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Posts Tagged ‘traffic’

Gyroscopic Public Transit Concept Hovers Above Traffic at Varying Heights

26 Aug

[ By SA Rogers in Conceptual & Futuristic & Technology. ]

In this strange vision of a city in the not-so-distant future, disc-shaped public transit, emergency vehicles and cargo vehicles rise up above traffic on vertical supports to zoom through the streets unimpeded, lowering to the ground at designated stops. Created by designer Dahir Insaat, ‘Gyroscopic Transport’ looks like an alternate take on China’s traffic-straddling bus (which turned out to be a giant traffic-snarling scam, by the way.) Could this new proposal be any better?

In a video announcing the concept, Insaat explains how the technology works and lays the groundwork for gyroscopic vehicles with the potential to be more successful than their predecessors. Taking inspiration from recent developments in the area of electric motor control, Insaat developed a gyro car that “meets all current safety requirements.” Noting that it’s financially and often physically impossible to significantly expand roads in existing cities, the designer suggests that we take to our “unused road medians” as a solution.

The Gyro car could fit into existing roadway infrastructure while remaining independent from the flow of regular motor vehicle traffic below. It can elevate high enough on its supports to safely pass over most vehicles, running along a special fortified strip between lanes. The car itself has a lightweight body and can either be designed with mass transit interiors to fit large groups of passengers, or as luxurious lounges. In the video, the designer also explains how the concept could extend to emergency responders like firefighters.

Of course, the concept hasn’t avoided criticism and questions as to its feasibility. What happens when a vehicle hits its support pillars at high speed, for example? These kinds of technical details don’t seem fully fleshed out yet, but it’s an interesting idea, and watching the pods navigate traffic circles is kind of mesmerizing.

[ By SA Rogers in Conceptual & Futuristic & Technology. ]

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Cones on Poles: Field Guide to Elevated Traffic Cones in Everyday Contexts

11 Aug

[ By WebUrbanist in Art & Installation & Sound. ]

Like some many things in the built environment, once you start noticing cones on poles you will see them everywhere — Cones on Poles, an “unofficial sequel” to The Subconscious Art of Graffiti Removal by Matt McCormick, explores “the strange phenomena of people placing cones on poles and other elevated places.”

What started out as a joke has become a study of adaptive patterns — per Matt, some are “predictable, like a cone being placed atop a bollard that keeps people from backing up into an oil tank,” while “others that are more geo-locative, like a cone on a mailbox or telephone pole in a rural area, set in place to create a sort of landmark.”

Over time, he has started noting and naming different configurations — a cluster of three or more is a “congress” (above) and then, of course, there is the self-evident “triple stack” (below).

“Traffic cones are symbols within a larger semiotic system we’ve created around the driving of automobiles (signifier: traffic cone / signified: hazard),” he explains, “but with cones on poles we see instances of people individualizing that system; the practice of everyday life, as Michel de Certeau puts it.”

Cones, in essence, signal us to be on guard, whether by indicating the presence of a fire hydrant, acting as a beacon for a home or simply (much like street art) making us wonder: what is that there for?

“Like so many of my projects,” says Matt, “this is both tongue-and-cheek yet also serious. It’s fun and goofy, but also part of my larger effort to simply encourage people to pay attention to the natural and built environments around them.” Follow this semi-serious documentary project on Instagram, and check out a trailer for Matt’s latest documentary film below.

[ By WebUrbanist in Art & Installation & Sound. ]

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Russia Hour Traffic: Andrey Tkachenko’s Soviet Car Concepts

10 Jul

[ By Steve in Art & Drawing & Digital. ]

Russian freelance artist Andrey Tkachenko reveals the figurative swans hidden deep within the notoriously ugly ducklings of the Soviet automobile industry.

“General Motors is not in the business of making cars. It is in the business of making money.” So stated the late Thomas Murphy, Chairman of General Motors from 1974 thorough 1980. That mantra was turned on its head back in the USSR where state-run automotive “businesses” cranked out an astonishing variety of unappealing utilitarian conveyances that wouldn’t make their manufacturers money unless they were melted down and minted into kopeks.

