Link to article here.

Gas prices reach new record high

By John F. Carr
The Newspaper.com
04/07/21

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) is proposing changes to stop sign rules in the document that regulates these devices, known as the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD). Based on a report which found all way stop signs are almost never justified, FHWA will create more of them. (View the introduction to this series.)

The rules reflect a naive view of the life of a city traffic engineer. Instead of serving the public too many of them are looking to please their bosses. My town hired a consultant who told them to ignore the MUTCD when it said the stop signs residents wanted weren't needed. If they aren't outright breaking the law they are looking to find any loophole to exploit.

So it's a big problem that the rules allow all-way stop signs "where pedestrian and/or bicycle movements justify the installation of all-way stop control." There is no further guidance. For cars there are specific numbers, but even one pedestrian is enough. Every intersection on every road where pedestrians or bicycles are allowed, or might be found, can have all-way stop signs.

Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?

The accident threshold for posting all-way stop signs for safety concerns has been lowered from five per year to two per year, which will at least double the number of places they can be posted. Want more?

The way the new rules are worded, stop signs are expected to be posted. Under the old rules stop or yield signs should be posted when needed. Now rules call for engineers to review every uncontrolled intersection and add signs unless it can be proved to be safe without them. My shared driveway is technically a private road subject to the new MUTCD. The fork in the driveway is an intersection. I'm supposed to hire an engineer to tell me my driveway doesn't need stop signs. If I can find one with good insurance. You get sued for not having stop signs, not for having them where they don't belong.

All-way stop signs can also be posted anywhere there is alleged to be deficient sight distance even if there is no safety problem. Here is how it works in practice. City councilors in Waltham, Massachusetts, started ordering stop signs posted where they didn't belong. City engineers were told to find excuses to keep them. They claimed 93 percent of intersections where councilors wanted signs had inadequate sight distance. The councilors were not geniuses. The report was a fraud. I checked the measurements. Sight distance was adequate from where a driver would look for traffic before pulling out. Evidently the city engineers did something like measuring from where the second car back would be, which obviously makes it harder to see. The writers of the rule didn't think to prohibit creative mismeasurement. Great loophole anywhere outside of a corn field in winter.

Under the old rules stop signs were used at busy intersections to equalize traffic flow, but only if an engineer measured long delays on side streets. Under the new rules there is no need to observe traffic operations. If there are 500 vehicles per hour you can drop four stop signs on an intersection that has neither accidents nor traffic jams. Why would you do that? Because the neighbors asked for them.

There is some good news. The new rules flatly prohibit using stop and yield signs for speed control. Think anybody will pay attention?

To reword an old saying: Never attribute to malice what can be explained by mistake. Maybe the people who wrote the stop sign rules made a mistake by assuming good faith on the part of local officials. I'll review the speed limit changes next. For those there is no other explanation but malice.

Read and comment on the proposed rule, or view the first part of this series.

Source: MUTCD Stop Sign Provisions (US Department of Transportation, 4/3/2021)

Link to article here.

The speed camera nightmare that's coming to America

Link to article here.

The Era of ‘the Car You Own Forever’ Is Coming to an End

By Mike Spinelli
April 29, 2022
MSN.com

You’ve heard the stories: Irv Gordon’s three-million-mile Volvo; Rachel Veitch had the oil in her Mercury Comet changed every 3,000 miles since 1964; a 102-year-old man drove the same car for 82 years. In the car world, we think of these rare owners as moral heroes. Whatever their reason—sentimentality? Yankee thrift? Obsessive compulsion?—they’ve sacrificed the novelty of the new for a durable relationship. They’ve won a marathon most of us don’t bother running.

I’ve been thinking a lot about long-haul car owners as we race toward a technology inflection that will upend the more than a century-old custom of car ownership. Rather than maintain their vehicles lovingly over decades, the Rachel Veitchs and Irv Gordons of the not-so-distant future—if any might still exist—will be compelled to trade them in for reasons that would have read like science fiction to car buyers of the past. 

In essence, it won’t make sense to form a bond with a vehicle that’s not really yours and runs on software someone else controls.

