Good morning!!!!

[lostcreekranch]

I lived in the UK back in the 70’s and split my time between London and Aberdeen.

Aberdeen has many “roondaboots ” and they move traffic much better than traditional intersections with traffic signals. It’s easy to time your entrance, be in the correct lane, and exit smoothly. They become second nature quickly.

The first time I came to a “traffic circle” in the US, I had to think carefully and remember I was back driving on the right side of the road again.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Drew, safe travels. Hope you get over the bridge tunnel safe.

WINDY here. 20 mph with gusts to 50. Good test to see if any weak trees near the power lines.

Eric, probably not a good idea to have a flame anywhere near that pot of chili. Especially after they start eating.

No PT the rest of the week.

Decided to re do the garage door stiffener, so the top piece is under the side pieces. It flexes too much on top, which is how the install diagram shows it. This means cutting the side pieces off a little bit. Will make it better. I connected door to opener, but did not power it up to try it. Will wait for the adjustment.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

They installed a diverging diamond near Manassas, VA. So far so good.

One up in Washington PA. It works. Less traffic lights. Doing something similar here with one large intersection above interstate, instead of lights at each end.

One set of lights, 3 light cycles. Straight, left to enter freeway, lefts from freeway. Opposite left turns pass to the left of each other. Very good system.

 

[wngsprd]

They installed a diverging diamond near Manassas, VA. So far so good.

They put one at Zions near Charlottesville and it works pretty well. Also been converting a few intersections here and in Culpeper to traffic roundabouts. I remember as a kid they would build them in busy places where they wanted to avoid the cost of a full cloverleaf overpass. You knew you'd moved on up when they built a cloverleaf.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

We have lots of roundabouts now, I like them. I also first drove them in the UK. Course it’s too much to expect people to learn how to use proper turn signals in one. That really helps traffic move.

Course I can’t help but sing the song by yes when I see one.

 

[LouNY]

Morning to all,
This is going to be a slow day for me, no field work today well over 3 inches of rain since 6 last night.
Got some wind last night and more today some power outages and trees and limbs down.
Will have to check a lot of fence shortly.

Drew enjoy the traveling,
I had to laugh one time when I went down to Norfolk to visit my son in law.
Driving a Dakota crew cab with an aluminum contractors cap on it, had six heavy clamps holding cap on the pickup but got turned around on the bay bridge tunnel because of the clamps. Swung back to my son in laws got the drill motor out and put in 4 1/4 inch bolts in the bed rail and cap rail and that was good enough to travel the bridge the clamps had much more holding ability but weren't good enough for the bridge authority.

 

[LS Tractor Owner]

Good morning to all! Low of 40 this morning, going up to 74 and sunny. No precipitation forecast for at least a week, but high temps dropping off to around 60 w/ nights in the 20's by Sunday.

Eric, for some reason, I envisioned your area as 'back country roads', no major routes around. Sorry to hear of your traffic jam.

Hope everyone in the path of the "bomb cyclone" fairs out OK. What happened to the typical 'noreaster' that happened every year? Is this just new meteorological hype?

Drew, you might just miss all of that weather.....hope your trip is very pleasurable and uneventful! Be safe, watch for all those other crazy's on the road!

Jay and Thomas, hope you don't get any local flooding from the storm. The weather report out here told of 5-6" of rain in the NE. Hopefully it will miss you and just provide a small bit of useful precip.

They have tried a few traffic circles out here on major roads.... Within a year, they took them out. Too many severe traffic accidents. Now they use small circles and islands in the residential neighborhoods to deter speed and to make it more difficult to use neighborhoods as shortcuts.

Everyone have a great day! Prayers sent for all!

 

[hawkeye08]

50F at 3am, light showers, 5-10mph winds.

My back has been behaving itself since my massage Tuesday morning.. it is nice to get full nights sleep.. well mostly. Woke up this morning at 3am, mind was racing about all the things I need to work on (both work and home).. got up so I didn't disturb my wife's sleep.. fell asleep in easy chair for a few hours.

