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Had an interesting experience with the closure of the ramp from I90 to I91 southbound due to construction.
For those not familiar with the U.S. Northeast, I90 through Massachusetts is a toll road. The offramps from both the eastbound and westbound lanes merge so one set of tollbooths can handle both, then the ramps split depending on which direction you want to go on the connecting road.
Exit 4 leads onto both I91 and U.S. 5, with I91 taking the left branch of the split (and the ramp later breaking into ramps for northbound and southbound) and U.S. 5 taking the right branch (again, later breaking into northbound and southbound). About a mile or 2 south of I90, there's an interchange where you can go from I91 to U.S. 5, or vice versa.
There was some construction being done which required the closure of the ramp onto I91 southbound, so naturally there was a warning sign - positioned so you could only see it AFTER you had committed to going onto I91, meaning you would have to go northbound even if you wanted to go southbound. Needless to say, at the next offramp from northbound it was a "charlie foxtrot" of vehicles trying to get onto the cross street and then the ramp to the southbound side.
Things would have gone a lot more smoothly if the warning sign had been immediately after the offramps from I90 eastbound and westbound had merged (traffic becomes a single lane, then splits into multiple lanes for the tollbooths) so people wanting to go south on I91 could take the right side tollbooths, go onto U.S. 5 for a mile or so (to the interchange I described earlier), then get onto I91.
Why wouldn't the DOT put the sign warning of ramp closure early enough that people could take the logical alternative route?
For those not familiar with the U.S. Northeast, I90 through Massachusetts is a toll road. The offramps from both the eastbound and westbound lanes merge so one set of tollbooths can handle both, then the ramps split depending on which direction you want to go on the connecting road.
Exit 4 leads onto both I91 and U.S. 5, with I91 taking the left branch of the split (and the ramp later breaking into ramps for northbound and southbound) and U.S. 5 taking the right branch (again, later breaking into northbound and southbound). About a mile or 2 south of I90, there's an interchange where you can go from I91 to U.S. 5, or vice versa.
There was some construction being done which required the closure of the ramp onto I91 southbound, so naturally there was a warning sign - positioned so you could only see it AFTER you had committed to going onto I91, meaning you would have to go northbound even if you wanted to go southbound. Needless to say, at the next offramp from northbound it was a "charlie foxtrot" of vehicles trying to get onto the cross street and then the ramp to the southbound side.
Things would have gone a lot more smoothly if the warning sign had been immediately after the offramps from I90 eastbound and westbound had merged (traffic becomes a single lane, then splits into multiple lanes for the tollbooths) so people wanting to go south on I91 could take the right side tollbooths, go onto U.S. 5 for a mile or so (to the interchange I described earlier), then get onto I91.
Why wouldn't the DOT put the sign warning of ramp closure early enough that people could take the logical alternative route?
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