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The Ranty Highwayman

@rantyhighwayman.bsky.social

5.6K followers 940 following 7.4K posts

A highway engineer's adventures in time & space. The street is not too narrow your imagination is too narrow | Independent sustainable mobility design specialist | Better streets & places | Runs @cityinfinity.bsky.social | https://linktr.ee/rantyhighwayman

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The Ranty Highwayman @rantyhighwayman.bsky.social · Oct 18

#HelloBluesky, I'm Mark, a civil & highway engineer with nearly 30 years experience, with the last decade as a specialist in sustainable mobility design. I'm a freelancer at @cityinfinity.bsky.social.

I post about highways & transport, often with Opinions.

Also homebrewing, silly films and snark.

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Reposted by The Ranty Highwayman

Purple Mouse @purplemouse.bsky.social · 13m

Wrong. It’s this:

youtu.be/sNKJ-sGpMuU?...

The Doug Wood Band "Drag Racer" (1976)

YouTube video by MrStonebeliever

youtu.be

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The Ranty Highwayman @rantyhighwayman.bsky.social · 13m

Even red light cameras wouldn't stop some of it because there is a timing issue, but yes, red light enforcement more widely is a good idea.

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The Ranty Highwayman @rantyhighwayman.bsky.social · 14m

American. He probably expects you to label everything thus:

"Americans: don't eat this" or "Americans: you can eat this"

The first being applied to dangerous mushrooms, chlorine-washed chicken and Oreos.

The Ranty Highwayman @rantyhighwayman.bsky.social · 20m

Nice!

Reposted by The Ranty Highwayman

Nathan_A_RF @nathanarf.bsky.social · 39m

A sump buster for @rantyhighwayman.bsky.social and some interesting use of advisory speed signs for @showmeasign.online

A single lane road with a cycle lane heading towards a bus stop and a sump buster, a petruding metal and concrete lump, in the background. A pair of blue and yellow pedal cycle and bus only signs are in the foreground either side of the road. Below them are 'max speed 10' signs, and a yellow warning sign for the sump buster.

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The Ranty Highwayman @rantyhighwayman.bsky.social · 39m

Good effort. Should be a nice day for it.

The Ranty Highwayman @rantyhighwayman.bsky.social · 41m

Wider issues with the junction from a walking, wheeling and cycling perspective, but that needs design work rather than a quick fix.

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The Ranty Highwayman @rantyhighwayman.bsky.social · 41m

Could add an early cut-off to stop eastbound traffic with a couple of seconds of indicative right turn on green, but I suspect that will encourage some to take more of a chance at the end of the indicative green because they know they don't have to worry about oncoming traffic.

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The Ranty Highwayman @rantyhighwayman.bsky.social · 41m

Even late morning we saw this happening quite a lot. Some of it was down to the short gap for people already in the junction waiting for the oncoming flows to cease so they can clear in the intergreen. Much of it was down for people who need to be set to do their driving test again.

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The Ranty Highwayman @rantyhighwayman.bsky.social · 46m

Can confirm. Had a look at this with Leo in the week and the immediate solution is to add two seconds to the intergreen before the ped stage runs and by taking it from one or more of the traffic stages.

Leo Murray @crisortunity.bsky.social · 1h

Good morning to almost everyone

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Reposted by The Ranty Highwayman

Mark Nelson @sphericalsquare.bsky.social · 1h

The town right next to that junction has a very good cycle network in older parts of it. It hasn't been extended as the town has grown though, doesn't link to the hospital mentioned. There are no links across the duel carriageways surrounding the town either.

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Reposted by The Ranty Highwayman

Caroline Russell @carolinerussell.bsky.social · 1h

The Standard’s @rosslydall.bsky.social has picked up on the devastating impact, to people on graduate visas, of the government’s abrupt changes to skilled worker visas that I raised with the Mayor at MQT this week.

www.standard.co.uk/news/transpo...

Screen grab of tweet by Ross Lydall.

Good campaigning from @RMtunion and @CarolineRussell in bid to prevent TfL staff being deported under new government restrictions.

Image of protestors with sign “no sackings no deportations”

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Reposted by The Ranty Highwayman

Dom Cycling @domcycling.com · 1h

Riding along the seafront in Scheveningen, then back to Duinrell along the dune path.

From this week’s #Netherlands24 post, Riding to Den Haag and Scheveningen via Madurodam.

More videos and photos at wp.me/p6f6qW-8nW

#Bikesky

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The Ranty Highwayman @rantyhighwayman.bsky.social · 1h

For my mind, anyone saying that a new road or adding capacity to a junction will "unlock thousands of new homes" needs to be very stringently asked "how".

Linking a road scheme as necessary to unlocking land for housebuilding should be a huge red flag for the media to probe.

