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Alternative Route Signing

for those lost souls who can't afford an atlas
 
(+3, -3)
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This will geographically place me. On both of the last two Saturdays there has been a major accident closing the motorway/freeway around my town. On both occasions the motorway was jammed solid with traffic for up to 6 hours - no movement. How I laughed as I sped along the country lanes alongside it!

Anyway, what amazed me was that no-one was taking the junction off the motorway - I could see it, it was completely empty. Wondering what kind of person is happy to sit in a car on a sunny day for 6 hours just waiting to move when there is an exit just on your left-hand side (UK), my wife suggested that it was probably because people were afraid to get lost.

Therefore, my idea is why not include road signs to the adjacent junctions on the motorway when you turn off in case of gross stoppage. As you turn off the motorway at junction x, you would see alternative route to junction x-1 and alternative route to junction x+1 clearly signed.

Road signs don't cost much to make - slightly increases employment as people make them and then put them up. Keeps the roads moving as people actually know that there will be an alternative. Much better than all those harmful greenhouse gases pumping into the atmosphere, and all those enraged motorists who decide that they must drive at 130mph to make up for lost time.

PeterSilly, Jul 25 2002

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       You mean like a kind of "You can get off here and make it back to junction whatever"   

       Nice idea from the stuck motorists point of view. But think of the effect on the local roads if everybody could see the signs and leave motorway en masse.
Jinbish, Jul 25 2002
  

       Anyone who doesn't carry a road atlas when driving deserves to be stuck on the motorway (or lost).
angel, Jul 25 2002
  

       It is my job to help travellers over the phone, and it seems that there is an astonishingly large population out there who haven't the faintest clue where they are.
polartomato, Jul 25 2002
  

       I've got a few shortcuts in, on, around and to and fro L.A. in every direction - it's a blast to be an hour outside the city and take 'secret' roads that due-to-accident/construction/major-holiday stuck drivers haven't a clue exist.
thumbwax, Jul 25 2002
  

       I have a book which lists essentially all junction hopping routes for UK motorways, and usefully mentions fuel stations/food/hotels etc along the way.
drew, Jul 25 2002
  

       [drew]: then keep it to yourself! ditto PS; the best thing about back-routes/shortcuts is that no-one else knows about them. Otherwise: big jams on minor roads too.
TwoSheds, Jul 25 2002
  

       [drew] My pa-in-law has a similar (possibly the same) book - but then he can also afford an atlas.   

       Put yourself in the queue just behind all those tr*lls who just sit there just because they don't know that if you go down Little Warbling Lane, turn left onto Much Binding Road and third right, you're at the next junction. Can you take that route also? No - 'coz you can't get to the blinking turn-off...
PeterSilly, Jul 25 2002
  

       "Scenic Route" signs almost do the same thing, but not quite.   

       I like the idea. It'd bring a lot of business to towns that normally get sped past at warp speed.
rapid transit, May 23 2003
  

       Germany already has this. On each exit or "Ausfahrt" sign in Germany, you have little "Umleitungshilder"...detour signs. If you run into a jam, just follow the little blue "Uxx" shields to guide you on local roads around the congestion to the next Autobahn junction.
muzer, Oct 06 2003
  
      
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