thought you meant around the Prospect merge and I never see a speed sign there.  But the Belt merge further down, I do see.

 

I've driven around Kingsborough when classes are in session and it's not as bad as you think it is these days.  I'm more sure it's worse during beach days only because of the parking restrictions on the private blocks during the summer time.  Whenever I dropped off my ex-girlfriend during Kingsborough days, the traffic wasn't that bad.

[BrooklynBus]

Traffic on Oriental is heaviest between 8 and 9 AM. If you are in your car and need to cross Oriental at Ocean, you can get stuck for three minutes waiting for a break in traffic because there is only one lane. People actually get out of their cars to press the walk signal so the light will change so they can drive through. It is also bad between 3 and 4 Mondays through Thursdays. On beach days, it really isn't that bad except on July 4th if it is hot.

[peacemak3r]

Traffic on Oriental is heaviest between 8 and 9 AM. If you are in your car and need to cross Oriental at Ocean, you can get stuck for three minutes waiting for a break in traffic because there is only one lane. People actually get out of their cars to press the walk signal so the light will change so they can drive through. It is also bad between 3 and 4 Mondays through Thursdays. On beach days, it really isn't that bad except on July 4th if it is hot.

 

This was with 2 lanes or right now with 1 lane?  Because when I drove to Kingsborough around that time, that intersection has a blinking yellow inside of the standard red, yellow, green. This is around 7:30-8:30 for me a few years ago.  Either way, 1 or 2 lanes, that stretch will be problematic during school and beach hours most definitely.

 

I was thinking plus the bike lane, if anything maybe should of added a one way bus lane on that stretch?  Would that be viable?  The left lane would be the bus lane up until the parking lot entrance, and the right lane be cars to enter the parking lot or go ahead.  Then again the crisscross would be troublesome to inexperience drivers.

[BrooklynBus]

This was with one lane each way. With two lanes there was no problem. With one lane it takes twice as long for the cars to get through. So right after the last car from Brighton Beach Avenue enters Oriental at West End, the light changes and the West End cars turn into Oriental so the traffic line is continuous and there is rarely a break. When there were two lanes, there would be a fifteen second or longer break so cross traffic could cross Oriental.

 

There is no green light. It is either flashing yellow, solid yellow or red for Oriental. Ocean is always flashing red. There are not enough buses to warrant a bus lane. The cars queue up for the parking lotin the zebra stripes so as not to block traffic. Before the zebra stripes, they queued up in the parking lane and there still were two lanes of moving traffic each way.