April 14, 2003

Another idle skunkworks project
So after spending at least a week complaining about what appeared to be horrible gaffes by the folks who simulated traffic flow through the Big Dig before it got built, they shifted southbound I-93 into the former northbound tunnel, and suddenly it only took 20 minutes to get home today including walking to the car, right at the height of rush hour. I've been threatening to whip up (or dig up) some traffic simulation code for at least a year---because I'm a nerd, I guess---and now that I am officially one of those people that drives to and from work every day I can purport to be motivated to learn about my surroundings, or something.

My prediction is that the traffic has mostly to do with people trying to cross all N lanes of traffic at once. (See four days ago.) I dream of getting a snowplow and T-boning these people and pushing them off into the shoulder, just past their exit. (In this dream, the collision teaches them the error of their ways, making them into considerate, infrequent drivers of small, fuel efficient cars.) Simulating them is probably more productive, tho. If I get around to doing so, I'll post reports to this space. Update: This is the sort of thing I have in mind.
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