Since I retired I have taken a part-time job, hauling cattle, feed, and equipment around our part of the state and on occasion, other parts of the state as well. In my driving, I have noticed a few interesting things that have made me ask myself, “I wonder what they were thinking when they did that?”
Such as the round-about this side of Fernley. What on earth possessed the highway design engineer to draw into the plans a ten to twelve-foot-wide sidewalk alongside a narrower-than normal-road-lane driving lane for traffic to use to get off the round-about and onto the chosen lane of traffic. I have resigned myself to believing that this super-educated individual expected his/her traffic lane design to be so absolutely terrible that everyone would leave their vehicle in the round-about and walk across the railroad bridge headed out to I-80, thus necessitating the super-wide sidewalk to accommodate all the foot traffic. Or maybe this individual never drove a semi or any vehicle pulling a trailer for that matter, so he/she didn’t realize that those black marks on the curb are the result of truck tires being scrubbed on the concrete because the traffic lane is too narrow. (because of the beautiful and spacious super-wide sidewalk).
Don’t read me wrong—I am a big proponent of the round-abouts. If used correctly, they can accommodate a large amount of traffic at a major intersection. How do you use them correctly, you ask? Instead of roaring around the circle like it is the Indianapolis 500 in session, if everyone will take it easy enough to slow down so the next person you encounter trying to get onto the roundabout can enter in front of you, life is good and nobody has to wait in those long lines to enter the intrepid circle. The secret, again, is to look ahead and see that someone is waiting to get on, so you let them on, and amazingly enough, it only makes you two seconds later getting to the store to buy beer or cigarettes.
In a remarkable twist of irony, the same highway traffic engineer must have designed the round-abouts at the intersection in Silver Springs and the other one where the USA Parkway comes into the Carson Highway. Only this time, he/she overcompensated for the small roundabout in Fernley by designing a monstrosity at Silver Springs Intersection complete with landscaping and its own topographical features. It is plain to see where our highway construction funds get spent, and sometimes it is really over the top, extravagance-wise.
On the subject of concrete, I have been made to wonder if this traffic design engineer had a brother-in-law in the concrete business, because there sure is a lot of superfluous concrete built into the highway between Fallon and Fernley. Like the narrow (yet tall) fingers of concrete that are at every intersection onto the freeway. They protrude out long enough that any vehicle pulling a trailer has to crowd the superfluous concrete on the right side of the lane entrance in order to (hopefully) miss the narrow (yet tall) finger of concrete extending about 20 feet too far on the left into the lane entrance. Most of the time you just have to slow way down and just run over the narrow (yet tall) concrete finger with your left trailer tires. Again, not that good on truck or trailer tires.
But, you say, this does not affect me. I do not pull a trailer nor do I drive a semi, and my car fits into those entrances and also onto the roundabout very nicely. You will undoubtedly change your mind about the split second that the semi you are meeting on the road has one of those oft-scrubbed tires blow out and the truck runs over you and smashes you flatter than hammered gravy. Yes, it does affect you.
The superfluous concrete sidewalks in between the lanes of the freeway between Fallon and Fernley are again a real head-scratcher to me. Again, are drivers and passengers supposed to leave their vehicle in the lanes and take the sidewalks into town on foot? Why sidewalks in between lanes of traffic five miles out of town? Puzzlement.
While I am in the vein of driving, it bears mention that many of you haven’t discovered that little turney-blinkey thing on the left of your steering wheel. It’s called a “turn signal.” Its purpose is to allow other drivers to know your intention of turning into another lane or off the road onto another road or street at an intersection. Looking ahead, (it is really beneficial to look ahead and plan where you are going, by the way) you can engage your turney-blinkey thing in the direction that you plan to turn, well in advance of your actual turn, thus allowing cars behind you as well as cars waiting at an intersection to merge out onto the road or street you are on to see what you plan to do, and then they can drive their vehicle accordingly. It is just barely better than doing nothing at all to engage your turney-blinkey thing ten feet before your actual turn. This in reality doesn’t give anybody any time to react to your turning intentions, however pure they may be.
On my drives in every direction from Fallon, I have enjoyed the nice roads (we really do have good roads in Nevada—we are truly blessed in that regard) going toward Schurz, Austin, and Lovelock that have no turn lanes, hardly any shoulder space on the edges, and 70 mph posted speed limits. Then, in my sojourns between Fallon and Fernley, I have wondered why narrow two-lane roads going north, south, and east from Fallon have 70 mph, while a very nice wide 4 lane freeway going west with spacious shoulders, turn lanes at every intersection and a wide median is posted at 65 mph…. Again, a puzzle to me.
I have arrived at the conclusion that there are some of the mysteries of life that we just won’t learn until we leave this frail existence for the next life.
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