Exit 50B archived

I hate the sign there that prohibits turning on a red light. Have to confess I've cheated a few times in the middle of the night.

I use it as 2.

But I've never seen a sign anywhere that states, to the effect: "Right Lane for People About to Make a Second Right in 200 ft." I guess it could say "Right Lane for Hilton Ave.", but if you don't know the area you might not know if you want Hilton or not without a GPS. So if you assume that roads should be navigable to non-locals, it probably should be 1 lane. You could then safely decide what you want to do at the second light (at the cost fewer vehicles making it through during peak times).

If it were used as a single lane exit at rush hour the traffic would often back up onto 78.

IRC they extended the exit lane on I78 for exactly this reason.

It would make just as much sense to widen the exit ramp into two real lanes.

There is nothing to indicate that this ramp is anything other than one lane.

However, as with most of our highways and byways, drivers make up their own rules.

It seems to be a space for people to act out the worst of their aggressive and passive-aggressive impulses.

Sure.

Usually I'm just making a right and another right and going home.

Here's how it works.

The locals have overwhelmingly decided this ramp is two lanes.

If you stop your car in the middle you look like a dumbass weiner.

Just, if you choose the right lane, please make the right onto Hilton from Vauxhall at the next light. If you don't you look like a self centered prick.

Put some logic on it. Here is a crowdsourced decision that really makes sense. That's a busy ramp. Cars lining up in two parallel effectively doubles the capacity of the ramp, reducing the likelihood of backups that extend onto the highway. If people do the right/left correctly (see "self centered prick" above) the flow increases dramatically. It's far, far more efficient this way.

Don't be a dumbass weiner or self centered prick. You do know where you're going beyond the top of the ramp, right? So just pick a lane and follow through.

...some way with words wnb.

Contact local highway dept and get them rolling on painting some definitive road marking.

Hard to call someone a prick if it isn't down on the ground in reflective paint.

us2inFL said:

...some way with words wnb. Contact local highway dept and get them rolling on painting some definitive road marking. Hard to call someone a prick if it isn't down on the ground in reflective paint.

Agreed, but if the government gets involved, it will definitely become one lane, which will be more of a hassle. Better to lay low.

The DOT should be asked why they're waiting for an incident and litigation. There's an obvious problem - you hardly need a traffic study to validate the need for two lanes. Couldn't our TC formally call attention to it?

Jasmo said:

us2inFL said:

...some way with words wnb. Contact local highway dept and get them rolling on painting some definitive road marking. Hard to call someone a prick if it isn't down on the ground in reflective paint.

Agreed, but if the government gets involved, it will definitely become one lane, which will be more of a hassle. Better to lay low.

Yes. Just like we don't want anyone to know that we all exit the Parkway at McDonalds on Vauxhall to avoid the tollbooth.

us2inFL said:

...some way with words wnb.

Contact local highway dept and get them rolling on painting some definitive road marking.

Hard to call someone a prick if it isn't down on the ground in reflective paint.

Hmmm. It was dark and moonless night. The man with the can of white spray paint crept from behind the bush and looked about anxiously for cars. Not seeing any, he painted a white stripe down the center of the roadway....

Your DOT in action.

ridski said:

Jasmo said:

us2inFL said:

...some way with words wnb. Contact local highway dept and get them rolling on painting some definitive road marking. Hard to call someone a prick if it isn't down on the ground in reflective paint.

Agreed, but if the government gets involved, it will definitely become one lane, which will be more of a hassle. Better to lay low.

Yes. Just like we don't want anyone to know that we all exit the Parkway at McDonalds on Vauxhall to avoid the tollbooth.

I used to do that but I found it easier to exit at Union (right after Chestnut).

If it wasn't 2 lanes cars would be backed up on 78 all the time. The ramp is too short.

slowrunner said:

I use it as 2.

