I've been mulling this post over in my head for months. Originally, I wanted to take a video camera with me in the car and just drive through this intersection a couple of times to give you an idea of the sheer terror of it. However, I did not do this for two reasons:
1. I am not willing to drive through this intersection for research purposes. Heck, I am hardly willing to drive through this intersection even when it's the only way to get from Point A to Point B.
2. I am afraid that the presence of the camera would distract me enough to render me incapable of devoting my ENTIRE attention to navigating this intersection, and then I would crash and die.
So you get a Google Maps screen shot, sorry. Here is the craziest intersection of Sharjah, in my opinion, in all its glory:
Ta-da! Now, maybe it doesn't look so bad. So let's gather some context.
You've got your basic, terrifying, oblong traffic circle. The oblong ones are the worst because the tight turns require really fast exiting maneuvers, with more limited visibility. But still, it's just one traffic circle, right?
Wrong:
You see, there is another traffic circle nested inside the bigger traffic circle, and it's another oblong one. That adds a significant layer of complexity/terror. So there's that.
Please also note the overpass that spans the entire traffic circle (marked Al Arouba Street). Like an unwieldy sea monster, it extends its off-ramps and on-ramps onto the traffic circle like so many tentacles.
There are also a few insanely designed trouble spots in this traffic circle within a traffic circle. For starters, there's this entry point:
where three paths of traffic flow (in green) converge at the area marked by the red circle. It defies description, and belief, and order. Plus, two of those feeder paths have TWO LANES feeding into the circle, all at once (the off-ramp of the overpass thankfully has only one, and it's regulated by a surprise stop sign that is universally ignored because if you stop, the people behind you will slam into you). It is a freaking jamboree of cars encountering each other at odd angles and speeds and intervals. It's one of those situations where you just plunge into the circle and DRIVE, displaying the highest level of intention and purpose as possible, and let everyone else figure out how they're going to deal with your presence.
Another trouble spot comes after you've managed to dart through 4-odd lanes of weaving traffic proceeding at unpredictable speeds, sneak under the bridge within the smaller traffic circle, and access the on-ramp to the overpass. Basically, you've "turned left." At this point:
the two lanes of the on-ramp run into the two lanes of the overpass. And I mean that literally. There is no merging area, no extra lane that gives you some wiggle room to fit in nicely with the existing traffic that is flying over that bridge. There are two lanes, and there are two other lanes, and they mash together. Terrifying.
The locals tend to agree that the road structures in Sharjah are odd - they claim that the city grew so quickly that there wasn't time to re-grid everything and make it all nice and safely navigable. I believe it. A traffic circle like the one I've described here might have been fine when there weren't too many cars around. Now, it's the kind of place where if you are in the car with me, and we are having a conversation, or listening to music, I tell you to be quiet, and I turn off the music, and I do my best to get us through the next few traffic maneuvers safely.
Now who wants to go for a drive?!?
1. I am not willing to drive through this intersection for research purposes. Heck, I am hardly willing to drive through this intersection even when it's the only way to get from Point A to Point B.
2. I am afraid that the presence of the camera would distract me enough to render me incapable of devoting my ENTIRE attention to navigating this intersection, and then I would crash and die.
So you get a Google Maps screen shot, sorry. Here is the craziest intersection of Sharjah, in my opinion, in all its glory:
Wrong:
Please also note the overpass that spans the entire traffic circle (marked Al Arouba Street). Like an unwieldy sea monster, it extends its off-ramps and on-ramps onto the traffic circle like so many tentacles.
There are also a few insanely designed trouble spots in this traffic circle within a traffic circle. For starters, there's this entry point:
Another trouble spot comes after you've managed to dart through 4-odd lanes of weaving traffic proceeding at unpredictable speeds, sneak under the bridge within the smaller traffic circle, and access the on-ramp to the overpass. Basically, you've "turned left." At this point:
The locals tend to agree that the road structures in Sharjah are odd - they claim that the city grew so quickly that there wasn't time to re-grid everything and make it all nice and safely navigable. I believe it. A traffic circle like the one I've described here might have been fine when there weren't too many cars around. Now, it's the kind of place where if you are in the car with me, and we are having a conversation, or listening to music, I tell you to be quiet, and I turn off the music, and I do my best to get us through the next few traffic maneuvers safely.
Now who wants to go for a drive?!?