Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Why are Texas interchanges so tall?

practical.engineering

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

311–320 of 352 posts

Re: Why are Texas interchanges so tall?

#311

Post by satiated_grue »

hoten wrote: post #138
nabla9 wrote: post #26

First time I visited the US it was Houston, Texas. My host was perplexed because I laughed out loud while we were driving. Experiencing highways and those massive gas stations felt like someone had made a state that mocked America by taking prejudices we have about the American traffic and making them 200% larger in real life. My mind was blown.

Houston native here. I still guffaw when I see a massively lifted truck (but with a pristine bed, no scratches - so not even a work truck). Everything's bigger in Texas, including egos.

What if Alaska were split in half, and Texas would become the third-largest state by area?

Re: Why are Texas interchanges so tall?

#312

Post by gangstead »

h_tbob wrote: post #76

As somebody who lived in Dallas and drove on the high five with some frequency, I had actually a lot of questions about the design of it. If somebody who understands this could explain I’d be happy. For one, a lot of the overpasses had two lanes. But then they merged down to one right before you got on the highway… What’s the point in having two lanes on the overpass that merge just before you get onto the highway? T…

I always figured it was so that the bridge acts as a storage buffer for backed up traffic so you don't get the ramp to 635 eastbound so backed up that there is stopped traffic on 75 southbound.

I mean you still end up with that at rush hour but I think that's what they are trying to do. There is no number or lanes they could add that would prevent it from being a parking lot twice a day.

Re: Why are Texas interchanges so tall?

#313

Post by LorenPechtel »

thanksgiving wrote: post #193
fooqux wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For me, this will always be Las Vegas. Walking the strip my first time while at a conference was enlightening. Seeing all the American tropes that I'd seen in foreign media within a square kilometer and with my own eyes left me speechless.

I wish we had free public transit everywhere like they do on the strip.

Not only is it not free, but fares on the strip buses are higher than the fares everywhere else. I think this is a result of subsidies for public transit not going to the tourists.

Re: Why are Texas interchanges so tall?

#314

Post by LorenPechtel »

Keyframe wrote: post #167
nabla9 wrote: post #26

First time I visited the US it was Houston, Texas. My host was perplexed because I laughed out loud while we were driving. Experiencing highways and those massive gas stations felt like someone had made a state that mocked America by taking prejudices we have about the American traffic and making them 200% larger in real life. My mind was blown.

From european drivers perspective, what surprised me the most (aside from peculiar traffic rules - some actually good) was concrete highways instead of black asphalt. I was especially careful during rain, it "looked" slippery; Later I was told it does actually have some asphalt in it.

As someone who has lived pretty much all of my life in the desert I look with considerable caution towards high speed asphalt.

The road concrete is roughened, you have good traction even in less than ideal weather. And concrete lasts an awful lot longer under heavy traffic. Smooth concrete would be like you are worried about, but the high speed roads aren't smooth concrete.

Asphalt is a hydrocarbon product and can sweat. But worse is the oil from cars. Drip, drip, drip--since it's on a hydrocarbon base it loosely bonds with it and simply accumulates. When the rain does come along the roads will be very slippery until there has been enough rain and cars to wash them clean. Until then, hydroplane accidents galore. Be especially careful around gas stations.

Re: Why are Texas interchanges so tall?

#315

Post by rangestransform »

oremolten wrote: post #304
lelandbatey wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The US being huge has no bearing on the requirement that I have to own a car to get to work every day, or to go to the grocery store, or to take kids to school. I live in a more suburban area than I used to and having to pilot a huge deadly vehicle everywhere is vastly more stressful than just walking to handle my groceries. Note that the study you link to there is from 1994 and only controlled for the following crit…

You're not required anything. Nothing is stopping you from walking or riding a bike. You're making a choice of convenience. You're over privileged life has made you believe you need this "deadly vehicle". Go with out? like the 5billion other people that are, or continue to wine about your luxuries and not being able to get groceries 2 minutes faster. How about this, instead of designing your consumer luxury life arou…

Why did we build society at all if we should be always satisfied with the status quo standard of living

Re: Why are Texas interchanges so tall?

