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Engineers: Traffic Studies Use Simulation Software, Not Lane Closings
Lucas123 writes "The so-called 'traffic study' that closed New Jersey access lanes on the heavily traveled George Washington Bridge last September has left engineers scratching their heads, because in modern America, simulation software is used instead of closing down lanes. One of the best sources for simulation data are video camera systems that use software to count vehicles on roadways. Traffic studies use microscopic traffic simulations to create virtual environments that can model driver behavior to road changes with exacting detail. Instead, the Port Authority, under Gov. Chris Christie, shut down two of the three access lanes for four days last September from Fort Lee to the George Washington Bridge without warning the public, citing a 'traffic study.' 'I would be pretty confident that if we knew exactly which lanes are closed we could replicate that, and it would show exactly how bad the backups are going to be,' said Lorenzo Rotoli, an engineer and vice president at Fisher Associates, a civil engineering firm in New York that works on roads, bridges and signal systems."
This was a spiteful and petty act of retribution, pretty much much as reported already.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
He was studying how playing traffic god would impact his political career
No, the real question is, has politics stooped so low that political staff (and possibly politicians) feel entitled to act like petulant little children and expect to get away with it?
And, if so, why is society prepared to live with their politicians and staff acting like such douchebags?
I don't care what political stripe you are, fucking with the traffic patterns to seek retribution against a political foe makes you an asshole.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
Christie is going to have to practice his lying skills if he wants to seriously be a contender for president. I mean, come on.. .Clinton.. the bushes.. Obama.. they gotta be looking at him as total j.v.
Or is this just because Christie is a republican. 2016 is starting early around here.
The democrat governor of MY state closed the DMVs in all the districts that voted in republican delegates. Didn't make the news at all. And now he's a U.S. Senator.
:wq
The problem is that the reasoning ability is low and the length of memory is short.
The same conundrum can be seen in Florida's governor, Rick Scott. He presided over a company involved in what was to that time the biggest Medicare fraud in U.S. history. He was either incompetent or a full fledged criminal. And what happens... people in Florida made his governor.
If people thought through things I would agree, but come vote type old Fat Farmer Joe is going to pull the lever marked "Republican Straight Ticket" because he bases all his votes on political stereotype or talking points. The fact that we have a malice vs incompetence conundrum is not going to matter to Farmer Joe because he's late for Hee-Haw.
The real question is whether it ordered by a rogue official(s), or the governor himself. If information comes out that the governor was involved then he just lost himself a chance at being president.
If Bush won, anybody can be president.
No, the real question is, has politics stooped so low that political staff (and possibly politicians) feel entitled to act like petulant little children and expect to get away with it?
This question has long since been answered. Anyone who follows local politics knows that this sort of thing is a daily occurrence. The difference is that most of these politicians don't have aspirations of being president, they just want all the perks and kickbacks that come with the position. So none of it ever gets the attention it deserves.
If you're stuck in a city or town that has voted in the same party for decades then there's corruption and nepotism on a level you can't even imagine. So the fact that it tricks up to state level isn't surprising at all. Sometimes it makes it all the way up to Federal government, but those guys are operating on a whole other level.
For the curious: here is a link to Sumo, which is a real, scientific traffic simulation software developed by the DLR in Germany.
Computer simulation made easy -- LibGeoDecomp
Well, yeah, that's not really the fault of the people. Game theory dictates that the kind of electoral system we have in the US pushes towards large, dissimilar alliances being able to capitalize on division of others into smaller groups. Political parties evolve and reproduce like a living thing, and success at elections drives that meme reproduction.
If you burned the two existing parties to the ground, made a law that said "you can't identify as democrat/republican, liberal/conservative, whatever" and somehow prevented the two from rising from the ashes you might get 2 different parties down the line, but there'd still be basically 2 parties.
It's a constitutional issue, and not a human one.
Another reason to talk about the "Bridgegate" scandal instead of, I dunno, real news like Obamacare, unemployment, our moribund economy, the ongoing blunders in foreign policy, NSA surveillance, etc.
Please, let's talk about Chris Christie some more.
-Styopa
No, the real question is, has politics stooped so low that political staff (and possibly politicians) feel entitled to act like petulant little children and expect to get away with it?
Yes it has. What do you think the IRS scandal was/is? At the very best the IRS scandal was almost exactly what Christie claims his "traffic study" was. Some appointed underling did something for the political advantage of their appointer in order to try and sway an election. Of course the person in charge "didn't know" and was "surprised to learn" that his appointee did it. I call it plausible deniability because it's very likely they actually didn't know, they just appointed people who just instinctively do stuff like this.
And, if so, why is society prepared to live with their politicians and staff acting like such douchebags?
I don't care what political stripe you are,
And slow rolling the tax approval of rival political groups is exactly the same kind of problem, albeit somehow more direct if you ask me. There is much to deride on both sides and the accepted political tactics they use.
"File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
Those are called "Laps"
Either way it is something Christie has never done.
Christie probably hasn't seen his lap (or anything in it) since the 6th grade.
---Ok, mean spirited, but I couldn't resist.
Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
Cristie would be even more toast than he is anyhow.
Seems goons like that are attracted to offices he got in which brings to mind why perhaps the NSA gets it's way because they have so much stuff to smear anyone and use that as leverage to get to play their little boys power games.
To quote another poster:
And this is a perfect example of how, if you repeat your false story enough times, people will believe it. The IRS office in question flagged groups from all over the political spectrum to determine if they were engaging in political activities that would prevent them from being tax exempt charities. Yes, they used "Tea Party" as a flag for further investigation, but they also used "Occupy". They were attempting to enforce the law passed by Congress, albeit in a very bad, possibly illegal way. For the record, they started these investigations after specific requests from Congress to make sure these nonprofits weren't breaking the law. But the House very carefully tailored their requests to make it appear that only conservative groups were targeted, and attempted to supress testimony that demonstrated groups from all over the spectrum were affected. Once the full testimony transcripts were released, the press realized there wasn't really much of a story and mostly dropped it. But low-information voters like you never bothered to follow the story to its end.
Except in the IRS scandal the IRS wasn't only targeting conservative groups like the talk-radio circuit would have you believe. They were equally targeting liberal groups filing tax exempt status while going about with political activites. In other words Fox and talk-radio friends left off the important fact that they were targeting all political activists both liberal and conservative that were filing for 501C4 status and then doing political activism. Apparently that is against the law.
Considering there are only three roads into Manhattan (many jobs) from Jersey (many residents), it is a big deal when someone intentionally fouls up the already terrible rush hour traffic on one of them.
It's also somewhat comical because this same Governor single handedly scuttled a shovel ready (and mostly paid for) project to build a new rail tunnel into Manhattan... it's almost like he wants to encourage residents to move to the same state they're employed in, which would *not* work out for Jersey at all...