Sorry for the crappy video, but I figured I’d share this short clip of some new “lane lights” that are now, uh, lighted on the Northbound Pasadena Fwy that’s supposed to help with that long line to transfer on to the 5. I guess that’s what the signs about lane lights have been about. I noticed these last night and they seemed a bit bright and almost distracting. Not sure if others think that as well but I also noticed there was way more traffic around this time than usual (8:30 pm-ish) yesterday and today. You ‘ll notice that it’s one line of lights and then turns into two lines (don’t cross) near the 5 ramp. Plus they also put up physical barriers to see if they can stop the usual assholes that try to cut in line way up front, though I bet they’ll just be jerks a bit sooner. I usually stay out of this lane precisely to avoid said jerks, but I wanted to get close to safely get this clip. Yes, very safe.
Just an FYI, so you don’t get all freaked out in the middle of the night. If you’ve seen them, do you think they are useful or just a tad distracting/dangerous?
I think they’re cool, but I wasn’t sure what they were for.
WEMEAN!
They seem totally distracting. It’s such a poorly designed interchange for the amount of traffic now. I’m sure when it was built it was perfectly suitable for the traffic flow but now…
Part of an upcoming rush hour 2-lane exit system…
http://ohmygov.com/blogs/general_news/archive/2009/09/03/freeway-smart-lanes-on-the-way-in-la.aspx
Wow…that hurts my eyes.
What song was that playing in your car? Diggy grooves 🙂
They look great in the tunnels. It’s like you’re entering into a Virgin America flight and all that’s missing is the house music. Ponchis ponchis!
hella distracting !!! theyre super bright and i thought i might have been driving on some highway in some distant planet in a far away galaxy…
I saw that yesterday too. Funny you mentioned it. I don’t like driving at night because of lights from the other side of the freeway. Who knows what that is going to do. They are bright and light blue.
They’re called Smart Studs, not like the kind at Chippendales I guess 🙂
They’re to allow the interchange to be 1 lane at certain times of the day, and 2 lanes during busier times. Why would they ever want just 1 lane, you may ask? Because it’s about a 90 degree turn, and at freeway speeds, there have been many a crash. So the intent is to speed up the traffic flow… when SAFE to do so.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/07/smart-studs-could-ease-congestion-at-1105-interchange.html
I thought the lights were fine. I hope it helps because I drive through there a lot and the level of assholery I see is truly scary.
Valco,
That was Wemean from Switzerland. http://www.myspace.com/wemean
I think they are too bright. I got mesmerized by them and almost got into an accident! But I was pretty tired…
I found the music you listen to more distracting then those stupid lights.