That said, Soviet designers managed to express their creativity in very limited ways though such expressions always took a back seat to utilitarianism. Andrey Tkachenko, a young freelance artist and graphic designer based in the northwestern Russian Federation city of Nizhny Novgorod, looks beyond the limits of those stodgy soviet auto designs and extrapolates their modest aesthetics to heights the original designers feared to even imagine. Case in point: the GAZ-13 M13 “Chaika”, a soviet luxury car produced between 1958 and 1981 that falls stylistically between a Packard Caribbean and a Checker cab. Most Chaikas were painted black; the two-toned example above being a rare exception.

Putin Approved

We’re showcasing some of Tkachenko’s graphic renderings – “ciberconcepts”, as he calls them – along with images of their real-world inspirations. It’s an endeavor made possible though the artist’s trademark of captioning most of his works with the vehicle’s model designations. However, we must take issue with the “ZAZ-969 Coupe Japanese Style” above; it’s actually a ZAZ-968 similar to Vladimir Putin’s first car, a 1972 model. Being a judo aficionado holding a black belt, Vlad would likely approve of Tkachenko’s subtly Japanesque makeover.

Zuk On This

The Zuk (Polish for “Beetle”) was manufactured by the FSC Lublin Automotive Factory in Poland for a mind-boggling 40 years – from 1958 through 1998 – with few changes over the production run. Panel van versions were exported to the Soviet Union which is how Andrey Tkachenko knows of them. Tkachenko’s take on the alarmingly slab-sided Zuk transforms the rough & ready van into a Jagermeister-spewing “Time Attack Custom Project”. Can’t say it doesn’t look too shabby, with or without the aid of Jagermeister shots. Just below it is a real-world Zuk parked beside a late-production (between 1979 and 1994) ZAZ-968M.

Step On The GAZ

The GAZ-21 “Volga” was a so-called “executive car” manufactured by GAZ (“Gorky automobile factory” in English) from 1956 through 1970. Volga’s were desirable cars in their day, though one had to be in the KGB to order the hot V8-powered version with an automatic transmission. Exuding a 1952 Ford-ish vibe, the third series (1962-70) displayed a toothy chromed grill that features prominently in Tkachenko’s chop-topped, two-seater “Volgaster”.

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Russia Hour Traffic Andrey Tkachenkos Soviet Car Concepts

[ By Steve in Art & Drawing & Digital. ]

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Bike Over Traffic: World’s Longest Elevated Cycling Path Opens in China

11 Feb

[ By WebUrbanist in Architecture & Cities & Urbanism. ]

first cycleway china

China’s first aerial bike path spans nearly five miles, raised over streets and highways and connecting six public transit hubs in the heart of Xiamen. If the new route is even close to as successful as its designers and planners expect, it could help usher in a new cycle-centric transport paradigm across the country.

Sixteen feet wide, the bike-and-pedestrian pathway network can accommodate 2,000 or more bicycles per hour. At night, 30,000 lights allow travelers to continue using the paths safely. Its planners anticipate an influx of ridership and have a system in place to actually close down the on ramps if too many bikers are already on the path.

raised bike track

Some sections of the cycleway are positioned under overhead mass-transit express lanes, offering some shelter from the elements (and less noise than riding alongside). Along the route, riders access the system via a variety of ramps tied into the city bus and subway system, aiming to bridge the gap between various forms of transportation.

elevated cycle path

Would-be bikers can also pick up bicycles via a ride share system positioned at entry and exit points. If the system does reach full utilization, city officials may extend the network further in the near future. Other cities in China (and around the world) can also look to this integrated system for inspiration for similar bike-oriented urban design strategies.

[ By WebUrbanist in Architecture & Cities & Urbanism. ]

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Street Light Art: Traffic Signals Emit Surreal Rainbow Streams in Hazy City

10 Jan

[ By SA Rogers in Art & Photography & Video. ]

lucas-zimmermann-traffic-lights-5

It’s almost a cliche at this point to highlight the beauty that can be found in everyday items, like that scene in the movie ‘American Beauty’ where Wes Bentley and Thora Birch stare at a plastic bag waving around on a sidewalk like it’s the Mona Lisa. But sometimes, it just can’t be helped. Have you ever gazed at a traffic light and marveled at the accidental art it was producing? You’re about to.

