Ingress Pulsing - ???

[tommyzed]

This is a debate I've been having with my friends, and wondering if anyone knows the "Truth" (if such a thing actually exists out there on the Playa).

People keep talking about the "Pulsing" that happens on the ingress into BurningMan. The ingress experience is such that on Sunday (or any crowded ingress time), the traffic will come to a complete standstill (this year, about 20 miles outside of Gerlach) for about an hour... and then traffic suddenly moves about a mile... and then another standstill for another hour... and then another move forward for a couple miles... continue, repeat, rinse.

So what causes this? I have always been under the impression that this is a classic congestion artifact. Pump 20k cars into a system that has good inflow (I-80) but severely-reduced outflow (aka the dirt playa road) and you'll very quickly get a very long backlog of vehicles and then this snake or slinky-like effect.

However, people at my camp insist that the police are actually stopping traffic (say, right before Gerlach), by parking their police cars in the middle of the road and not allowing any flow until N minutes pass and there are a couple miles of free road ahead. And then the cops let the traffic move for a little while until they stop it again.

I found this [url]http://jackrabbit.burningman.org/t/View ... oc_item_16[/url] in the JR, but they're claiming it's "new for 2015", but I've had this ingress experience the last 3 years.

So does anyone know what the police/BORG did this year for Ingress Pulsing... and when?

best,
tommy / loki / whatever

[spacetime]

This was confusing to us as well. Both on the way in and out we never saw people who looked like they were controlling traffic.

The pulsing we thought we were experiencing on Sunday on the way in seemed to really be a choke point just before or just after gerlach and just like last year it was where RVs were trying to last minute fill up on gas and locals were selling local goods.

[maladroit]

You're not talking about the 8 hour backup between I-80 and Gerlach, right? Because that was due to an accident on the highway, and then (according to BMIR) additionally bogged down due to people getting out of their cars in the stopped traffic and walking around on the highway (Gate-road-esque).

This was all theoretical for me, coming down from the PNW. We enter the line right above Gerlach. I had some mechanical trouble, or else I'd have breezed directly onto the playa Sunday morning...BMIR was reporting 45 minutes through Gate most of Sunday. So there was no reason to pulse...and the police want people OFF the highway as quickly as possible. Pulsing during Exodus works because Gate can actually control the bottleneck; no one can control it inbound so it's best just to get everyone onto Gate Road as quickly as possible.

[spacetime]

You're not talking about the 8 hour backup between I-80 and Gerlach, right? Because that was due to an accident on the highway, and then (according to BMIR) additionally bogged down due to people getting out of their cars in the stopped traffic and walking around on the highway (Gate-road-esque).

Yes, that's what we experienced on ingress. We never saw the accident but I believe that what you've described + people getting in and out of cars would cause a lot of backup.

[Jackass]

Some of that "pulsing" you experienced is when traffic stops people leave their vehicles and or drivers nod off, when the line starts to move people are sleeping and or meeting neighbors. The line doesn't all move at once, it's a ripple effect, and that ripple hits a snag at every car or group of cars that are not moving when the line moves. Multiply that by the number of miles that still lie ahead and you can see the "pulsing" clusterfuck that abounds... Even worse after dark, when people really get tired and its really easy to sleep.

This year it took me like maybe 45-50 minutes from pavement to camp, fastest ever (Monday 10-11 am). Last year I was in the massive line, stopped 10-15 miles outside of Empire. Biggest problem was sleeping or inattentive drivers or groups of drivers not moving when the line did.

[trilobyte]

Nope, there is no ingress pulsing. What you're experiencing is that the gate closes and traffic does not move when there are whiteouts on the playa. And things can be all kinds of clear in Gerlach, or even on the highway at the edge of the playa, and still be a mess in there somewhere. And yeah, sometimes the whiteouts last a long damned time.

[spacetime]

Ok. I don't see these problems with ingress being fixed any time soon. It seems the best thing is to follow the advisement for low-traffic points and make sure everyone's planning and prep allows arrival at that time.

We stayed in Reno Saturday night but realized less benefit because we had to scramble for a few more things before heading in. A few things turns into a big time sink / arrival with the glut.

[tommyzed]

Hmmm... I don't think there was any accident or closures on Sunday morning. We left Reno at 9am and got in at 5pm. That's kind of expected now. Nothing seemed like an incident - we stopped the car probably about 8 separate times. Each time a little shorter than the last... and each time moving forward a little farther than the last.

[^Rhino!]

Nope, there is no ingress pulsing. What you're experiencing is that the gate closes and traffic does not move when there are whiteouts on the playa. And things can be all kinds of clear in Gerlach, or even on the highway at the edge of the playa, and still be a mess in there somewhere. And yeah, sometimes the whiteouts last a long damned time.

I was stuck in one for nearly two hours this year. Took the time to turn on my lights, put the truck in park, and put on my warning flashers. THERE IS NO SAFE SPEED IN A WHITE OUT. Sit in your vehicle, be patient, ride it out, and don't panic. (Don't be like the dumbass Washoe County Sheriff who went by at 55 mph and nearly hit me---fuckin' Reno 9-1-1 asshole - - yeah, I got his tag and turned him in, too.).

[spacetime]

Hmmm... I don't think there was any accident or closures on Sunday morning. We left Reno at 9am and got in at 5pm. That's kind of expected now. Nothing seemed like an incident - we stopped the car probably about 8 separate times. Each time a little shorter than the last... and each time moving forward a little farther than the last.

It happened some time in the afternoon I believe. We got a later start and ended up on the highway for 8-10 hours.

[tommyzed]

ok thanks. So I take this then as either normal traffic or there was some multiple of road closures. But since I doubt that the entry was closed 8 times on Sunday morning/afternoon, I'm going with my original traffic-pattern theory (coupled with maybe an entry stoppage or two). Either way, no one seems to have seen or heard of cops purposely closing the highway to regulate traffic.

Maybe I can get some kids at Berkeley to do a chaotic-system analysis of the phenomenon.

best,
tommy

[pink]

I did see a post of FB that a bus rolled in Gerlach Sunday. This tied up traffic. Getting vehicles around it could have caused the on & off backup that rippled down 447.

[Corvus]

I was stuck in one for nearly two hours this year. Took the time to turn on my lights, put the truck in park, and put on my warning flashers. THERE IS NO SAFE SPEED IN A WHITE OUT. Sit in your vehicle, be patient, ride it out, and don't panic. (Don't be like the dumbass Washoe County Sheriff who went by at 55 mph and nearly hit me---fuckin' Reno 9-1-1 asshole - - yeah, I got his tag and turned him in, too.).

You were in a whiteout on 447?

[^Rhino!]

I was stuck in one for nearly two hours this year. Took the time to turn on my lights, put the truck in park, and put on my warning flashers. THERE IS NO SAFE SPEED IN A WHITE OUT. Sit in your vehicle, be patient, ride it out, and don't panic. (Don't be like the dumbass Washoe County Sheriff who went by at 55 mph and nearly hit me---fuckin' Reno 9-1-1 asshole - - yeah, I got his tag and turned him in, too.).

You were in a whiteout on 447?

Nope, I was coming in on Gate Road between the Greeters and the 5:30 spoke when that damned Washoe County asshole damn near backended me. Reno 911 to be sure. I hope those fuckers hate being called that, because now, because of their deputies, I'm making it a permanent part of my playa speech.