[landcruiser123]

Dear All,
LA has got the worst traffic in the USA according to many surveys and reports.

From my observations limited within the Downtown area, traffic is actually way more disciplined than back at home. (Bangalore, KA) This is, however a purely Indian perspective.

I;ve found the system to turn left intriguing. Here's a picture of LA's lane system to turn left:


I've never driven here, but I've heard that this system is a pain. Anyway, three rights make a left.

I read more about this system and accidentally happened to stumble upon this: Contraflow lane reversal.

Images to explain the concept:

Credits: http://www.cs.utexas.edu/~aim/papers...hausknecht.pdf Follow the link to read about a study on the system


Credits: Wikipedia

We do implement it at toll booths at our highways, but can it be done in roads with one way congestion?

Example: Bangalore's ORR.

When all people are returning from office form 1700 hrs, there's heavy traffic if you're heading towards BTM/Jayadeva signal. Will implementation of a system like this from 1700 hrs to 2000 hrs be beneficial and feasible?

Note: The problem of congestion is prevalent in every city. I've just taken Bangalore as an example.

[Samurai]

This entire scheme depends on people following lane system. So it becomes a moot point in India. Here you just have to remove the road divider, and it will instantly become Contraflow lane system.

Example, traffic pattern at any railway crossing in Bangalore. Heavier traffic side almost always occupies almost every lane.

[GTO]

Thread moved from the Assembly Line to Street Experiences. Thanks for sharing!

Mumbai RTO already does this. E.g. Rush hour traffic on Peddar Road will see one lane taken from the opposite side to ease congestion.

A major problem with this is the danger to pedestrians. Once on the center divider, we look for traffic only on one side. A couple of years back, my driver was driving in a temporarily reversed lane on Peddar Road. Girl waiting on the divider didn't even look in his direction and jumped right in front of him.

[libranof1987]

This is a common practice in Pune at a couple of places. However, the biggest challenge to this workaround is at junctions: the reverse lane gets stuck whenever someone (on the correct side of the road going in the same direction) wants to take a U/right turn. In Hinjawadi (the ORR equivalent in Pune), they only allow two-wheelers in two files in the reverse lane; although in some other areas, I've seen police allow passenger cars as well.

I doubt it would work so well on ORR given the many no. of intersections

[hemanth.anand]

Contraflow lane reversal is called Contraflow lane reversal when it is used in a emergency situation and not when used as a solution for rush hour traffic.
But for now, let's ignore that.

But even if we ignore, there are many problems associated with it especially in Bangalore where people illegally follow Contraflow lane reversal

Kolkata city changes traffic directions based on rush hour.
Not just taking one lane, but the entire road on one-way will change directions.

IIRC it is generally 08:00 to 14:00 in one direction, then 14:00 to 21:00 hrs in the opposite direction, 21:00 to 8:00 in both directions.
Then Sundays are exceptions on some roads which add more complexities.

Apart form the problems that GTO and libranof1987 have mentioned, I found out that its tough for the GPS systems to give a route.
As a visitor to the city, I found this really hard to navigate through the city.
I do not know how the locals are comfortable with it.

[dark.knight]

As GTO said, a sort of the same system is being followed in some parts in Mumbai. All these moves might've been effective earlier in Bangalore but not today.

Bangalore lacks skilful drivers, they have neither the discipline nor the ability to gauge how to drive legally. Going by that a perpetual self-enforced "contraflow" "lane-reversal" always happens on every road in Bangalore. The biggest example would be service roads where its legal to go any direction, make abrupt turns into the main roads, park the vehicle, dance etc.. anything goes depending on where the majority of the flow is headed to. Most one-ways are violated by two-wheeler riders and autos on a daily basis as they know that there won't be cops around.

A BIG difference between Mumbai and Bangalore is that while Mumbai has straight roads (the city is relatively one big straight, check out the route from Dadar to Borivili of about 40km), Bangalore is a circular city and one has to often find himself/herself going in circles to reach a destination (eg the 2 ends of Bangalore Electronics City to New Airport has a route shaped like a C over 40 odd km). As a result Bangalore has very narrow roads and most of them end within 300-400 meters before another turn. Given the propensity of the motorists to jump the median, ride over the median and push aside median barriers to cross the road, the government has made 3-4 feet wide permanent medians on most major roads.. there goes the flexibility too. For Bangalore the term should be keep-it-simple.. no signboards, no varying rules and little policing. For now I'd just appreciate the local authorities if they just stop blasting cable pits on every road possible.

