Friday, February 06, 2009

Just For the Record...

The Most Annoying Intersections in the Kansas City Area


~ Santa Fe and Antioch, in Overland Park -- Every morning, I head west on Santa Fe out of Downtown Overland Park on my way to work. My next move is to turn left to head south on Antioch. And every day, it seems, I catch this left turn light just as it changes to red, meaning I have to sit through the entire light. It doesn't matter what speed I travel on Santa Fe leading up to this light. Some days, I go faster; some days, I go slower. Every day I get the same result.


~ Shawnee Mission Parkway and Rainbow, in Fairway -- No matter what direction I'm coming from, this light is red 99% of the time. You would think that a light would favor one street or the other. But that would just make too much sense. **Bonus Irritation** -- When turning north onto Rainbow from the left turn lane on Shawnee Mission parkway, the left turn light is green for literally 3 seconds. This is not an exaggeration. The first car in the turn lane doesn't even make it out of the intersection before the light has turned yellow. People run this light with such regularity that the folks heading west-bound on Shawnee Mission Parkway don't even get all that upset when it happens.


~ Shawnee Mission Parkway and Belinder, in Fairway -- Just a couple hundred yards from the above intersection, you cannot pass through here when traveling east or west on Shawnee Mission Parkway without stopping. Even though Belinder is not a busy street. And by "not busy", I mean that I've never seen more than two cars at one time on this street. Belinder is a two-lane street; SMP is a four-lane street. I have never seen pedestrian traffic at this intersection. This is a logic-free zone. Coupling it with the above intersection is a quick way to jump-start some road rage.


And, finally, the worst intersection in the history of mankind,


~ Martway and Broadmoor, in Mission -- This has been the worst intersection I've ever seen and has been this way since I was a small child. It's a four-way stop sign with left-turn lanes in each direction. No one ever seems to know whose turn it is to go next. Which leads to either, a) everyone staring and waving at each other to go or, b) everyone pulling half-way into the intersection and then waving, screaming or honking at each other. If the previous intersection is a considered a "logic-free zone", this intersection should be considered a logic black hole. All logic and reasoning is sucked into this intersection and destroyed. This intersection should be avoided at all costs.


Please feel free to add your own entries in the comments so we can all suffer together...

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

How about all those lights that get tripped by one car from a deadend street coming onto a four-lane street? There are 3-4 of those from SM Pkwy to 103rd St. Like you said, Nick, the light should favor the busier street! ARGH!

Anonymous said...

Oh shoot.....that's on Antioch.

Nick said...

Yeah, there are plenty more lights that irritate me. Thankfully, I don't run into them as often as these.

Anonymous said...

Try a different route? Mix up your life a little....take chances...think out of the box....