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Being such a humble and unremarkable object, installed at countless intersections in countless cities, the traffic signal is an unlikely subject of the internet’s flighty attentions, but the magic here is really in photographer Lucas Zimmermann’s vision – and in the fog that clings to the town of Weimar, Germany.

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Zimmermann first captured his ‘Traffic Lights’ series on a particularly hazy night, noting that the light streaming from the red, yellow and green lamps was stretching out into rainbows. He wondered how the effect would be enhanced by long-exposure photography, and the results show the streams of light almost seeming to take physical form.

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“I have been waiting for two long years to finally go out again and progress on my traffic lights series,” says Zimmermann. “It was worth the wait.”

The new addition to the series is just as striking as the first, supporting Zimmerman’s belief that photography can show us things we might otherwise overlook, “such as a simple traffic light on the street.”

[ By SA Rogers in Art & Photography & Video. ]

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Lane-Spanning Airbus to Drive Right Over Car Traffic in China

29 May

land airbus solution china

A Chinese transportation company behind a lane-straddling bus design (which passes over lanes rather than occupying them) is moving from scale to full-sized test models this summer. The plan is to introduced fully-functional models of these “land airbuses” to (or: above) the streets of Beijing over the next few years.

straddlingbus

retro landliner design

The inspiration for this seemingly-novel design dates back to a 1960s “Landliner” proposed for New York City that would likewise ride on side rails adjacent to roadways. Cars would simply pass beneath the buses uninterrupted, moving faster than the bus in high traffic and allowing the bus to move over traffic jams. Such a system would be a fraction of the cost and effort compared to subway systems or even raised railways.

landairbus

In China, these new buses would hold up to 1,400 passengers each and cruise at up to 40 miles per hour, which sounds slow until you consider they do not have to stop for traffic. Running on electricity, these designs would reduce the need for conventional buses and cut polluting emissions. As a cyberpunk bonus: cars passing beneath these vehicles will see digital simulations of the sky above.

landair transit stations

For now, Transit Explore Bus is constructing a life-size model in Changzhou. This will allow real-time testing with actual cars, intersections and infrastructure, facilitating further refinements and eventual street deployments. For a country with serious pollution and traffic problems, this kind of solution could be just what is needed – for each new super-bus, 40 ordinary buses can be taken off the roads.

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Talking Points: 12 Odd Japanese Safety & Traffic Cones

04 Apr

[ By Steve in Culture & History & Travel. ]

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Plastic safety cones have become so ubiquitous along Japan‘s roadways, unusual measures have been taken to ensure they stand out amongst the crowd.

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“Safety in numbers”… a self-defeating term if there ever was when it comes to Japan’s countless cohorts of conical warning signs. They’re everywhere it seems: parking lots, construction zones, anywhere the ground is disturbed and could possibly pose a hazard to drivers and/or pedestrians.

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If these cones were all standard Safety Orange, our senses would tune them out as visual background noise. What to do? If you’re Japan, you deviate from the norm in oft-unexpected, cute and quirky ways… like these endearing Mount Fuji cones captured by Asagiri Web, Setsugekka, One Sometimes Futari, Daily Model Railroad Room, and Illumination Designer.

Smile When You Safety That

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Is it somewhat incongruous for warning markers to sport goofy grins? Yes, yes it is, but this is Japan so all bets are off. Flickr user Martin Bryant (MartinSFP) and blogger Cat (Overtake) Chan spotted these smiling sunflower cones making light of a serious situation.

Flower Power

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At the Sakuragi shrine in Chiba prefecture (east of Tokyo) it’s all cherry blossoms, all the time. The theme extends even to the temple’s parking lot where cherry blossom-wrapped safety cones add a note of scenic harmony. Kudos to blogger “Drawer of his Head” for noticing the cute cone in October of 2015 and proving one does not have to blend in, in order to stand out.

Size Matters

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Go big or go home, and that goes for safety cones, to the chagrin of local police forces. Kudos to Flickr user Kat n Kim and blogger Minkara for the images above.

