A recent article in USA TODAY titled "Waze and other traffic dodging apps prompt cities to game the algorithms" (click here) talks about traffic routing apps sending drivers down quiet residential streets to beat congestion on the main roads and highways. This issue has been a pet peeve of mine too, as it resonates on a personal level during my own commute.
I was pulled over several months ago for ignoring a tiny sign next to a state route off-ramp. The sign is barely visible, and is not even in your line of sight while you multi-task with the lane change, the upcoming right turn, the need to decelerate from highway speeds soon after the lane change, etc. The sign prohibits right turns between 7:00 AM and 9:00 AM, Monday through Friday.
This right turn leads into a rather long two-lane, two-way road connecting a state route to a main road that feeds directly onto an interstate. The road in question also has a double yellow line painted down the center, and has a posted speed limit of 35 in most places (except for a 5 mph speed limit at two rather bumpy speed bumps).
This is not what I would characterize as a quiet neighborhood street. Those typically are short, have no center lines, and assume a default speed limit of 25 mph. "My" road though, is lined with expensive homes set far enough back from the road to generally be invisible from the car. I consider myself to be at the receiving end of a certain brand of elitism. The residential "noise" even caused the town to spring for a more conventional large, green highway sign parroting the same information on the aforementioned tiny sign.
I wonder how such a main connecting arterial could be thus precluded from general public use, when said public pay their fair share (and more) in taxes. I assume the same locals would not think twice about cutting through other truly neighborhood streets when they are running late for an important meeting, and the primary highway is clogged. Welcome to the latest brand of NIMBY-ism.
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