Curves

240 km without curves, in the middle of the desert and with truck traffic

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Imagine driving for more than two hours without turning the steering wheel even a single degree. No curves, no noticeable slopes, no changes on the horizon. That is the reality of Highway 10 (Highway 10) of Saudi Arabia, which holds the Guinness record as the longest straight road on the planet with a completely linear section of 240 kilometers. A highway born for a king. Highway 10 stretches 1,480 kilometers from Ad Darb to the border with the United Arab Emirates, but it is its segment between Haradh and Al Batha that has received all the attention. The road was originally built as a private road for King Fahd of Saudi Arabia, although today it has become a fundamental artery for the transport of goods between the center and west of the country with the Emirates. The Empty Quarter desert as a setting. The road crosses the Rub’ al Khaliknown as the Empty Quarter, the largest sand desert in the world. The area itself explains why it is possible to build such a straight line: there are no mountains to surround, valleys to cross or geographical features to avoid. Just sand and more sand as far as the eye can see. The infrastructure is completely paved and has mainly two lanes in each direction, supporting intense truck traffic that crosses the desert. Speed ​​limits adjusted for heavy traffic. The maximum speed allowed on this highway varies depending on the type of vehicle: passenger cars can travel up to 120 km/h on fast sections, buses 100 km/h and trucks 80 km/h. Although in 2018 were announced Upper limits of up to 140 km/h for light vehicles in certain sections, the constant presence of heavy transport makes maintaining these speeds complicated in practice. A mental challenge more than a physical one. Believe it or not, driving on the straightest road in the world is not as easy as it seems, especially due to fatigue. The monotony of the desert landscape and the total absence of visual stimuli can cause drowsiness and even a dangerous disconnection while driving. Added to this is the occasional threat of camels wandering across the road. So, although the route is ‘easy’ to handle, mentally it can become a nightmare. Not for nothing is it found in Dangerous Roads website. Reinforced security measures. Aware of the risks involved in driving on such a monotonous road, the Saudi Ministry of Transport and Logistics has implemented various improvements safety features, including paved shoulders, reflective pavement markings (known as “cat’s eyes”), protective barriers, kilometer signs, and directional and warning signs. Here the driver’s attention must be vital, especially on a road with so few changes. Other legendary straights. Before Highway 10 snatched the title, the Australia’s Eyre Highway boasted the record with a 146 kilometer straight stretch through the Nullarbor Desert. Although almost 100 kilometers shorter, this Australian road remains one of the most unique driving experiences on the continent. Also noteworthy are roads such as ND-46 in North Dakotathe United States, or some sections of the Argentine Route 40which although they do not compete in length of absolute straightness, offer endless kilometers of visual monotony. Cover image | City Vibes In Xataka | Yes, the V16 beacons transmit your position in the event of an accident. No, the DGT cannot “spy” on you with them

