Not impressed by freeway designers
When 5 o’clock traffic begins around 3:30 p.m., Fresno freeways morph into a free-for-all. What were freeway planners thinking when they chose to have two lanes of westbound 180 and two lanes of eastbound 180 merge into three existing lanes of northbound 41 – all in the space of two-tenths of a mile?
It’s dangerous out there, especially when there are vehicles on Highway 41 north trying to get off on McKinley Avenue (merging right) at the exact same time 180 west cars are merging left entering 41 north, all in only an additional tenth of a mile.
I hate to toss this out, but life, at that particular juncture, would be immensely easier, and presumably safer, if the McKinley exit were permanently closed. Nevertheless, it still makes me wonder why the planners made this so dangerous. Something to think about!
Brian Bennett, Fresno
This story was originally published April 14, 2016 at 6:29 AM with the headline "Not impressed by freeway designers."