But I've never seen a sign anywhere that states, to the effect: "Right Lane for People About to Make a Second Right in 200 ft." I guess it could say "Right Lane for Hilton Ave.", but if you don't know the area you might not know if you want Hilton or not without a GPS. So if you assume that roads should be navigable to non-locals, it probably should be 1 lane. You could then safely decide what you want to do at the second light (at the cost fewer vehicles making it through during peak times).

This! I think they should stripe it as two lanes and then put up a sign with arrows that shows a "normal" right turn for the left lane and the "double" right turn coming up for the right lane. They could paint those on the lanes, also, but that doesn't help much at rush hour when it matters, since cars are sitting on top of those lanes.

btw, that right turn at Hilton (not the same Hilton as in Maplewood) is a wonderful thing if you live pretty much anywhere in the southern/eastern half of Maplewood. Also, after years of taking it all the way past the school and over by Dunkin Donuts to jog over to SA, I recently discovered that you can turn left on Russell St (right in front of the school) and then make the first (quick) right and get right to SA without the jog (and without getting stuck behind drivers trying to make a left on SA. Maybe everyone else has known this forever, but I never learned it until a few weeks ago when my young adult daughter picked me up at the airport and took me home via that route.

sac said:

slowrunner said:

I use it as 2.

But I've never seen a sign anywhere that states, to the effect: "Right Lane for People About to Make a Second Right in 200 ft." I guess it could say "Right Lane for Hilton Ave.", but if you don't know the area you might not know if you want Hilton or not without a GPS. So if you assume that roads should be navigable to non-locals, it probably should be 1 lane. You could then safely decide what you want to do at the second light (at the cost fewer vehicles making it through during peak times).

This! I think they should stripe it as two lanes and then put up a sign with arrows that shows a "normal" right turn for the left lane and the "double" right turn coming up for the right lane. They could paint those on the lanes, also, but that doesn't help much at rush hour when it matters, since cars are sitting on top of those lanes.

btw, that right turn at Hilton (not the same Hilton as in Maplewood) is a wonderful thing if you live pretty much anywhere in the southern/eastern half of Maplewood. Also, after years of taking it all the way past the school and over by Dunkin Donuts to jog over to SA, I recently discovered that you can turn left on Russell St (right in front of the school) and then make the first (quick) right and get right to SA without the jog (and without getting stuck behind drivers trying to make a left on SA. Maybe everyone else has known this forever, but I never learned it until a few weeks ago when my young adult daughter picked me up at the airport and took me home via that route.

I have been traveling along that street (Montclair Ave, after a right on Russell) for years. It used to look pretty dodgy, particularly at night, with cars idling and groups of people hanging out, but seems to be less intruiging at the moment.

Two lanes, formally or informally, who cares. Have never had a problem and use it all the time. We stay to the left to let the folks making the right after the right have at it, which I think they do in a polite and orderly way, IMHO. And we use the McDonald's when coming from the South. Not even to avoid toll, but just because it feels quicker to our house. (Not sure it actually is.)

wnb said:

Here's how it works.

The locals have overwhelmingly decided this ramp is two lanes.

If you stop your car in the middle you look like a dumbass weiner.

Just, if you choose the right lane, please make the right onto Hilton from Vauxhall at the next light. If you don't you look like a self centered prick.

Put some logic on it. Here is a crowdsourced decision that really makes sense. That's a busy ramp. Cars lining up in two parallel effectively doubles the capacity of the ramp, reducing the likelihood of backups that extend onto the highway. If people do the right/left correctly (see "self centered prick" above) the flow increases dramatically. It's far, far more efficient this way.

Don't be a dumbass weiner or self centered prick. You do know where you're going beyond the top of the ramp, right? So just pick a lane and follow through.

^
This.

it is 2 lanes that merge into 1 at the top of the ramp....so it doesn't matter if you want to turn right or go straight after you just turn right...

I think it was originally meant to be one lane the whole way. In reality it is two lanes until the very end.
I will not stay in the middle unless I'm right up at the light. Even then people will try to go around.

terminator3 said:

it is 2 lanes that merge into 1 at the top of the ramp....so it doesn't matter if you want to turn right or go straight after you just turn right...

