Talk:Contraflow lane reversal

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[edit] British Use of the word

No mention of the British usage of the word, in particular, the way in which traffic is diverted to the opposing side of a motorway in order to close lanes, or even an entire side of the carriageway, for maintenance. Could some add this; I don't feel capable of a sufficiently clear explanation. 128.232.250.254 16:55, 13 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Freeways and expressways

Freeways (usually 4 lanes or more) that are undergoing reconstruction reduce both sides to one lane. In some cases, they will shift traffic onto one half making it a temporary two-lane freeway corridor. An example of this can be found here on Google Earth on Interstate 10 in Arizona (eastbound traffic is reduced to one lane and shifted onto the westbound half of the road). Another technique used is treating the rightmost hard shoulder as a travel lane. In the case of 6-lane freeways (3 in each direction), the third lane is often kept for the busier direction or the shoulder is opened up to allow for 4 lanes of traffic, but with little or no shoulder space (emergency breakdown areas are sometimes added, however). Usually, merge ramps on freeways, expressways and uncontrolled roads with interchanges have temporary "YIELD" or "STOP" signs for these situations.

A prominent example of a freeway contraflow in progress can be found at the Woodrow Wilson Bridge in Washington, DC. While construction is in progress on a parallel twin span, the recently-completed first span accommodates both directions (three lanes each way)." BBnet3000 02:01, 10 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] This article is in bad shape

No-one is monitoring this page as most of the states (unsourced) claims to have invented the concept. Usually in the past three years. I'm pretty sure that contraflow has been employed for emergency purposes since basically freeways were invented. It really should be started over from scratch. Does it really matter what every states plans are? -- KelleyCook 16:49, 11 June 2007 (UTC)

I rewrote the hurricane evacuation section from scratch, hopefully simplifying it, while adding links to the websites with the info on each states' plans. If there are non-US examples, I wasn't able to track any down with Google. Lordsutch 10:17, 18 August 2007 (UTC)
My earliest memories of contraflow traffic is from people talking about its use in their coastal evacuation of Hurricane Carla in 1961, so I doubt the concept was invented in 1980's as the article states. In addition Contraflow lane reversal has been used on I-35W in Fort Worth near the Texas Motor Speedway to facilitate traffic leaving following a large event. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.123.218.243 (talk) 08:07, 20 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Added globalize/USA tag...

...for basically the same reasons given by the anon editor of the "British Use of the word" section above. Contraflow as a temporary but non-emergency measure (ie planned in advance) is very common in motorway roadworks here in the UK, yet most of this article deals only with it in the US emergency sense. Even the "Highway reconstruction" section deals almost exclusively with the US. As it stands, the B-class rating for the U.S. Interstate Highways WikiProject is absolutely not lived up to for anywhere outside America. Hence that globalize/USA tag. Loganberry (Talk) 22:27, 17 August 2007 (UTC)

I took a crack at balancing the article out by improving the lede to note the UK and US usages of the term and promoting the reconstruction section to co-equal status with the emergency evacuation material. Not perfect but I think it's better. Lordsutch 09:07, 18 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Article title

Doesn't "contraflow" imply "revers[ed]"? If the article is not going to talk about reversible lanes that change direction regularly, how about moving it to "Roadway reversal" or something else that distinguishes it from them? Jason McHuff 07:52, 25 October 2007 (UTC)

(Comment from WT:USRD) Uh, contraflow lane reversal is the official name of it (see FDOT), especially referring to emergency reversal. Contraflow is generally temporary (though KDOT will use contraflow for about a year on a freeway while the other carriageway is torn out and replaced.) Express lanes and reversible HOV lanes are permanent structures that serve a different purpose. —Scott5114↗ 22:45, 25 October 2007 (UTC)
Perhaps I'm misunderstanding the question so early in the morning, but "contraflow" is a recognisable civil engineering term which I would recommend keeping within the article's name. --Bossi (talk • gallery • contrib) 12:18, 25 October 2007 (UTC)
I believe it is commonly referred to as "contraflow lane reversal," in the U.S. at least, even if it is a bit redundant. And you could have "contraflow" without "lane reversal," if there are lanes on the roadway that normally flow in the opposite direction of traffic (e.g. a contraflow bus, HOV, or cycle lane). Lordsutch 01:33, 26 October 2007 (UTC)
First of all, the FDOT link that Scott gave does not include either the words "lane" or "reversal". As for "contraflow", I agree that it is a real, used term. As for "contraflow lane reversal", a Google search of the phrase only brings back a few instances excluding those that are either based on the title of this Wikipedia article or are in the form of "contraflow (lane reversal)", where the () part serves as a description.
Overall, my issue is that, in terms of Wikipedia, I think it would be best if the subject of reversing a lane's direction of travel was divided based on whether the lane is part of a less-controlled surface street (and divided from oncoming traffic by a painted line) or part of a freeway (and separated from other traffic by barriers/median). I see a "mass transit" section has cropped up in this article, which, I think, is outside of the scope.
Again, my idea is as follows:
  • local-express lanes: Kept as is. Describes only roadways, mainly freeways, that have 4 individual roadways in a local-express-express-local configuration, allowing traffic in both directions to use the express lanes at the same time at without changes of lane direction. Could also include New Jersey Turnpike's car lanes/bus-truck lanes setup.
  • Reversible lane: Kept mainly as is, some info moved to New Article. Describes all instances of lanes on surface streets whose direction of travel is changed, even if the change is permanent (like with some bus lanes).
  • Express lanes: Moved to NewArticle. As needed, move content relevant to the local-express lanes article to that article
  • NewArticle, tentatively at Reversible roadway or contraflow: Describes all instances of changing the direction of travel of freeway lanes, including for rush hour (usually a third roadway, sometimes restricted to HOVs), evacuation and closing a roadway for construction. Jason McHuff 07:40, 26 October 2007 (UTC)

Would contraflow evacuation be a good name? --NE2 14:11, 26 October 2007 (UTC)

That covers the US sense of "contraflow." We'd need a separate article for the British sense. Lordsutch 22:25, 26 October 2007 (UTC)
Why? Do Brits do contraflow evacuation differently? --NE2 23:24, 26 October 2007 (UTC)
Oh, I see; the article also talks about construction. That's not a British sense though. --NE2 05:54, 27 October 2007 (UTC)
No, the article should, I think, cover all instances of reversing a freeway (even just a third carriageway), not just for evacuation purposes. And I think that Reversible lane would be too big if it had to cover the contents of Express lane and other stuff. Jason McHuff 08:37, 29 October 2007 (UTC)