There is a large building facing a road. It is by the side of only one road, i.e. it is not at a corner, or between parallel roads. This building has two gates numbered 1 and 2. You reach Gate no. 1 first when you are driving on the side of the road nearer to the building. (Which means that in India, where we drive on the left, Gate no. 1 will fall to your right when looking out from the building. In a country that drives on the right, Gate no. 1 will fall to your left.)
Now you decide to make one of these gates the entrance and and the other the exit. Which will you choose to be which and why? I ask this because though intuitively it seems that I’d choose Gate no. 1 as the entrance, it is always the other way round. This means that you have to travel longer to both enter and leave. Any explanation for this arrangement? I have thought of one, but I am not sure of it. Of course, if you are an expert in the field, there is probably a simple explanation, so shoot away.
to prevent your buidling from being used as a bypass road 🙂
While comment 1 is interesting, I thought, the reason was to enable people who drive out, to drive back in, should they have an immediate need. For example, those who missed their way and drove out by mistake (or some such reason) can drive back in this way — which is what happens in most Hotels anyway. At least, when I am driving.
I agree with you, it makes more sense for Gate 1 to be the entrance and Gate 2 the exit. A multiplex in Pune has this exact same arrangement, only they shifted from a Gate 1 entrance to a Gate 2 entrance about a year back. Now both traffic going into the theater and traffic going out passes the same narrow stretch of road, whereas earlier, neither stream would have. Result: Traffic chaos.
Actually Kunal, my explanation is the reverse of yours. Your explanation works when the mall is the only high-traffic building on that road. But as often happens, if there are multiple buildings close by, then vehicles coming out of Gate 2 of building no. 1 will use the same lane as vehicles backed up trying to enter using Gate 1 of building no. 2. If on the other hand, everyone uses Gate no. 2 for entry, then the backed up vehicles will pile up in front of the building rather than interfering with other traffic.
This is of course assuming that other sensible aspects of traffic management are in place, i.e. the roads are broad enough to carry at least two lanes either way, and vehicles aren’t allowed to take a right turn to enter the mall. If, as you are saying, the road is so narrow that vehicles entering as well as leaving have to use the same lane, then the mall had no business being there in the first place.
>>”intuitively it seems that I’d choose Gate no. 1 as the entrance”
Well, that’s how it is in my office! But, yes, most often it’s the other way round. And, I go with barbadkatte. A very strong reason.
Often, you would have passed gate 1 before noticing the mall. So gate 2 entry is very attractive to draw in more crowd that had no idea of going to the mall otherwise.
Agree with Ravi. One of my main pastimes is to imagine better city traffic planning (usually when I am stuck in a jam) and this is how I had it set up in my mind for a main road with service road on either sides:
Bldg1 Bldg2
+———————->———+
Main road
———————————————
Traffic enters the service road at a break upstream with turns around and heads back to the bldgs of interest looping into and out of them as required. Rejoining the main road at a break downstream.
But hadnt thought of the bldg being used as a “bypass road” 🙂
regards,
Jai