Friday, July 24, 2009

Fly-unders

Sorry for the picture quality. This is an underpass. It's used in this city to allow traffic to avoid a busy intersection. Imagine the First Ave. and Collins Road intersection (the busiest in CR). If the First Avenue traffic were allowed to simply drive underneath the intersection there'd be few traffic jams. I love the fly-unders. I live 15 miles from the heart of downtown but thanks to the fly-unders I can make it there in 20 minutes. I can get to the opposite end of the city in less than 30.
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5 comments:

  1. Chip ThurstonJuly 24, 2009 at 4:50 PM

    Why is this better than a bridge?

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  2. deniseJuly 24, 2009 at 5:02 PM

    I think it is a bridge, but maybe Steve thinks it sounds better as a "fly-under".

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  3. RobbyJuly 24, 2009 at 11:16 PM

    How would this work in the winter time in Iowa? I guess they make guard rails...

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  4. SteveJuly 24, 2009 at 11:48 PM

    They have the bridge types, too. They're called a fly over. The point is to let the main flow of traffic not have to stop. The traffic that wants to turn takes an exit (like the interstate). In the picture I'm in the lane of traffic that goes under the other traffic. I get to continue doing 70 right through the middle of downtown.
    So how is this different from an Interstate? It's not really. But imagine having 2 E-W and 1 N-S interstate in CR. That would be the equivelant.
    As much as I like them I know there's no way they're practical in Iowa - if for no other reason than snow removal.

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  5. SteveJuly 24, 2009 at 11:50 PM

    When I was home in January I was driving down Collins Road and thinking, "Gee if they had fly unders you could get from the interstate to the mall in 3 minutes..." Same thought going down first avenue.

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