WHY....Why is there an on-ramp light traffic system from Columbia BLVD to I-5 Southbound. It does not merge onto the freeway it has it's own frickin lane. What idiot feels the need to meter traffic that has it's own lane! Hell....lets just add a few stop lights on I-5 just for shits and giggles! If I were a trucker hauling 120,000 pounds in a 54' trailer and came up on that with no other vehicles around I sure as hell would not stop at it. It is ridiculous to stop these monsters and then have them burn up all that diesel to get back up to speed! (And there is quite a bit of truck traffic from columbia blvd getting onto the freeway)
The sad thing it was probably a committee of 20 people that came up with that bonehead idea!

STUPID!

Anyone?

Darktemper, I searched and searched and the only reason that seems sound is that it is for just a few folks that need it. The silly teenyboppers in the '66 Impala they do not deserve or the '88 Civic with the sissy tip and silly spoiler that they do deserve, all have to slow down. The out of state drivers who have been lost between Hayden Island and NoPo for hours and refuse directions, all need a breath to check themselves. Finally, the hippies have to hide the stash and tuck their hair in before they hit the interstate for a sooty trek to Eugene. The 18-wheeler is gonna have some leeway, after all, the cops in that part of town are not bored. :o)

If I drove a truck there on a regular basis I would run over the damn thing. It takes more diesel to get a loaded semi back up to speed than it does to travel 50 miles. You know how much horsepower and fuel it takes to get 200,00 pounds rolling and up to freeway speeds? LOTS! It's kind of like jet....it burns up most of it's fuel on take-off and landing than on the flight itself.

My point is that it is not needed so why not remove it. I guess it would take a committee of the same 20 idiots to try to remove it. Then 40 state workers to show up and 39 to watch 1 guy remove it!

LOL. I'd just wait a few months. The freaks will steal it to sell for drugs, or it will be cleaned off down to the bolts by a drunk in an SUV, or it will simply burn out from neglect.

I had a friend who was really pissed off watching the "permanent tourists" trying to navigate one of our beloved, yet convoluted intersections. He proposed a "red hour" when all the lights do completely random and dangerous things. His theory was that us yokels would know and stay off the streets, while Darwin did the rest. :o)

How about checking with ODOT or the city of Portland about the real purpose of this light? Believe it or not, there is probably someone who will tell you.

Andrew

In all seriousness, Shawn Uhlman, an old high school chum of mine, is the articulate spokesman for ODOT. He might have a completely rational explanation. I imagine it relates to exits just a little way south and allows the traffic already on the freeway to get into that right lane. It might just be chockablock and jammed with mergers if they didn't have that goofy light. Just a guess.

Probably, ODOT can tell you exactly why the light was added. There's got to be documentation for the original light addition with a rationale.

Andrew

I think I know what it is. As memory serves (and it don't serve all that well anymore) years ago Columbia blvd actually had to merge into through traffic on I-5 south. It was changed sometime back as to make it not merge but actually has it's own lane. Yet the leftover metering system is still in place and functional when it need no be. I am just suprised that some pissed off trucker that drives that road regularly has not done it in!

I think they forgot to remove it! It serves the same purpose right now as a stop light would smack in the middle of the upper deck on the fremont bridge!

temper sez: "120,000 pounds"

If you're driving a 120,000 pound semi, you've other things to worry about than a red light. You'd be 14,500 lbs over the max GVW. A citation would run into the thousands of dollars.

ps: those of you driving a semi can run over the red light pole in the middle of the night and put it out of commission for a while.

Maybe but if you have two drop axles before the bogie then it might be legal so long as the load is shifted properly to distribute the weight over mutiple tandem axles and associated drops units. (btw...this is just babble)

God i'd hate to be a trucker and try to keep up with weight laws especially an interstate trucker with different load and pounds per axle laws from state to state.

OK, then contact ODOT and make a case for removing it. Get a few other people to write in, too.

Andrew

Maybe i'll do that. Probably won't do any good as with the planned 3-lane expansion though delta park for the near future that will shift Columbia Blvd back into a freeway merge lane. Think I still may try....at least they could turn it off until then.

105,500 lbs is the max in oregon regardless of axles. To haul more, one has to get an overweight trip permit with a host of conditions.

I do agree that the Oregon axle/weight distribution formula is madness. Fortunately in CA the load limit is 80,000 lbs, 5 axles period, so anyone owning a rig going in that direction won't have to worry about it because hauling extra axles that aren't able to be legally used just subtracts from the total load capacity of your rig. Its an Oregon thing.