EDIT : The ORR has become way too complex, flyovers, single lane beside flyovers and errant crossing as it is. Also the volume of traffic either way is about equal for the most part thanks to many choosing to head towards Old Airport Road as well.. any mention of lane reversal and we'd have a total gridlock in our hands unless heavily policed. We need a concrete "no lane changing" rule first to make this effective.

[msdivy]

Originally Posted by landcruiser123

Example: Bangalore's ORR.

As of June 2016, traffic in both the directions in ORR and its service roads are jammed during peak hours. Where to send the excess traffic?

PS: I have seen people follow 'contraflow lane reversal' on highways when there is an accident (just switch on the headlights and get into other side ). Sometimes, BTP also sends ambulance in opposite direction if there is long red signal.

[hemanth.anand]

Originally Posted by dark.knight

Going by that a perpetual self-enforced "contraflow" "lane-reversal" always happens on every road in Bangalore. The biggest example would be service roads where its legal to go any direction, make abrupt turns into the main roads, park the vehicle, dance etc.. anything goes depending on where the majority of the flow is headed to.

Service roads ar 2-way roads all over the country. Its called service roads for a reason.
It should provide access to shops, homes, and small business that are ilocated just beside an access controlled/High-speed road.
if it is not a 2-way, there is no use having it. Of course the other antics that you've mentioned is not allowed

Take a look at this 3 year old article 2-way traffic signboards to come up on service roadsQuoting a small relevant part of it...

The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) will put up signboards along the service roads soon, indicating that the traffic on these roads is two-way and not one-way.

City commuters are under the impression that the traffic on the service roads is one-way.

NHAI officials said that the decision to make service roads one-way was taken during the time of the construction of the flyovers and underpasses in the city. However, ever after the completion of the road-widening project, motorists continue to follow the one-way norm, despite the fact that service roads have been painted with arrows directing two-way traffic on the stretch.

NHAI officials said that they would be putting up more signboards on the service road to spread awareness among people.

I'm not a big fan of this service road concept too but a service road is a 2-way nevertheless. If all people follow lane discipline, majority of the problems will get solved automatically.

Till then all these legal Contraflow lane reversal will not work here!

[itwasntme]

Originally Posted by hemanth.anand

Kolkata city changes traffic directions based on rush hour.
Not just taking one lane, but the entire road on one-way will change directions.

IIRC it is generally 08:00 to 14:00 in one direction, then 14:00 to 21:00 hrs in the opposite direction, 21:00 to 8:00 in both directions.
Then Sundays are exceptions on some roads which add more complexities.

Apart form the problems that GTO and libranof1987 have mentioned, I found out that its tough for the GPS systems to give a route.
As a visitor to the city, I found this really hard to navigate through the city.
I do not know how the locals are comfortable with it.

Actually it is now 0700 to 1300 & 1300 to 2200 when the entire CBD reverses its flow.

On Sundays some of the major roads continue to follow this. In my experience as a ex-native and frequent business visitor, it works well and locals are largely comfortable.

Policing is also far more stringent and visible than BLR CBD at least. What swamps Kolkata CBD traffic is the sheer volume of it!

The changeover is also (relatively) smooth with all roads becoming both ways between 1255 & 1310

http://www.kolkatatrafficpolice.gov.in/oneway.htm

[sai_ace]

What about moving the median appropriately to widen the lanes during the rush hours?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barrier_transfer_machine

[libranof1987]

Originally Posted by sai_ace

What about moving the median appropriately to widen the lanes during the rush hours?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barrier_transfer_machine

This was introduced around Jan '15 at the Golden Gate bridge; IIRC, it cost a good amount of money. This can be a feasible solution in regions where discipline and road safety are paramount and more importantly, followed. Fairly pointless in our country, don't you think?

[Dry Ice]

Talk about timing! This is what I captured this morning.

Watch with annotations - I have added some at specific points in the video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQUz9MnQQEQ