Petition to remove the medians!!

8,503 Views | 67 Replies | Last: 1 yr ago by Steampunk-Kangaroo
taxpreparer
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trgt said:

AggiePhil said:

jkje said:

Saw an ambulance stuck behind a line of cars earlier today.
Shouldn't happen often. All the ones in town have Opticom systems that turn the traffic light green in the direction they're headed.


I wish we had driver education matching what you can find in parts of Europe. It's normal there to pull to the outsides of the road in stopped traffic for emergency vehicles to have a path.


Yes, but when you trapped in traffic with curbs and medians, there is no where to pull over.
AggiePhil
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taxpreparer said:

trgt said:

AggiePhil said:

jkje said:

Saw an ambulance stuck behind a line of cars earlier today.
Shouldn't happen often. All the ones in town have Opticom systems that turn the traffic light green in the direction they're headed.


I wish we had driver education matching what you can find in parts of Europe. It's normal there to pull to the outsides of the road in stopped traffic for emergency vehicles to have a path.


Yes, but when you trapped in traffic with curbs and medians, there is no where to pull over.

That's why they turn the lights green.
Roxie146
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And today I saw a disabled adult - walking with a walker and who had a below the knee amputation with a prosthetic- crossing Texas Avenue at an intersection blocked by a median. To get across the street he had to lift his walker and hobble across the median almost falling. He was at an intersection - I suppose TXDOT thinks it is appropriate to force him to walk 2 more blocks to cross at a open crossing just to walk back down another 2 blocks to catch the bus.

Stupidity.


shades of covid and what we did to the elderly in nursing homes - unintended consequences of "safety"

WheelinAg
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Yesterday, an older gentlemen in front of me was confused and turned into oncoming traffic. He had his blinker on to turn left, pulled out straight, saw the median, stopped, and then turned left. I'm hoping he eventually figured out what was going on and turned onto a side street. I thought about chasing him as he disappeared around the bend, but that definitely would have just added to the problems.
etmydst
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So that I understand, you want that person to cross five lanes of Texas Ave traffic at a location without a traffic signal?
MedianEnjoyer2023
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Edit-nevermind
Roxie146
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In a perfect world we would not have to have traffic signals to protect pedestrians.

We don't live in a perfect world.


It is hard enough for the disabled to move around with all the impediments we place in front of them - these medians are an unintended impediment.
MedianEnjoyer2023
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Roxie146 said:

And today I saw a disabled adult - walking with a walker and who had a below the knee amputation with a prosthetic- crossing Texas Avenue at an intersection blocked by a median. To get across the street he had to lift his walker and hobble across the median almost falling. He was at an intersection - I suppose TXDOT thinks it is appropriate to force him to walk 2 more blocks to cross at a open crossing just to walk back down another 2 blocks to catch the bus.

Stupidity.


shades of covid and what we did to the elderly in nursing homes - unintended consequences of "safety"




Which intersection has a concrete median blocking a pedestrian crossing?
robcovol
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The motto of TXDOT: "It ain't broke, but we're going to fix it."
trouble
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Even in a perfect world, no one should be trying to cross without a signal on a street with a speed limit of 40 mph. That's just dangerous.
motherrunnersBCS
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Lots of places have lost the intersection/ability to cross Texas Ave. Look at Brookside and Inwood. For someone to leave Brookside by car and get to Garden Acres or Inwood, they now have to turn right to get to Rosemary to make a U turn. To get back to Brookside, they have to make a right on Texas and then make a U turn at North/Broadmoor (a wonky intersection that does not line up) or make a U turn at Villa Maria and Texas. And then drive back to Brookside.

If you are a handicapped individual, I guess you go down to Rosemary both ways. I wish the money that was spent on medians had been spent on sidewalks. Texas Ave could use better sidewalks, 29th street could use more sidewalks - it seems like the sidewalk project on 29th street has been abandoned.
MedianEnjoyer2023
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We definitely do need both. Medians solve the immediate issues with car crashes but the area is still too car centric. I like what they're planning for William J Bryan with the tighter lanes to slow down traffic and the offset protected sidewalks to protect runners, cyclists, and pedestrians.
doubledog
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When I saw them "demoing" the median on south Texas at University, I thought the OPs wishes were coming true... Then I saw they were delivering more bricks to the site. I am afraid the medians will expand until they take over the city.

FYI there is new stop light at Texas AVE and Mitchell Street in Bryan. See Bryan (TxDOT) knows how to slow traffic too! Less stop lights more medians !!!
trouble
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That light is much more logical than the one it replaced at Oak
BiochemAg97
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doubledog said:

When I saw them "demoing" the median on south Texas at University, I thought the OPs wishes were coming true... Then I saw they were delivering more bricks to the site. I am afraid the medians will expand until they take over the city.

