cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/15424245
A highway camera photo shows traffic in FortMcMurray jammed in the southbound lane of Highway 63 on the north side of the Athabasca River. The image was captured at 3:11 p.m. MT, about an hour after an evacuation order was issued for four neighbourhoods. (511 Alberta)
Evacuation order issued as wildfire threatening Fort McMurray draws closer https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/alberta-wildfire-grande-prairie-fort-mcmurray-1.7203695
why not open up the other side of the highway, the side where there are no cars, to accommodate the traffic?
This is definitely strange to me, but they might not be equipped to handle this. Here in Texas, as you go closer to the gulf coast/Houston, you'll see hurricane markers on the side of the highways to indicate it's an evacuation path. Both sides are turned into north/west flow for throughput. I imagine that comes with traffic coordination to keep normal traffic flow to the access roads
"Just need one more lane, that'll fix it"
Also you can barely see one car coming in the other way. They didn't get the memo.
In an evacuation scenario, more lanes would be better.
Not necessarily a good or safe idea to use the oncoming traffic lanes, but it could be worth considering.
are there any actual sources that adding more lanes does more harm than good? People bitch about it all the time and i always hear the "one more lane" joke going around, but I've never actually seen any papers or articles about it. Just pictures of large highways with traffic jams.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Braess%27s_paradox
Cool, thanks!