Lots going on with GM folks,

Stay safe, prayers for those in need.

 

[jbrumberg]

Checking In:

Today’s high occurring after midnight was a wet and windy 53ºF and it is a wet and windy 43ºF presently which might be close to today’s high temperature. Winds are finally dying down. A great morning for hot coffee and oatmeal for breakfast. Most of the Fall color here is now gone thanks to the wind & rain. We have had ~2” of rain recorded at the town’s safety complex. Definitely not the best day to be outside, but a really decent day to do the movie matinee and early bird dinner routine.

This present storm is a textbook example of bombogenesis. A low pressure of 975mb is seen in Category 2 hurricanes. I do not think a drop of 24mb’s in 14 hours has ever been recorded before.

Randy- I am happy that everyone enjoyed your chili.

“… “can’t duplicate at dealer syndrome” Tech saw it this morning, but not since.”- David. I hope that the tech can exorcise your automotive gremlins.

I never thought about disconnecting the battery to allow the electrical system to reboot. A limited toolset kept in the truck makes a lot of sense. It’s almost that time of year to add the jumper cables and my tow straps.

Drew- I wish you a safe road trip.

Eric- I am sorry to read about your highway construction challenges. I am glad you made it home w/o the usual traveling/driving related aches & pains.

“… It's what happens when management prioritizes shareholder profits over public safety.”- RNG Instead of deserved jail time senior management probably will get pay increases and increased stock options. which will then “trickle down” to the politicians.

I never heard of a traffic diamond either. It makes sense. They put a couple of roundabouts in some problem traffic areas in Northampton, MA which does seem to help traffic flow.

“… The first time I came to a “traffic circle” in the US, I had to think carefully and remember I was back driving on the right side of the road again.”- Rick I was similarly challenged after driving in the BVI’s.

Ted- It’s great to see you posting. Our house is ~1400’ elevation. All the local bridges have been either rebuilt or are presently in the process of reconstruction. Flooding is not a real challenge here. The known areas with surface road runoff drainage problems have been pretty much identified and addressed. Some residential driveways will be washed out. It happens to the same driveways all the time and the owners just keep throwing gravel on their challenges. I hope the knee and other assorted aches & pains are manageable and that the housing transitioning is going along as planned.

I hope that everyone is having a decent day.

My + thoughts and prayers.

 

[PJSprog]

38°F and clear skies this morning with some light fog, going up to 61° today. No more rain in the forecast for the weekend now until Monday. This will please The Wife and her ever-expanding honey-do list.

Always a pain to hear about vehicle troubles, David. Intermittent stuff is always the worst. It's a lot easier to find and fix a problem when something is clearly burned up and signal continuity stops or changes there.
The check engine idiot light on my Soul has been coming on for a couple of days, then shutting off. Been doing this for the past month or so. This time it's been on for four or five days. I did some research on OBD-II readers over the last few days, and ordered one on Amazon last night. It should be delivered Friday. When I started the car this morning, naturally, the light was off.

I feel your pain on the dealer service fees, too, David. I don't think I've ever gotten out of the local Kia dealer for under $300.

I've never been a big fan of traffic circles / roundabouts ... although, like BEF, I do enjoy the Yes song. A small city near us, Highland IL, put in several of them over the last couple of years. They do work a little better than the previous 4-way intersections, but only if people are courteous ... which they are not ... which is why the previous intersections didn't work well. There is a large one in the center of downtown Belleville IL (with a large fountain in the middle) which has been there for decades. It's just referred to as "the circle." It's two lanes wide, and actually works well there. As for neighborhood speed / shortcut deterrence, in some neighborhoods in the city of St. Louis, they have simply dropped some large concrete blocks right in the middle of the intersections. Some are round, some are square, and some are just those concrete barriers used on highway medians. Some even have plants in them. You have to drive around them. This was probably much more cost effective than rebuilding the entire intersection.

Safe travels, Drew.