FYI there is new stop light at Texas AVE and Mitchell Street in Bryan. See Bryan (TxDOT) knows how to slow traffic too! Less stop lights more medians !!!


Anyone know why the tear out and replace of the medians at Texas&University. Only thing I could think of is to extend the left turn lane onto University and possibly extend through the live oak intersection.
trouble
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That's what it looked like last night
Bob Yancy
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TxDot is closing off the break in the median at Live Oak street just south of Denny's on Texas Avenue. They state that queue'ing traffic (traffic engineers word for "backed
up at the light") from the light at University and Texas covers that median opening routinely. So when someone southbound on Texas stops to wait for an opening to turn left onto Live Oak, it causes problems. First, people hanging a left from University onto Texas immediately encounter a stopped car(s) causing a backup- potentially into the intersection and secondly; Texas avenue northbound travelers trying to be courteous pause to let people southbound turn left on Live Oak. They state this creates a hazard because folks might hang a left on Live Oak that are being let through, only to get t-boned by northbound traffic on Texas that don't see them until they emerge from behind the courteous driver in the left hand lane.

Make sense? Probably more detail than you wanted but there's your answer.

Of course, for me that begs a question: If the median wasn't there at all and it was a turn lane like the good ole days, isn't that safer and smoother than even having a median?

I'm not a fan of medians.

Respectfully
My opinions are mine and should not be construed as those of city council or staff. I welcome robust debate but will cease communication on any thread in which colleagues or staff are personally criticized. I must refrain from comment on posted agenda items until after meetings are concluded. Bob Yancy 95
MedianEnjoyer2023
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Bob Yancy said:


[…]

Of course, for me that begs a question: If the median wasn't there at all and it was a turn lane like the good ole days, isn't that safer and smoother than even having a median?

I'm not a fan of medians.

Respectfully


I'm interested in seeing the frequency of crashes and the volume of traffic over time. I know the TXDOT documentation all shows the need for the medians based on current volumes, but I'm interested to see when the traffic in town really started getting bad.

I think those Texas medians went in when I was a student in 2011? My buddies and I used to sit and watch accidents while working on projects (pre-median). You'd almost be guaranteed one or two crashes every couple hours.
BiochemAg97
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Bob Yancy said:

[…]
Make sense? Probably more detail than you wanted but there's your answer.

Of course, for me that begs a question: If the median wasn't there at all and it was a turn lane like the good ole days, isn't that safer and smoother than even having a median?

I'm not a fan of medians.

Respectfully


Thanks. That all makes sense.

As much as I find the medians annoying, I don't think lack of medians would be safer/smoother. Anyone wanting to turn left into live oak is going to sit in the middle turn lane until they find a gap in the traffic backed up from University. However, without the median, you will have cars trying to turn left on University backed up in that middle turn lane. So either, you have people turning left on University stuck waiting for the live oak turn, or the live oak turner sitting in the main lane because left turn on university is filling the middle turn lane.

I'm sure you have seen where two cars meet in the middle turn lane because each car wants to turn left just past where the oncoming car is.

The only difference the lack of medians would create is that people wouldn't just be trying to turn left onto live oak, but also left into the Dennys parking lot, the Vidatronic parking lot, etc
doubledog
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trouble said:

That light is much more logical than the one it replaced at Oak
That is not the point. The point is we do not need a stop light at Mitchell either!
doubledog
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Bob Yancy said:

TxDot is closing off the break in the median at Live Oak street just south of Denny's on Texas Avenue. They state that queue'ing traffic (traffic engineers word for "backed
up at the light") from the light at University and Texas covers that median opening routinely. So when someone southbound on Texas stops to wait for an opening to turn left onto Live Oak, it causes problems. First, people hanging a left from University onto Texas immediately encounter a stopped car(s) causing a backup- potentially into the intersection and secondly; Texas avenue northbound travelers trying to be courteous pause to let people southbound turn left on Live Oak. They state this creates a hazard because folks might hang a left on Live Oak that are being let through, only to get t-boned by northbound traffic on Texas that don't see them until they emerge from behind the courteous driver in the left hand lane.

Make sense? Probably more detail than you wanted but there's your answer.

Of course, for me that begs a question: If the median wasn't there at all and it was a turn lane like the good ole days, isn't that safer and smoother than even having a median?

I'm not a fan of medians.

