“new traffic pattern”

‘Tis the season for road construction, of course, and there’s a stretch of highway that’s part of my commute that’s been undergoing “night road work” for about a month now. Of the many unhelpful signs surrounding this project, my current favorite is “New Traffic Pattern Ahead.”

Apparently what that means is “we drew all the lane lines three separate ways, and none of them match up, so… good luck, and don’t say we didn’t warn you.”

I merge into this particular stretch of road when it has five lanes across, which then drop to four as one of them exits, then splits into two sets of two a little further along. At various points in the road, lanes are marked with the following types of lines:

1. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
2. _____________________
3. ___ ___ ___ ___

Not consistently, of course. Sometimes multiple types of marks overlap, lending more weight to the idea that the lane actually has a border right there. Other times there’s only one type of marking, which seems perfectly clear until it cuts off and the next marking is a foot further left.

Anyway, this week we got a new sign: “Uneven Lanes.” You don’t say.

Mirrored from The Marci Rating System.