dangerous curves and a fatal accident

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Curves surrounded by concrete walls. Some accompanied by exits to different parts of the city and others with important slopes. The Madrid entrance by the A-5 has not only become a nightmare of traffic jams and an ordeal for neighbors. Now, driving for her has become dangerous. What had they told us. When the Madrid City Council presented the project to underground entrance to Madrid On the A-5 road he mentioned that the works would be compatible with the traffic circulation. The idea is that one of the two sides (the entrance) becomes underground to, in a second phase, the vehicles will circulate underground and begin the underground of the other sense of the circulation. Then it was sold (and so it happened at first) that all the traffic would move first to one side of the road and then pass the other. That is, we would have entrance and exit lanes but there should not be many more inconvenience than those of finding a greater volume of withholdings. Section with curves and flush changes where the death of a motorist has been recorded Curves come. What they did not explain at the Madrid City Council is how it was going to happen at the entrance to the capital from the left side (the usual direction of departure) to the neighborhoods of Aluche or Lucero (which fall to the right of the road). Nor, on the contrary, these neighborhoods would be passed in the direction of the road. The solution has been to divert the road into specific points. For this, a succession of curves has been created that usually involves two S. From the left side in the capital, there is first a right-left succession and, subsequently, left-right. In the middle an exit to the surrounding neighborhood is generated. As you can see in the image that heads this article. Dangerous. The curves are closed, they use narrower lanes than usual To gain space in both sensesthey are delimited by concrete walls and in some cases there are grounding changes to go over the underground work. There are with a crosswalk included. And we even have a very dangerous exit of the gas station that you see in the image, right next to the output of the Boadilla road. If you have recently circulated through those sections, it is very likely that you have felt true (and logical) danger. I will tell you more, you are not alone. Collect in Telemadrid That the complaints have multiplied and the Madrid City Council is valuing to suppress these curves to facilitate the journeys and improve security. At 20 km/h. The solution that has occurred so far is to limit the circulation in some sections to 20 or 30 km/h. It is a measure that goes beyond caution, circulating above that speed is to play it against the wall and have a good scare. At the beginning of September, A motorist died after it was overwhelmed by a tourism. The camp area, where the accident happened, is especially dangerous because there is a double curve in S, there is an elevation of the land and, in addition, the exit to the Boadilla road in the offense is next to the exit of the gas station that accompanies this article and the poster is barely displayed. Better signaling. It is another complaints of the drivers of which they echo Telemadrid. The signaling of the outputs is clearly small and insufficient. In each output, the signal is arranged in the vertex of the same but there are no previous notices. In addition, the size is small, the usual for this type of outputs but without, as we say, the previous signage. That generates greater risks and unforeseen since the layout can change slightly every night as the works advance. And it is especially complicated for those who circulate once or twice a week along this road and, therefore, are more sensitive to changes. More and more inconvenience. The underground of the A-5 is also affecting the day-to-day life of the neighbors. Yesterday, September 22, a problem during the work of the operators has left a large part of the adjacent homes and businesses. In addition, the increase in requests in the coverage of the mobile network caused the collapse for some companies or the impossibility of using services such as Bicimad, as we could verify. It is just one more chapter in works that are causing serious inconvenience to the residents of the area by The noise and transfer of trucks or excavators. But also with Internet, Light and Water that since the works begin, they are leaving the residents without basic supplies without prior notice. Photos | Xataka In Xataka | The icing on the cake to the works of Madrid: the city has become a gymkana of reforms, cuts and discomfort

The Ribeira Sacra is becoming a lethal trap for tourist buses: there are too closed curves

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In April a bus full of retirees was heading to the cannons of Sil, one of the tourist points more striking of the Ribeira Sacra. When trying to turn in one of the curves that gives access to this location, the bus He got stuck. Not only that: its front part was on the edge of the road and exposed dangerously to the slope that led to the river. It is the third incident of this type in the last two months. Curves too closed. Last weekend another bus full of tourists was caught on the Lu P-4103 road, between Ferreira de Pantón and Santo Estevo de Ribas de Sil, in the province of Lugo. As they point out In Galicia Newsthat section is already known for its closed curves, which are not a problem for cars, but that are for buses. A misleading road. As they point out In the voice of Galiciathe road that has become a nightmare for buses cheats at the beginning. When Ferreira de Pantón leaves “it seems safe, but its final stretch, the descent to the bridge that crosses the SIL near the Santo Estevo train station, not only narrows, but earns pending and is filled with curves.” It is in the two worst, 180 degrees, in which buses can get stuck. The narrowness and slope join the problem and turn these curves into a true trap for buses. Black Points in La Ribeira Sacra. To that black point are joined by the entries to the Tourism Parador of Santo Estevo, in Nogueira de Ramuín, and to the abandoned monastery of Santa Cristina, in Sil Parada. Access to Playa de A Cova is also complicated. GPS browsers don’t help. In that incident the driver, alerted by a neighbor, was able to maneuver and turn to continue the journey by an alternative route, the N-120. The problem in many cases is that the GPS browsers used by drivers indicate that LU P-4103 is the fastest route, but do not offer notices about those paths that can be an important problem for heavy vehicles. The two possible routes: La Corta (Lu P-4103) is the one that makes us go through closed curves that can become a bus trap. Better the longest route. To go from Ferreira de Pantón to the jetty of Santo Estevo, from where the guided tours of boat to the cannons of the Sil, there are two possible routes. The browsers They show both. The fastest is that of the Lu P-4103 road, 18 km away and that is traveled on average in 28 minutes. The second, adequate for heavy vehicles as buses, is what is made along the N-120 road, with a 28 km route that is completed on average in 36 minutes. In this second case there are no closed curves that threaten buses and other heavy vehicles. And it is not easy for them to be updated. Today we depend on companies such as Google and Apple and their maps to use their browsers, but it is not easy to suggest changes in these maps to prevent such problems. Each of the three major alternatives acts as follows: WAZE: It only allows you to warn of incidents andn real time (Works, cars in the gutter, bumps, objects), but there is no way to suggest that this type of notices are added to the map permanently. Is A very voted request In your suggestion mailbox, but for now there is no update that allows you to do something like that. Google Maps: It allows to contribute With data or content errors, such as Add or correct roads, although this option is “only available in some countries and regions.” Although we can notify on cut roads, it is apparently not possible to mark that road as narrow or with curves too closed for heavy vehicles, for example. Apple Maps: In Apple’s service there is also the option of Notify incidents In real time, and also to inform with a problem And the signage, what? The neighbors themselves expressed in the voice of Galicia their opinion on a problem that has an obvious solution: signaling these roads to warn of these closed curves. As those neighbors indicated, “it is not understood that they have not yet placed warning signs on the roads.” Spokesmen of the Diputación de Lugo indicated in that newspaper that that is effectively the solution, and confirm that they will “reinforce and improve signaling” on that road to “anticipate these situations, protect both users of the road and the environment and guarantee a safer and more orderly circulation.” Image | Saxad Isz In Xataka | Painting color asphalt is the latest trend on half -world roads. And the DGT has its own plans

