With all of the road construction around Akron (and more to come...ugh), I noticed a glaring over site
when it comes to proper signage when approaching a pretty congested and dangerous area of Akron.
I'm talking about Route 8 southbound just before and entering the central interchange. Continuing from Route 8 south to 77 south is easy enough, just stay in the far left lane. You can also continue south onto 77 by staying in the center lane on Route 8 as well. It's taking the exit to 76 eastbound that gets pretty confusing to many drivers.
The middle lane on Route 8 essentially “splits” with one lane continuing south to 77 and the other going to 76 east. The problem is, the far right lane that one would take to go 76 westbound is basically a dead lane because the ramp to 76 west is closed and has been for quite some time (and will be for quite some time to come).
But too many times I've seen drivers taking that far right lane thinking that that is the correct lane to be in to go to 76 eastbound, and that's just not the case. The sad part is, this hazard would be a pretty easy fix for the city of Akron with a few “right lane ends, merge left” signs approaching this area. And some arrows or block lines painted on the highway indicating the necessary merge would be very helpful too.
Instead, the city of Akron apparently thinks it's acceptable for traffic (traveling at highway speeds going around a bend) to merge with about 75 feet of notice that two lanes are jamming into one.
I know this is just one instance of MANY traffic shortcomings around the Rubber City, but c'mon Akron, let's get this addressed.