11 Responses to “Better drawing of Northwest Ave and I-5 ramps roundabout”

1. citizen Says:
   January 5th, 2010 at 3:33 pm

   That shows even more clearly that the bottleneck existing now will be made even worse by the improvements.
   Traffic for the NB I-5 on-ramp will be even closer to the intersection of Northwest SB before veering off to the ramp.
   It says yield,
   but SB Northwest Ave. drivers will never be sure what NB Northwest traffic is gonna do.
   Until they do it.

2. jason Says:
   January 5th, 2010 at 6:06 pm

   Citizen. I think the idea is: Turn Right, go 180 through the round-about and come back. If not…You are correct. Stupidest thing I ever saw.

3. Victor Says:
   January 5th, 2010 at 8:28 pm

   I think this is going to be a huge improvement. Not having traffic on the NB I-5 ramp trying to turn left onto Northwest is going to save a TON of headaches and remove that dangerous back-up onto the ramp. It’s also great to see sidewalks finally.

   I think we’re going to see SB Northwest traffic flow a lot better through this intersection now that drivers don’t need to worry about the insanely fast moving traffic exiting I-5 and wondering, ‘are they headed back to the freeway?’ before making the turn.

4. trevor Says:
   January 5th, 2010 at 10:10 pm

   Why dont you guys call the city this city is run by aholes jared why dont you call some one and tell them what we think?

5. citizen Says:
   January 6th, 2010 at 6:03 am

   The problem Victor references is the minor one, IMO.
   It’s always fun to try and cut off those speeders on the NB off-ramp.
   No matter what,
   traffic SB on Northwest will need to yield to NB Northwest traffic headed to the NB I-5 on-ramp.
   My solution?
   Ax that NB on-ramp or make traffic headed that way stop for all SB Northwest Ave. traffic.
   A Yield just won’t cut it in the real world.

6. SigX Says:
   January 6th, 2010 at 8:45 am

   I always thought they could solve most of the problem by adding a second northbound lane on Northwest with a barrier in between the two northbound lanes. If you are in the right lane, you are going north on Northwest. If you are in the left lane, you are getting on I-5. The southbound traffic on Northwest would then know the intention of the drivers and could clear the intersection much easier.

7. citizen Says:
   January 6th, 2010 at 4:18 pm

   That could easily be incorporated into the plan for the round-a-bout.
   Anything to allow SB Northwest drivers a chance to determine what the NB Northwest traffic is doing.

8. Donde Groovily Says:
   January 6th, 2010 at 6:15 pm

   Citizen, roundabouts will slow traffic enough that these SB travelers don’t even really need to know if the NB traveler is going to the freeway or staying on NW.

9. citizen Says:
   January 7th, 2010 at 11:45 am

   Hmm. Maybe.
   I count three car lengths between the yield and the turn-off Northwest NB.
   I’ve seen cars take this sweeping turn at 40 mph,
   that’s about two seconds to decide which way oncoming traffic is headed.
   Not counting the acceleration of cars headed straight,
   more or less,
   to the NB on-ramp.

10. Andy Says:
    January 7th, 2010 at 12:09 pm

    What is the traffic on northbound Northwest going to have to slow down for? There may be a yield sign, but in actual practice there won’t be any traffic for them to yield to except for maybe the odd southbound car that wants to make a U-turn and go north on Northwest instead. They’ll basically have a straight shot through the roundabout. It won’t slow anybody down. Southbound northwest is going to have to yield to more traffic than it does already.

    Bicycle safety is another problem with this roundabout. Northbound bicycle access looks fine, but southbound is a problem. The safest way for a southbound cyclist to navigate that roundabout appears to be to ride in the center of the traffic lane and impede motor vehicle traffic until they get past the freeway entrance. If the southbound cyclist stays to the right of the traffic lane he runs the risk of colliding with motor vehicle traffic attempting to access northbound I-5 from the roundabout.

    There is already a lot of bicycle traffic in that area, and now that they’re putting in bike lanes there will be even more. I kind of wish they had given more thought to this before they decided to build it.

    This is also sure to modify the flow of traffic on Northwest, so I wonder what this will do for access onto Northwest from adjacent streets like McLeod and Sterling Dr. Has the city even considered that? I don’t know if anybody here has ever attempted to cross Northwest via McLeod or make a left turn off Sterling Dr., but it’s a pretty dicey proposition already.

11. Donde Groovily Says:
    January 13th, 2010 at 8:51 am

    Andy, yes, the safest path for an experience bicyclist in thru the center of the lane of the roundabout. For faster bikers, this does not actually impede the 20 MPH roundabout traffic. Bikes can easily reach 20 MPH. Slower bicyclists should use the sidewalks.

    As far as Sterling, this will probably include a left-turn lane on NW, which will help a lot.

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