Ruminations - 9dec2008

George Rebane

In the mood of the times and doing their part, our Board of Supervisors today unanimously declined to take a 2.3% cost of living increase.  Good move.

Roundabout riddles.  The new Grass Valley roundabout under construction at the junction of East Main and Idaho-Maryland is a real head-scratcher.  It is hard to believe that in its current state and design it is already providing a benefit.  Yesterday at the school rush hour the traffic on East Main was stacked up beyond Hughes almost to Sierra College Dr.  Intersections are evaluated according to their service or throughput rate – the average number of vehicles per minute that can pass through the intersection.  That number was known before construction began; but the GV police captain was not able to tell us what today’s number is.  Also puzzling is the presence of two stop signs at the roundabout that still slow things down more than ever.  And someone should explain why the roundabout does not have two lanes for which there is ample room.  A two lane roundabout handles traffic more quickly, and most certainly will let larger vehicles like semi-trailers pass through without outside help.  Finally, turning the wrong way when entering a roundabout seems like a good reason to reconsider the driving privileges of any such pilgrim behind the wheel.

Awakened by the news of Illinois Governor Blagojevich arrested by federal agents, Jo Ann and I looked at each other and breathed a sigh of relief.  In that most corrupt of states, Chicago is possibly the most corrupt metropolitan region we have to offer.  And to think that we as a country were so fortunate as to pluck the only squeaky clean politician from that cesspool as our next president.  My, my, my.

Comments

[Russ]

When I used the roundabout, there were a lot of cones that restricted the flow. Are those cones gone, it the area clear for vehicles to move in the bypass lanes. That was not the case when I was there a couple of days ago. The roundabouts in Truckee are working very well once the driver got a little training. We are just entering the training phase.

[George Rebane]

Good point. To show you how little I know, I never thought that each roundabout required training.