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Talking Points 12 Odd Japanese Safety Traffic Cones

[ By Steve in Culture & History & Travel. ]

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Traffic Chop: 8 Dedicated Stenciled Traffic Lanes

20 Jul

[ By Steve in Architecture & Cities & Urbanism. ]

dedicated car lane
Seems everyone wants their own dedicated traffic lane these days… and it seems they’re getting them! Is white line fever taking over your neighborhood?

Scissors-Lane

White Stripes would make a great band name… oh, wait. Anyway, there’s no point demanding urban authorities cut it out. Car and truck drivers had better get used to sharing the road all official-like, no matter that traffic is certain to suffer in the short term at least. Can’t we all get along, seeing as we’re all getting along in the same direction albeit in varied types of conveyances and at different speeds?

High Textnology

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If jay-walking is a crime, shouldn’t text-walking be too? The question is being dealt with, and not always in a tongue-in-cheek manner – let’s call it “raising awareness” since that imparts a resistance to mockery in a “won’t someone think of the children?” kind of way. Only the top boffins at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah know whether their segregated Walk/Run/Text lanes are serious or not… and what if someone’s walking or running WHILE texting? DOH!

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Then there’s the above “Text Walking Lane” somewhere in Belgium that looks official on first glance but last we heard, English isn’t one of Belgium’s official languages.

‘Boarders Security

Skateboard-Lane-Stencil

OK, so skateboarders are the red-haired children of non-vehicular traffic but don’t they deserve a little lane lovin’ too? No? Maybe you’d prefer they see you hatin’ as they rollin’ on the sidewalk, hmm? At least one ‘boarder has taken measures into his or her own hands, as seen above on a bike trail in Ottawa, Canada’s Centretown.

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Traffic Chop 8 Dedicated Stenciled Traffic Lanes

[ By Steve in Architecture & Cities & Urbanism. ]

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Street Pong: Play with Fellow Pedestrians at Traffic Lights

09 Dec

[ By Steph in Gaming & Computing & Technology. ]

Street Light Pong 1

You might not be too concerned about how many light cycles go by before you actually get to cross the street if you’re too busy playing pong with the person waiting on the other side of the intersection. The ActiWait project aims to brings ‘street pong’ to intersections around the world, with two functioning games already installed in the city of Hildesheim, Germany.

Street Light Pong 2

The concept made its debut on the web in 2012, with the original video (below) getting so much attention that the interaction design students from HAWK University who created it decided to make it real. Designers Amelie Künzler, Sandro Angel and Holger Michel collaborated with traffic experts and fabricators to create a device that can be installed on traffic poles.

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“Yeah well… the idea was simple but traffic engineering isn’t,” say the designers on their IndieGoGo page, where they’re currently raising funds to bring the ActiWait to more cities. “So we got us some support from companies and professionals in the traffic technology industry. The prototype is 3D printed and fully equipped, the first game is programmed and we’ve already launched our product in October so we can proudly say: the world’s first smart pedestrian light button is finally here!”

Street Light Pong 4

The product needs funding to develop hardware and software for the final stage, a new professionaly-produced case, and to pass safety tests. The designers also intend to make it wifi capable for news feeds, navigation, traffic education and other applications in addition to pong – even speed dating. Learn more at IndieGoGo.

[ By Steph in Gaming & Computing & Technology. ]

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Posts With The Most: 12 Cool & Creative Traffic Bollards

29 Sep

[ By Steve in Art & Street Art & Graffiti. ]

Traffic Bollards Leicester 1
Never mind the bollards? Uh-uh: these traffic stoppers halt wayward vehicles like no traffic cone can. The best bollards, though, are designed to look great!

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Leicester City Council faced a conundrum in early 2014: children walking to and from Whitehall Primary school were endangered by vehicular road traffic. The street had no sidewalks; only a row of metal traffic bollards. The council’s ingenious solution was to modify the bollards to look like children, many wearing the school’s red uniforms. Kudos to Flickr user KiranParmar for capturing these kinda creepy “Stepford Children” in their native habitat.

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Not only do the modified bollards remind drivers to be aware of pedestrians, the scheme is much cheaper than laying down sidewalks. One would hope older ex-students don’t try to re-enact the infamous mailbox scene from the 1993 film Dazed and Confused… a metal bollard beats a wooden baseball bat every time.