I disagree. It is (barely) wide enough for two cars to turn in parallel. But I think that the powers that be need to do some striping and put in some signage. If they want it to merge down to one lane, then stripe it that way. (But leave it two lanes farther back so that stopped cars aren't backed up into the travel lanes of the highway.) Otherwise just stripe it two lanes, but put up the turn arrow warnings and enforce the right lane must turn right at Hilton.

A few years ago during construction the lane was temporarily narrowed and traffic was backing out onto 78. They decided to let people form two lanes and I believe they also lengthened the deceleration lane.

ridski said:

Jasmo said:

us2inFL said:

...some way with words wnb. Contact local highway dept and get them rolling on painting some definitive road marking. Hard to call someone a prick if it isn't down on the ground in reflective paint.

Agreed, but if the government gets involved, it will definitely become one lane, which will be more of a hassle. Better to lay low.

Yes. Just like we don't want anyone to know that we all exit the Parkway at McDonalds on Vauxhall to avoid the tollbooth.

+1. Guests are always so confused when I do this!!

ridski said:

Jasmo said:

us2inFL said:

...some way with words wnb. Contact local highway dept and get them rolling on painting some definitive road marking. Hard to call someone a prick if it isn't down on the ground in reflective paint.

Agreed, but if the government gets involved, it will definitely become one lane, which will be more of a hassle. Better to lay low.

Yes. Just like we don't want anyone to know that we all exit the Parkway at McDonalds on Vauxhall to avoid the tollbooth.

As MOL's resident authority on this exit by virtue of my User Name, I agree that contacting NJ DOT, who owns the ramp, will probably result in a lot off striping that keeps it to one lane, or reduces it from two to one lane before the traffic light. Standard highway lanes have to be a minimum of 12' wide, and DOT would never allow a substandard situation to continue of they are aware of it. By the end of the ramp, it certainly isn't 25' feet wide. Accommodating a two lane turn onto Vauxhall would involve a complete reconfiguration of the entire ramp and intersection. That would bring in Union County as well, since they maintain Vauxhall. And yes, I act as if there's two lanes as well.

Of course, this exit has two confusing and potentially dangerous situations, the other being the lack of a yield sign where the entrance ramp to 78 east from Burnet converges with the ramp from Vauxhall headed North. Fortunately, almost no one enters from Vauxhall going that direction, but the few times when I have seen someone coming that way, they never stop. If you don't use the entrance frequently, you are going around a curve and suddenly another ramp joins you with no warning. This is a violation traffic safety 101, and it surprises me that with all the work 78 has seen, neither problem has been fixed.

As for avoiding the Union toll on the Parkway, I guess I've done what seemed the most straightforward, getting of at 138B onto Chestnut. That takes you to the circle just south of Union Center, where right is Stuyvesant and left is Elmwood, which brings you to a left on Morris and a right on Burnet. For me, Stuyvesant to Boyden is the quickest route, and adds less than 5 minutes over exiting at 142C. Maybe it's me, but I don't see the advantage of going though the service area to get to Vauxhall, but maybe I'll try it and see. It could pay for me by taking Oakland to Stuyvesant.

Couldn't they just cut into the land on the right?

I get off at Route 22 east and then go to Vauxhall Road from there. I know about the McDonald's, but you have to slow down so much to go through that parking lot, that I think my way takes about the same amount of time.

I vote for 3 lanes. Hey, it's NJ. For those of you too cheap to pay the toll, I hope you are buying a $1 coffee at McD's.

Nj minimum width for one lane ramp is 22ft wide.
http://www.state.nj.us/transportation/eng/documents/RDM/figure5j.shtm

It's too narrow for two official lanes, so people who drive up the middle are correct. It needs to be two lanes to keep traffic from backing up on 78, so the people who double up are correct. (Hurry up get right to go straight on Vauxhall.) I never sweat it either way.