Welcome To Case's Column
Let me say a big welcome to all of you for joining me here. I'm going to call these blog meetings Case's Column. I wanted to use "Corner", but that was already taken.
Since 2008, it's been a real privilege to come on here and share some of my life with you, and it's a big world where we live.
In these blogs, I'll just speak whatever is on my mind, but we will be playing within the rules here. I may pick a particular topic, point out an event, or shoot the breeze. I'm a little bit of an essayist at times, so I'll just speak what's on my mind, and I might tell a story or two. Or, I might spew out an opinion or three. There will be some serious moments, some tender, some poignant, but there will also be those moments that you'll just bust out laughing. But, hopefully, everything will be in good fun here. And, of course, there's a place below for your comments and thoughts as we go along here. So feel free to join me for the ride -- I sure as heck hope I'm doing this right and not making any mistakes.
Thanks for taking your time in reading Case's Column. Hopefully, you'll enjoy being entertained by it as much as I've enjoyed putting these writings together. And thanks for the time you spend in City-Data.com, where it's great to be alive!
Regards,
case44
Let me say a big welcome to all of you for joining me here. I'm going to call these blog meetings Case's Column. I wanted to use "Corner", but that was already taken.
Since 2008, it's been a real privilege to come on here and share some of my life with you, and it's a big world where we live.In these blogs, I'll just speak whatever is on my mind, but we will be playing within the rules here. I may pick a particular topic, point out an event, or shoot the breeze. I'm a little bit of an essayist at times, so I'll just speak what's on my mind, and I might tell a story or two. Or, I might spew out an opinion or three. There will be some serious moments, some tender, some poignant, but there will also be those moments that you'll just bust out laughing. But, hopefully, everything will be in good fun here. And, of course, there's a place below for your comments and thoughts as we go along here. So feel free to join me for the ride -- I sure as heck hope I'm doing this right and not making any mistakes.
Thanks for taking your time in reading Case's Column. Hopefully, you'll enjoy being entertained by it as much as I've enjoyed putting these writings together. And thanks for the time you spend in City-Data.com, where it's great to be alive!
Regards,
case44
Something To Be Said About Texas Frontage Roads
Posted 11-30-2011 at 06:50 PM by case44
Traffic jams can be common in the many big cities in my lovely home state of Texas. Unlike other states, we have a way to get around serious tie-ups that render the traveler........., dare I say, unmoving.
Most of the freeway miles in our cities and even some smaller towns have what we call frontage roads; in other words, side roads feeding traffic onto the freeways or receiving incoming exiters to allow vehicles to travel to connecting streets. What a concept!
We have many names for them around my state. They're also called feeder roads, service roads, and access roads. They're what make Texas Texas. If you get slowed down by a jam due to road work or an accident, and you have the opportunity to exit and bypass all of that on a frontage road, you sure can. Other states only wish they'd have this concept at their disposal for the benefit of all traffickind. Well, guess what? Y'all don't. Hey, they're also convenient if they're next to a turnpike or tollway and you don't wish to pay a toll.
The freeway frontage road. It's as Texan as football, jalapenos, and armadillos. These things are also life-savers when you just don't have the time to get stuck in a freeway mainlane slowdown. We've got lives to live, you know.
Most of the freeway miles in our cities and even some smaller towns have what we call frontage roads; in other words, side roads feeding traffic onto the freeways or receiving incoming exiters to allow vehicles to travel to connecting streets. What a concept!
We have many names for them around my state. They're also called feeder roads, service roads, and access roads. They're what make Texas Texas. If you get slowed down by a jam due to road work or an accident, and you have the opportunity to exit and bypass all of that on a frontage road, you sure can. Other states only wish they'd have this concept at their disposal for the benefit of all traffickind. Well, guess what? Y'all don't. Hey, they're also convenient if they're next to a turnpike or tollway and you don't wish to pay a toll.The freeway frontage road. It's as Texan as football, jalapenos, and armadillos.
These things are also life-savers when you just don't have the time to get stuck in a freeway mainlane slowdown. We've got lives to live, you know.Total Comments 3
Comments
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They also cause enormous headaches when people don't yield to a person exiting, or when you're the person who has to yield to a stream of roughly 5000 cars all going about 90. They also cause a lot of accidents when poorly engineered, like at an intersectionchange (made up word, but it fits) in SA where a car exiting the freeway and making a right has to cross four lanes of usually heavy frontage road traffic before getting into the right turn lane at the stop light. The people in charge want to correct that, but it'll cost a hefty sum of Ben Franklins.
Every other state has done away with those due to the cost and hassle factor, but I guess they allow for motorists to bypass serious accidents and traffic jams. I'd just as soon get rid of them, and add two to three lanes to the main parts.Posted 12-06-2011 at 01:45 AM by shoe01
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I see a lot of advantages, too, shoe, but you do make a good point about one of the disadvantages of the frontage road. There's also the good, in that you don't have to wait to turn on a side street when you go to your favorite shopping or restaurant hangout with clever entries right off the frontage. That feeder comes in handy!Posted 12-07-2011 at 06:57 PM by case44
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Yeah, I don't want to be such a downer, but things might be worse here in SA because of the quality of drivers (just read the local forum to see the complaints). Drivers here routinely pull out of parking lots within a few feet of oncoming traffic. This is obviously not a good practice on any road type, but is made worse on frontage roads, since people are often driving faster.
I hate to disagree with the great Case, but I don't have a good opinion of frontage roads. Call me un-Texan if you must.Posted 12-08-2011 at 09:34 AM by shoe01