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The Ranty Highwayman @rantyhighwayman.bsky.social · 1h

If we had learned of how he was radicalised on Facebook, joined a local action group and posted continuously about Khan online, then yes there is that to understand.

Maybe this guy is more in that profile www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Ulez: Joseph Nicholls sentenced for encouraging camera vandalism

Joseph Nicholls, from Sidcup, used Facebook to encourage people to damage Ulez cameras.

www.bbc.co.uk

Reposted by The Ranty Highwayman

Mike Cookson 🔶 🇪🇺🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ @mikecookson.bsky.social · 2h

Spoiler, it definitely won't.

bsky.app/profile/sphe...

A Mayor who has just spent a £10m transport underspend elsewhere, on finishing the Northumberland Line railway, now wants to make it easier to drive, thus making the Northumberland Line less attractive.

Mark Nelson @sphericalsquare.bsky.social · 19h

¾ of a billion pounds to change a junction, that won't fix queues on the A189 and just moves the queues on the A19 to the next junction, which then needs fixing too, contributing to the enormous cost.
That's the cost of two and a bit Northumberland Lines (currently still not fully open).

A image from proposals for Moor Farm roundabout which show after the proposed changes there will still be queues on the south bound A189 and queues on the A19 will stretch from the A1 to Dudley Lane in the morning peak.
From the document Northumberland Strategic Road Network Infrastructure Study: https://www.northumberland.gov.uk/NorthumberlandCountyCouncil/media/Planning-and-Building/planning%20policy/Studies%20and%20Evidence%20Reports/Infrastructure%20Studies/Highways-England-Northumberland-Strategic-Road-Network-Infrastructure-Study-May-2016.pdf

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The Ranty Highwayman @rantyhighwayman.bsky.social · 2h

The two unsignalised arms need removing to simplify things and with some wider network filtering and redesigning. I bet loads of very short journeys are being made here looking at local land use.

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The Ranty Highwayman @rantyhighwayman.bsky.social · 2h

I'm not being flippant. The roundabout is a mess. It is six arms, partially signalised and at some point lanes were added to the circulatory area - not recent enough for Google, but the 2008 image all looks quite new.

maps.app.goo.gl/WqwwyVWjm8tv...

maps.app.goo.gl

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The Ranty Highwayman @rantyhighwayman.bsky.social · 2h

Nobody forced him to commit crime and get convicted of it. He is an adult.

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The Ranty Highwayman @rantyhighwayman.bsky.social · 2h

"A man who cut down a ULEZ camera before it was destroyed in an explosion said he has lost his job and caused his children embarrassment."

www.newhamrecorder.co.uk/news/2552170...

a young boy is riding on the back of an elephant in the water .

Alt: Short Round from Temple of Doom is riding on the back of an elephant in the water saying "ha ha, very funny! Ha ha ha ha ha!

media.tenor.com

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The Ranty Highwayman @rantyhighwayman.bsky.social · 2h

Maybe road building will work this time.

Kim McGuinness @kimmcguinness.bsky.social · 22h

Moor Farm roundabout on the A19 needs an upgrade!

Fixing it will:

🏘️ Unlock thousands of new homes
🚑 Make it quicker and easier to access the hospital at Cramlington
🚘 Ease traffic for thousands each day

@emmafoodymp.bsky.social and I are pushing this hard and will continue to until it’s sorted!

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The Ranty Highwayman @rantyhighwayman.bsky.social · 2h

Full of misery and dark brooding.

The Ranty Highwayman @rantyhighwayman.bsky.social · 2h

And a couple for for breakfast by the sound of it!

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Reposted by The Ranty Highwayman

Jim Waterson @jim.londoncentric.media · 3h

You might have heard of 'dark kitchens' when a row of sheds in a car park churn out food for Deliveroo. They're unpopular and low margin. So the next big thing in London food is 'host kitchens' where local pubs, restaurants and kebab shops cook for big brands. www.londoncentric.media/p/host-kitch...

Why your next upmarket Deliveroo might be made by your local kebab shop

"On one hand, it’s a lifeline... But on the other hand, it’s a harbinger of doom.”

www.londoncentric.media

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Reposted by The Ranty Highwayman

Engineer Like A Girl @engineerlikeagirl.bsky.social · 3h

I think it's always interesting to reframe stats to the cost of NOT doing the thing.

20's Plenty for Us @20splenty.bsky.social · 3h

In Wales, Cornwall, Edinburgh, London and so many places when most 30mph roads were changed to 20mph, people injured or killed by motor vehicles reduced by 20%+. With minimal change to journey times and £2bn saving in insurance costs it's a huge win. bit.ly/4gIBPlJ

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