Link to article here.

November 2021 General Election

Abbott, state leadership fail to protect drivers from fees increases, more road debt

Link to article here.

The Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority is the leader in building transportation systems in Travis and Williamson counties. Many Central Texans know of the authority’s role in building toll roads — such as 183-A and U.S. 290 East — and issuing toll tags, but are unaware of its functions beyond that. Here are some facts to know:

An independent government agency: The CTRMA was established in 2002, following passage of state law in 2001. It has no taxing authority but does have condemnation power. For fiscal year 2015, the mobility authority’s operating revenue totaled $55,814,033; expenses were $38,135,309. Since its inception, CTRMA’s assets have grown from zero to $1.8 billion. To finance toll road construction, expansion of traffic lanes on existing roads or other projects aimed at improving transportation, the agency raises most of its income — 70 percent — from the private sector by selling investment bonds on the stock market. The debt is repaid primarily through income from tolls. The remaining 30 percent comes from public sources, primarily the Texas Department of Transportation.

Offers free roadside assistance and travel apps: The authority runs the Highway Emergency Response Operator, called HERO, for stranded motorists along U.S. 183 and Interstate 35, which helps keep traffic moving. In 2015, HERO assisted 14,480 stranded motorists, doing things such as removing debris from travel lanes and relocating disabled vehicles to safety to changing tires and delivering water to stranded motorists while they waited for tow trucks.

Metropia is a smartphone app to alleviate traffic congestion by incentivizing users to make trips at off-peak times. The agency also has a ridesharing app, CARMA, which connects drivers with similar commutes.

Pays its executive director more than the Texas Department of Transportation chief earns: The CTRMA governing board approved a 2016 compensation package of $366,112 for agency chief Mike Heiligenstein. That includes a base salary of $274,912, deferred compensation of $45,000, annual life insurance premiums of $3,000 and a monthly car allowance of $850. In all, the agency has 21 employees. The board used a national salary survey by consultant BDO to help determine Heiligenstein’s compensation. Heiligenstein has been with the agency since it began.

By contrast, the executive director of the Texas Department of Transportation earns a salary of $299,812, but receives no additional compensation, according to a department spokesperson. The agency has 11,775 full-time employees.

Responsible for the MoPac Improvement Project: The traffic nightmare will continue through most of this year on North MoPac Boulevard. The project, which adds a toll lane along the inside median on each side of the highway from West Cesar Chavez Street to Parmer Lane, was supposed to be completed last year. Relief starts in June, when a section of the northbound lane is expected to open. All lanes are expected to open in late November. Costs total $200 million for the entire 11-mile project. The project’s express toll lanes, open to all commuters by December, are expected to steer drivers and buses clear of congestion on MoPac’s regular lanes, which will continue as free lanes.

Lawmakers leave without giving drivers toll tax relief

On Tuesday, a commuter posted a photo on Twitter showing the toll road nearly reaching $50!

The amount has hit the wallets hard for solo drivers traveling the nine-mile stretch between Interstate 495 and Route 29 in Rosslyn. Those who carpool are able to use the Express Lanes for free. Single drivers have to pay the toll Monday through Friday from 5:30 to 9:30 a.m. in the eastbound direction, and from 3 to 7 p.m. in the westbound direction.

Link to article here.

Commentary: Mega Transit Agency in Valley Can’t Fix What’s Wrong with Transit Failures

The Texas Legislature needs to ‘Just Say No’ to creating a new Regional Transit Authority.

Frustrated by our lack of progress on limited-government, conservative principles in this session of the Texas Legislature?

When you see which transportation bills are moving over others, it’s hard to fathom how a bill to create a massive new transit bureaucracy that can issue bonds, charge tolls, and do no-bid contracts of all sorts takes precedence over things like reforming a toll collection system that’s financially ruining millions of Texas drivers.

There’s been plenty of bad press surrounding the failure of transit both nationally and in Texas, so the legislature needs to ‘Just Say No’ to creating a new Regional Transit Authority as proposed in House Bill 71 (Martinez) and Senate Bill 1721 (Lucio).