Beltline blues
by Mike Legeros
- Alex Maness
- Air over there
For my money, the most reliable local groan-generator is the Raleigh Beltline. Twenty-plus miles of multiple lanes, neither well planned nor well marked. Sure, it's just "one big circle," but it's also one long circle, meaning 15 or 20 minutes of drive time before you realize something's wrong. And that's if you're lucky and don't end up in Sanford.
So what might it take to transform the Triangle's premiere transportation suck-zone into a roadway we'd really want to use? One inexpensive solution that involves neither construction nor demolition is signs. Simple highway signs, like the following:
Going To North Raleigh, Downtown Raleigh, Cary, Or Garner? Sorry. We Provide Directions Only To Rocky Mount, Sanford And Wake Forest.
Prepare To Slam Brakes And/Or Rear-End Someone 'Cause There's A Freakin' Stop Sign At The Top Of This Teeny, Tiny Exit Ramp (I-440 west to outbound Capital Blvd.)
Cheat Death By Crossing Four Lanes Of Traffic To Reach U.S. 1 (I-440 east at Capital Blvd.)
Press The Gas And Move Your A--, You've Got A Dedicated Acceleration Lane (Wade Ave. inbound to I-440 east)
Press The Gas And Move Your A--, You've Got A Dedicated Acceleration Lane And It's A Freakin' Half-Mile Long (Capital Blvd. inbound to I-440 west)
Choose One: Rear Ended While Waiting At Back Of Line, Or, Crunched Cutting-In At Front (I-440 west to outbound Wade Ave., rush-hour only)
Confusing As Hell Lane Markings Ahead (I-440 west at Western Blvd.)
Welcome To The I-440 Beltline, An Urban Expressway Tailor-Made To The Traffic Volume Of 20 Years Ago
- To create paragraphs in your comment, type <p> at the start of a paragraph and </p> at the end of each paragraph.
- To create bold text, type <b>bolded text</b> (please note the closing tag, </b>).
- To create italicized text, type <i>italicized text</i> (please note the closing tag, </i>).
- Proper web addresses will automatically become links.
Latest in Front Porch
-
Being the community
In Raleigh's Moore Square and around Main Street in Durham, we ignore people who we assume don't have housing. Rocky and those like him go to Love Wins or the Maurin House to find eye contact, to hear a "good morning," to be a part of their cities.
- May 15, 2013
-
High places
Quietly, by the guidance of our flashlights, we climbed a very long, tight spiral staircase up to the top of the Duke Chapel tower. And not just the bell-tower top, but beyond that.
- May 8, 2013
-
Blade running
There it was, for half price: a snow blade/grader attachment for my almighty DR All-Terrain brush mower. "Who doesn't need one of those?"
- May 1, 2013
- More »
