This morning I drove Highway 248 to get to Deer Valley. As usual, traffic had backed up and the road rage was starting. What’s the problem? The merge from two lanes to one lane right before the narrows going into Park City.

You had some people getting in the left lane way before the merge. You had some people zooming down the right lane, passing by all those who had moved to the left lane. In order to “fight” this, drivers from the left lane began moving to the center of the road, blocking drivers on the right from getting by. Then there was what looked like a small city bus that used the shoulder on the right to fly by the “road blockers.” It wasn’t exactly the safest maneuver you’d want to see from a bus.

It’s frankly a mess, and you can feel the collective blood pressure of all people involved rising. Unsurprisingly, this problem isn’t unique to Park City. There are plenty of places in the world where two lanes merge to one. If you’d like to get into mathematics and queuing theory, we’d recommend reading this New York Times article called Urge to Merge.

If you don’t geek out to 0 = α₀ 1n (C₂/k_j), here is the gist. The most efficient way for traffic to merge from two lanes to one is using a “zipper merge.” Traffic uses both lanes as they approach the merge. Then cars in each lane take their turn merging.

So what would we suggest, three electronic signs on Highway 248 (the temporary orange variety). Two signs among 248 would ask motorists to use both lanes. This serves the purpose of educating EVERYONE that both lanes are OK to use. This should reduce road rage as the people on the left (called “Lineruppers”) don’t get enraged as people fill the right lanes (called “Sidezippers”). Park City has TOLD people to use both lanes, so it is OK that people are using the right lane.

Then a third sign is added near the merge that asks people to take turns merging.

Would it work? It looks like it has in other areas. Perhaps Park City has tried this in the past and it hasn’t been effective. If not, we won’t know unless we try.

It seems like both a way to improve traffic flow and make people happier. That would be a good combination for Park City.

We were doing research after yesterday’s visit to the Kimball Junction Transit Center. We happened upon the following document on Summit County’s website.

It appears the County has agreed to pay up to $82,000 for artwork for the new Kimball Junction Transit Center. We freely admit that we are not art aficionados and we’ve have taken enough art classes throughout our lives to know that art is in the eye of the beholder. Still, eighty thousand dollars for art in a transit center seems over the top. So, what are they planning?

According to Park City Magazine, “Inside the transit center, riders are greeted by an interactive wall display made up of images informed by the viewer’s actions, captured and translated in real time by a movement sensor…Outside, transit riders will find a series of aluminum sculptures adorning the center’s six bus shelters.”

We suppose that all sounds great… again each to their own on art. Then the Park City Magazine article reminds us of why we are skeptical. It says, “When members of the Summit County Public Art Board decided two years ago to include a budget for a public art installation, their goal was to create a piece that would stimulate ridership on public transit.” They believe this $80,000 “investment” in art will stimulate ridership?

We’ve been to Moscow, where every subway station is an ornate piece of artwork. Did this encourage us to ride the train more often? No. We only road it if it was more convenient.

Will a combination of a projector, a screen, motion sensors, and some aluminum placards help fix our transportation issues? We suppose we won’t know until mid January when it is released. However, we would guess that long-term impacts are minimal.

$82,000 seems like a lot to spend on artwork for a transit center that few people will ever see.

$82,000 is a couple of teachers. $82,000 is a couple of bus drivers (or raises for the existing drivers). $82,000 is a lot of road repairs $82,000 is real money.

We don’t begrudge the art. We’re actually excited to see what they come up with as a part of this project (the technology sounds very interesting). However, the fact that the county is willing to spend eighty two grand for art at the transit center seems excessive.

It seems like money that could be spent in a much better way to solve our problems.

Spurred by Tom Clyde’s great column in this week’s Park Record, I just had to visit the new Kimball Junction Transit Center. The Transit Center is the building and bus stop behind the library in Kimball Junction. While Tom had a number of good points about how many people will won’t use it, I have a fundamentally different question.

Is this all you get for three million dollars?

When you walk inside you see a smaller than expected room, with a lot of benches, 50 power outlets, a piano, and a couple of bathrooms. You’ll probably think to yourself, “this is smaller than my kitchen and living room.” It is true that there is a lot of concrete outside and there is a downstairs that the public can’t access. Maybe they are storing the county’s gold or something down there.

But heck, they got the most expensive part for free… the land.

After spending about 10 minutes and seeing no one, I left thinking one thing…

If this is what you get for $3 million, the school district better plan on $50 million for their field house and maybe $200 million for upgrades to the high school.

Just crazy.