Poorly designed chicken coop

[wolfie]

Note: no poultry involved here - "chicken coop" is CB slang for a scalehouse/inspection station.

Where I95 out of Baltimore meets I495 in Maryland, the "powers that be" figured that they could have one inspection station "service" trucks coming from all 3 directions (southbound on 95, clockwise on 495, and counterclockwise on 495). Ramps from all 3 highways funnel trucks into a single lane. After the inspection, ramps take trucks back to their choice of the 3 highways (northbound on 95, or either direction on 495).

The problem comes with getting INTO and OUT OF the actual inspection station. Instead of being a "straight through", with a pulloff for those selected for further scrutiny, it's on a loop to the left. What this means is that all the trucks coming in for inspection need to change lanes to the left, at the same time that all the trucks which have been inspected need to change lanes to the right. In other words, 2 solid streams of trucks have to cross over each other to swap lanes.

[Aethian]

I've seen one handle two highways before but I can just see the handling of three was a very stupid idea concocted by someone proving their paycheck.

[Catwoman2965]

That whole area is a clusterf*ck to begin with. Which is why on my drive from NJ to my mom's in VA I go west, through PA down 81, 270, etc. to 495 and pick up 95 there. It minimizes the idiocy I have to deal with, and now that some of the construction on 495 is FINALLY finished, its better still.

[sms001]

Note: no poultry involved here

Bummer. Came in to brag about my own awesome coop building skills.

Since this fiasco is fairly near my old stomping grounds of Beltsville, I went and had a looksey. Just plain dumb. And they COULD have done it correctly in the footprint they had. Of course, the key factor here is that it is located inside the Beltway, so common sense was contraindicated....

[wolfie]

(Mentally translating from "worm's eye view" to "bird's eye view") - Yep, that's the one. If they'd done it as a couple of "S" curves, taking the traffic THROUGH the coop (which didn't even have a permanent scale), they'd have avoided the need for 2 solid streams of traffic to swap lanes. Sure, the "singled out for extra attention" people would have needed to merge back in, but that's a small proportion of the total traffic. As you said, it's located in the "sanity-free zone", so they CAN'T have a good design.

As an aside, from one of my drops the easiest way to get back on 495 (heading to my backhaul) was to take SR4 for around a block (literally - from the intersection I got on at, the ramp to 495 southbound was the next exit). What's the significance of that? Simple - I was driving an out-of-country 18 wheeler on Pennsylvania Avenue inside the Beltway. True, I didn't get anywhere NEAR the building that got its name when it was painted to hide the smoke stains it acquired during the War of 1812, and I was heading away from it, but just the thought of what I was doing.

[PepperElf]

Note: no poultry involved here - "chicken coop" is CB slang for a scalehouse/inspection station.

ahhhh. i was having a mental image of a truck hauling chickens and the coop breaking open spilling birds all along a highway.

[wolfie]

ahhhh. i was having a mental image of a truck hauling chickens and the coop breaking open spilling birds all along a highway.

Like in "Wolf Creek Pass" by C.W. McCall? The guys in that song misjudged their clearance and knocked off a couple layers of cages.

[sms001]

Like in "Wolf Creek Pass" by C.W. McCall? The guys in that song misjudged their clearance and knocked off a couple layers of cages.

Well, I don't know about "misjudged" so much - doesn't seem like they had much choice.

"Sign says clearance to the twelve-foot line, but the chickens was stacked to thirteen-nine. Well we shot that tunnel at a hundred-and-ten, like gas through a funnel and eggs through a hen, "



I had to google it (C&W I assume?) but am darn glad I did - hilarious! Thanks wolfie.

[AccountingDrone]

ahhhh. i was having a mental image of a truck hauling chickens and the coop breaking open spilling birds all along a highway.

Seen that

Rob and I were driving down the DelMAr peninsula headed back home to Tidewater when we saw a dead chicken on the shoulder of the road. Little while later, there was another. And another, and then a couple This went on for about 20 miles, until they took a right turn into the Perdu plant

We guessed that a few crates had been broken or something and periodically a chicken would get sucked out at 60 miles an hour and SPLAT!

[InsanityInc]

Simple - I was driving an out-of-country 18 wheeler on Pennsylvania Avenue inside the Beltway. True, I didn't get anywhere NEAR the building that got its name when it was painted to hide the smoke stains it acquired during the War of 1812, and I was heading away from it, but just the thought of what I was doing.

Got one almost as bad as that. The MONTH after 9/11, got stuck going on the wrong deck of the George Washington Bridge. I then learned that they had a squad from the National Guard stationed there. Armed, and not really happy to see me and my Freight shaker where I shouldn't have been. It marks the only time in my life I have ever been held at gunpoint. Fortunately, I was not the only really unhappy driver there, and they had worked out what to do with us, but after that I avoided the GWB like the plague.