Learn How to Drive Through a Diverging Diamond

UPDATE (5/17/2017): FDOT has announced that the new traffic pattern will be implemented this Sunday, May 21, 2017. This does not mean the end of construction at the interchange, but we will begin using the “Diverging Diamond” pattern at that time.

 UPDATE (4/5/2017): FDOT has made the slides from the public workshop available for anyone to review who couldn’t make it in person. (Did you go? How was it? Let us know in the comments below!)

Late spring or early summer. That’s when we’ll all start using the new “diverging diamond” interchange at University Parkway & I-75.

But since a lot of people are still wondering how to drive through a diverging diamond, the Florida Department of Transportation has scheduled a couple of workshops for Tuesday, April 4th to explain how it works.

When: Tuesday, April 4 at either 2pm or 5pm

What: 90-minute workshop: “Navigating the Diverging Diamond Interchange”

Where: Everglades University, 6001 Lake Osprey Drive (map)

Why: To show us all how to drive through a diverging diamond.

File this under “mildly alarming,” but I’ve got a nagging question:

Why the Heck Will it Take 90 Minutes to Teach Us How to Drive Through a Diverging Diamond?

OK OK… the flyer says that first the first half hour, everyone will have a chance to review some exhibits and speak with FDOT staff (you’ve been itching to do that, haven’t you?!). Then there will be an “informative presentation,” followed by a Q&A session, which in my imagination will be filled with elderly people who don’t know how to use roundabouts asking the same question over and over in different ways.

So… maybe it won’t take that long to actually explain it.

After all, this nifty video does it in just under 8 minutes:

Hopefully it won’t take 8 minutes to get through this darned interchange once the construction finally ends!

But I’m not holding my breath…

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