Lean Design

Leaning Tower Pisa Traffic Bollard

“When life gives you lemons, make lemonade,” and when traffic tilts your traffic bollard, make it look like the Leaning Tower of Pisa of course! Kate McGovern snapped this tilted but still functional bollard somewhere in Philadelphia. Compromised or not, the bollard seems in better shape than the surrounding pavement while providing some unexpected visual interest.

Minions Of Bollards

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Who knew the 2010 movie Despicable Me was so popular… in Penang, Malaysia! Located on Soo Hong Lane off Armenian Street in Penang’s inner George Town neighborhood, the charming street art installation was painted by Lithuanian-born artist Ernest Zacharevic early in 2013 as part of a city-sanctioned campaign to beautify Soo Hong Lane. Unfortunately, Zacharevic had to be recalled to repaint at least one of the not-so-despicable bollards which was defaced – literally – by vandals.

LEGO My Bollard!

LEGO Man Traffic Bollards Le CyKlop Paris 1

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One popular bollard design features a narrowed area near the top to facilitate the attachment of ropes, chains and the like. Coincidentally, these particular bollards bear a cursory resemblance to LEGO men… and a little artistry (plus some yellow paint) enhances the effect even more. The oddly one-eyed LEGO men bollards above come to us courtesy of French street artist Le CyKlop (which explains much) and can be found along the Canal de l’Ourcq in Paris

360Photography

Posts Tagged ‘traffic’

Gyroscopic Public Transit Concept Hovers Above Traffic at Varying Heights

Cones on Poles: Field Guide to Elevated Traffic Cones in Everyday Contexts

Russia Hour Traffic: Andrey Tkachenko’s Soviet Car Concepts

Putin Approved

Zuk On This

Step On The GAZ

Next Page – Click Below to Read More:
Russia Hour Traffic Andrey Tkachenkos Soviet Car Concepts

Bike Over Traffic: World’s Longest Elevated Cycling Path Opens in China

Street Light Art: Traffic Signals Emit Surreal Rainbow Streams in Hazy City

Lane-Spanning Airbus to Drive Right Over Car Traffic in China

Talking Points: 12 Odd Japanese Safety & Traffic Cones

Smile When You Safety That

Flower Power

Size Matters

Next Page – Click Below to Read More:
Talking Points 12 Odd Japanese Safety Traffic Cones

Traffic Chop: 8 Dedicated Stenciled Traffic Lanes

High Textnology

‘Boarders Security

Next Page – Click Below to Read More:
Traffic Chop 8 Dedicated Stenciled Traffic Lanes

Street Pong: Play with Fellow Pedestrians at Traffic Lights

Posts With The Most: 12 Cool & Creative Traffic Bollards

Lean Design

Minions Of Bollards

LEGO My Bollard!

Next Page – Click Below to Read More:
Posts With The Most 12 Cool Creative Traffic Bollards

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Posts Tagged ‘traffic’

Putin Approved

Zuk On This

Step On The GAZ

Next Page – Click Below to Read More: Russia Hour Traffic Andrey Tkachenkos Soviet Car Concepts

Smile When You Safety That

Flower Power

Size Matters

Next Page – Click Below to Read More: Talking Points 12 Odd Japanese Safety Traffic Cones

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Road Work: 10 Pointed Examples of Traffic Cone Art

Traffic Chop: 8 Creative Stencils for Dedicated Traffic Lanes

Posts With The Most: 12 Cool & Creative Traffic Bollards

High Textnology

‘Boarders Security

Next Page – Click Below to Read More: Traffic Chop 8 Dedicated Stenciled Traffic Lanes

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SkyCycle: London Concept Takes City Biking to New Heights

Posts With The Most: 12 Cool & Creative Traffic Bollards

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Lean Design

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LEGO My Bollard!

Next Page – Click Below to Read More: Posts With The Most 12 Cool Creative Traffic Bollards

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Traffic Chop 8 Dedicated Stenciled Traffic Lanes

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Posts With The Most 12 Cool Creative Traffic Bollards