Here is a little something for you Civil Engineers and Road "Architects". Transportation and infrastructure in the modern world advances everyday. We see examples while driving, flying, and even biking around our cities, towns, and villages. Keeping traffic to a minimum for CE's is as vital as CAD to an architect. Civil engineers attempt to fix this problem not only on roads and boulevards, but also interstates and their winding ramps. Read more on what a diverging diamond interchange is.
As you may have seen on your own metropolitan area's on and off ramps, there can be backup. Some days this is minimal, while others, it can be miserable. One method of transforming an interstate interchange to optimize vehicle speed efficiency is the new "Diverging Diamond Interchange". Already being used in Missouri, this interchange accommodates left-turning movements at signalized, grade-separated interchanges of arterial and limited-access highways while eliminating the need for left-turn phasing.
On the arterial, traffic crosses over to the left side of the roadway between the nodes of the interchange. Two-phase traffic signals are installed at the crossovers. Once on the left side of the arterial roadway, vehicles can turn left onto limited-access ramps without stopping and without conflicting with through traffic. The idea is simply revolutionary in the modern transportation world. A picture below explicates the system from a bird's eye view.
In the picture above, the grey parallel stripes represent the interstate, while the red and blue lines are the road with traffic signals. Most systems needed 4 traffic lights prior to the change, this plan only requires 2. The video below shows another aerial view, but this is a real interchange using this system. This is a better explanation for visual/ kinetic learners.
Please leave comments and thoughts on what you think about the Diverging Diamond Interchange idea. I personally believe the pros outweigh the cons, it is easier to drive through than it looks. Trying to explain the system in words is almost impossible for most people to understand, so hopefully the picture and video did it for you. I want to hear feedback from not only Civil Engineers, but anyone who has driven in traffic before (99% of the USA).
I hope you enjoyed reading more on what a diverging diamond interchange is. Furthermore, please leave your thoughts and comments below. Finally, read some other articles like this one on our frontpage. Like us on Facebook and Follow us on Twitter, also Instagram.
My city is going to be implementing one of these exchanges in the next couple of years. Having never heard of it I'm very glad I came out to your sight. What looks complicated at first is actually a very simple, efficient way to move traffic.