Respectfully
FYI. Cars backup in the intersection! TxDOT has never seen the Harvey/Holleman Cluster **** on Texas Ave?
I do not see TxDOT lifting a finger to solve that problem.
BiochemAg97
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doubledog said:

FYI. Cars backup in the intersection! TxDOT has never seen the Harvey/Holleman Cluster **** on Texas Ave?
I do not see TxDOT lifting a finger to solve that problem.


I suspect TxDOT is perfectly fine with cars backing up. Their issue seems to be people turning left anywhere other than at a traffic light.
birdman
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Bob Yancy said:

TxDot is closing off the break in the median at Live Oak street just south of Denny's on Texas Avenue. They state that queue'ing traffic (traffic engineers word for "backed up at the light") from the light at University and Texas covers that median opening routinely. So when someone southbound on Texas stops to wait for an opening to turn left onto Live Oak, it causes problems. First, people hanging a left from University onto Texas immediately encounter a stopped car(s) causing a backup- potentially into the intersection and secondly; Texas avenue northbound travelers trying to be courteous pause to let people southbound turn left on Live Oak. They state this creates a hazard because folks might hang a left on Live Oak that are being let through, only to get t-boned by northbound traffic on Texas that don't see them until they emerge from behind the courteous driver in the left hand lane.

Make sense? Probably more detail than you wanted but there's your answer.

Of course, for me that begs a question: If the median wasn't there at all and it was a turn lane like the good ole days, isn't that safer and smoother than even having a median?

I'm not a fan of medians.

Respectfully
I've had an office there for a decade. That stretch of Texas Ave between University Dr and stoplight at entrance to Barnes & Noble, has a wreck nearly every day. Every day.

The medians haven't done anything positive or negative for the number of wrecks. They haven't changed the seriousness of the wrecks either. No difference whatsoever.

Very few people turn left on Live Oak. If you wanted to swing around and go to Fuego's, maybe. It nearly never happens.

It will add a few more people turning left into B&N parking lot entrance. That stoplight is where 90% of wrecks happen.
trouble
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You've clearly never tried to cross Texas there
doubledog
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trouble said:

You've clearly never tried to cross Texas there
Villa Maria to the south (3 blocks) or Post Office to the north (3 blocks)... What is the issue?
trouble
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Neither of those are helpful if I'm just trying to leave readfields and head west.

They were never going to just remove a light. At least they moved it to a better location.
Tailgate88
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Oh hai Rusty!

Texas Ave median project expected to be complete in two weeks

https://www.kbtx.com/2023/09/22/new-texas-ave-median-project-expected-be-complete-two-weeks/
Chrundle the Great
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I'm not a huge median fan, but the live oak closure makes the most sense out of any improvement operationally. It's going to add like 10+ more car lengths of storage to the inside left turn bay going onto university, that's 10 less cars backed up to damn near Lincoln screwing up through traffic.

There's nothing down live oak you can't get to easier by taking university to Eisenhower and you had a death wish if you ever tried to turn left out of there even dead of night.
doubledog
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trouble said:

Neither of those are helpful if I'm just trying to leave readfields and head west.

They were never going to just remove a light. At least they moved it to a better location.
Ok, readfield, turn right on Texas drive three blocks north(ish) turn left on post office.

I agree they will never remove a stop light.

PS3D
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doubledog said:

trouble said:

Neither of those are helpful if I'm just trying to leave readfields and head west.

They were never going to just remove a light. At least they moved it to a better location.
Ok, readfield, turn right on Texas drive three blocks north(ish) turn left on post office.

I agree they will never remove a stop light.




Have ANY lights in town been removed and not just replaced with another nearby one? Wellborn and North Graham comes to mind.
HortAg09
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AggiePhil said:

jkje said:

Saw an ambulance stuck behind a line of cars earlier today.
Shouldn't happen often. All the ones in town have Opticom systems that turn the traffic light green in the direction they're headed.


I can assure you there are very few intersections in Bryan where opticom actually works. These medians have made it very hard on first responders trying to get around Texas Ave since the medians were installed.
bearkitten
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The medians have caused Texas Ave. traffic to move to neighborhood street Broadmoor. Broadmoor has always been a busy street but it's so busy now it's so busy it's difficult to cross.
Steampunk-Kangaroo
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Hornbeck said:

I was thinking about this because of the Christmas parade and other threads discussing businesses being hurt.

Why can't the citizens rise up and force a measure on the ballot? Pretty sure everyone votes to get rid of them, similar to how red light cameras were voted out in many municipalities.
Yes! I can't stand the medians, they're just a huge pain all around. I'd certainly vote against them if the opportunity presented itself.
--- Go and try, you'll never break me! ---
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