#316

Post by rangestransform »

felipellrocha wrote: post #196
anonym29 wrote: post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>having to pilot a huge deadly vehicle everywhere is vastly more stressful than just walking to handle my groceries. That's a nice luxury to have. I take it you're fortunate enough to live in a very temperate area with palatable weather year-round, rather than somewhere that gets 110° F in the summer, or ice storms in the winter? Not everyone can afford to live on the beautiful, comfortable, and exorbitantly expensiv…

Have people not lived in those places in the past?

We have the choice of affordable, door-to-door air conditioning now, so why should we do without if we don’t have to?

Re: Why are Texas interchanges so tall?

#317

Post by rangestransform »

refurb wrote: post #209
xyst wrote: post #90

It’s a shame this country is so obsessed with cars. There’s so much land yet we devote it to destroying lush ecosystems (that help reduce effects of Mother Nature) and replacing it with massive highway projects that end up costing everyone more in taxes/indefinite maintenance costs. Then the effect is 10X’d when useless suburbs are built. More car dependence. More time spent on roads. Traffic slows to a halt as subur…

Most of the US is undeveloped in terms of highways and suburbs. Whats the point of having all that room if you’re going to trap yourself in a small apartment tower?

There’s a critical mass of population density needed to support a vast diversity of specialty businesses. NYC, for example, has the second- or third-best examples of basically every country’s cuisine.

Re: Why are Texas interchanges so tall?

#318

Post by Clamchop »

h_tbob wrote: post #76

As somebody who lived in Dallas and drove on the high five with some frequency, I had actually a lot of questions about the design of it. If somebody who understands this could explain I’d be happy. For one, a lot of the overpasses had two lanes. But then they merged down to one right before you got on the highway… What’s the point in having two lanes on the overpass that merge just before you get onto the highway? T…

I don't have experience with Texas but there are plenty of interchanges as you describe in California. Sometimes you even see momentarily more lanes just before and after an at-grade intersection.

While more permanent lanes seems more desirable, for lack of space or money or whatever, this compromise at least increases the capacity of the ramp to absorb the queue before it starts to back up into through traffic.

Of course, in practice the capacity is often not enough.

Re: Why are Texas interchanges so tall?

#319

Post by Slow_Hand »

rickydroll wrote: post #303
throwup238 wrote: post #221

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Truck nuts? https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/driving/wp-content/...

So you're telling me that these big macho guys from Texas did gender reassignment surgery on their vehicles?

Yup. If you add nuts to your truck and it didn't come out of the factory with them, then your truck is trans.

Re: Why are Texas interchanges so tall?

#320

Post by telotortium »

34-9t6i wrote: post #189
xyst wrote: post #90

It’s a shame this country is so obsessed with cars. There’s so much land yet we devote it to destroying lush ecosystems (that help reduce effects of Mother Nature) and replacing it with massive highway projects that end up costing everyone more in taxes/indefinite maintenance costs. Then the effect is 10X’d when useless suburbs are built. More car dependence. More time spent on roads. Traffic slows to a halt as subur…

Houston is currently planning its fifth loop. They already have four, and they need a fifth, which mean converting many more square miles of marshland into pavement. Meanwhile there are hundreds of square miles of abandoned real estate in the middle of the city. It's cheaper to just buy and build new than the tear down the old building first. And they can't figure out why each hurricane season is more destructive tha…

Houston only has three loops: I-610 and Beltway 8, with State Highway 99 under construction. The latter 2 are both toll roads. (I guess the highways around downtown form a loop, but as a former resident of the city, I never heard anyone call that a loop - I-610 was always the inner loop.) If you’re going to shit on Houston, at least get the facts right.

Also, what’s wrong with beltways? The main flaw in the interstate highway system, from an urbanist perspective, has always been the highways cutting through the historic urban core, which tend to attract traffic just passing through. Houston has those too, but not really any worse than most American cities. Beltways are really great at diverting such traffic away from the urban core. Unfortunately, as cities expand, beltways tend to become part of the urban core, so farther out beltways need to be built to retain their advantages.

Post reply on HN