OPINION/STREETALK

Fix the spaghetti bowl

As readers may have recently read, officialdom is nearing the point of planning the new spaghetti bowl where freeways come together in Reno.

It’s a little late to remind our people how, if the feds had listened to the locals instead of local businesses and put Interstate 80 north of town instead of right through center 0f the town on what then were called the Third Street Route or the Seventh Street Route (the one finally chosen), there would have been no need for a spaghetti bowl at all.

But there is still reason to recall that history, to remember that it is important to listen to locals in planning the alterations to the spaghetti bowl, because it’s the locals who will have to use it most.

The last time the spaghetti bowl was re-designed there was a feature added that should not have been. That was two- or three-lane transfer ramps that suddenly turn into one-lane ramps.

There are two of them on the current spaghetti bowl. One of them is eastbound on Interstate 80 and fills two lanes as they curve south to dump traffic onto 395 or 580, whatever they’re calling the north/south freeway.

The other heads north on three lanes of 395 or 580, then turns into Interstate 80 where those three lanes squeezed into one are dumped either onto 80 or into the last Reno exit from 80, which happens to be at the bottom of the exit ramp.

Both of these wide-to-narrow ramps generate road rage and cause drivers to compete against each other at high speeds.

In researching this editorial, we found a Sacremento Bee story that read in part, “We asked Bee readers last week about a common but controversial freeway moment: When faced with a sign saying, ‘Lane ends ahead, merge left,’ should you merge immediately or scoot ahead, passing other cars, until your lane ends? No surprise. We got no consensus. Drivers are adamant on both sides. Pat Longest says she gets in her lane early, and is angered by those who zoom by in the other lane. They’re rude, she says. You can read her lips as you pass by. ‘I say it out loud.’ Some of those ‘side zoomers,’ though, say they are being the opposite of rude. They’re reducing congestion by efficiently using available freeway space. Robert Massagli is emphatic: “If there is unused pavement on a highway, by all means USE IT!’ ”

By contrast. a Federal Highway Administration handbook reads, “increasing the number of freeway lanes from 2 to 3 will increase the ‘service volumes.’”

No, it won’t. The service volume remains the same. Expanding the number of lanes just pits the drivers against each other. And we need to knock it off. It’s danger0us. Ω

Favorite historical figure?

asKed at Pignic PuB & Patio, 235 Flint st.

Mara Harris

Yoga teacher Melania Trump, because she’s the queen of sex trafficking. In the conversation around women and power and their relationship to the men that they choose, I think there’s a big conversation that will be had about her in the future.

Pierce Moran

Sales representative Steve McQueen. He kind of did it all. He was a professional motorcycle racer, car racer, raced in Europe—but also a style icon as well as an actor. Not that he was a fantastic actor, but for the style of the era, he was good.

Kiyra Meader

Cashier Freddie Mercury. I grew up listening to Queen. My dad was born in 1950. He’s a very oldschool guy. He was the one who introduced me to that music, and I burned out three CDs of Queen—all of the albums—because I love them so much.

Jose Barron

Healthcare technology manager As frequent people who come to trivia, one of the craziest questions we had was “Which president was famous for getting stuck in a bathtub?” William Taft was just a very large gentleman, so he’s actually famous for getting stuck in a bathtub to where they had to have other people come help.

KeKe Kelly

International educator Langston Hughes. He wasn’t just a poet. He infused so much intention and social action into his poetry. I think he was saying what everyone else was thinking. ...That was at a time where so many people of color had so much on the tip of their tongues and had no platform to express how they were feeling.