The allergic of Spain have been enjoying a truce for two months thanks to the rains. Now curves come

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We are in full spring and approaching the month of May. Or what is the same: the pollen season is thrown on us. Pollen is one of the main allergens and, in case this was not enough, The trend is growingthat is, more and more people suffer allergy to some type of pollen. An intense season. The experts They foresee an intense pollen season This spring. Although the weeks with the highest incidence of allergens are usually in the months of May and June, the meteorology can cause the first sneeze to catch more than one by surprise. Meteorology, an important factor. The rain is one of the most important factors When it comes to knowing whether or not they wait for us for days of sneezing. Primaveral rains can prevent the concentration of allergens in the environment, at least for a few days. And if there has been something in recent days (and the last months) is rain. Although in recent weeks we have not seen episodes of torrential rains, the possibility of an important increase in the concentration of pollen in the environment has been limited by rainfall. Looking back. However the relationship between moisture and pollen It is more complex that the simple “sweep” effect. The persistent rains of recent weeks may have protected us from early pollinators, but have also contributed to the accumulation of soil moisture and in the pollinating plants themselves. As Physicist José Miguel Viñas explains in Meteoredspring rains, situations like this, in which a rebound of temperatures follows a pause in the rains, pollen levels tend to shoot. The temperature another factor to take into account. And it is that the temperature is the other great determinant when providing the levels of allergens that will stalk us in the next few days and weeks. Many plants begin to wake up from their winter lethargy in the mid -winter and begin to accumulate energy. After a certain accumulation threshold, these plants can start the pollinating phase of their reproductive cycle. First notices. Thus, this week you can mark the beginning of the season for many allergic. According to The data of the monitoring of the atmosphere of Copernicus, this week some allergens will already emerge in some areas of Spain, especially In the south and in the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula. In the Peninsular South it will highlight the Olive Pollen. On Thursday and Friday in some areas of Andalusia we could see concentrations of more than 5,000 grains per m³ of this allergen. Throughout the week, concentrations of more than 100 grains/m³ will be common in the southern quadrant of the peninsula. The grass will be another allergen to take into account in the central and south, although with less important concentrations, below the 100 grains/m³. During the week an increase in birch pollen concentrations is also expected in the center and north of the Iberian Peninsula. The presence of this pollen will be especially noticeable in the northwest, in Galicia and west of Asturias, with concentrations that would exceed 100 grains/m³. The incidence would be moderate in the north third and in areas of Castilla y León. In Xataka | The time of the year in Japan has arrived where everyone has a mask. The fault is World War II Image | Copernicus

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