[zephyr14] The Wet Bandits

[zephyr14]

I bike on the same path from the train station. It often rains, and the road gets wet and waterlogged. But sometimes one section of the road is relatively much less wet than the rest. Why?

[trebor2]

Is the road open-air? Is it covered by a tunnel? Does the direction the rain comes from matter? Perhaps there's something on one side of the road that acts as a barrier when the rain/wind is blowing from a particular direction?

Whenever that section of road is dry, is it because someone has intentionally dried it? For a special event? Are film crews relevant?

[zephyr14]

Is the road open-air? Yes Is it covered by a tunnel? No Does the direction the rain comes from matter? Perhaps there's something on one side of the road that acts as a barrier when the rain/wind is blowing from a particular direction? Not this; as long as it rains from above, the wind direction etc doesn't matter.

Whenever that section of road is dry, is it because someone has intentionally dried it? No For a special event? No Are film crews relevant? No, but nice idea!

[GalFisk]

When the section of road is less wet, does the water: not fall there? Not flow there? Flow away better? Get pushed away? Absorbed? Evaporated? Blown away? Drunk? Otherwise removed by animals? Is weather relevant? Manmade objects, apart from the road? Is this effect intentional?

[Mother Gothel]

Do you ride on a specific type of bike?

[zephyr14]

When the section of road is less wet, does the water: not fall there? not this
Not flow there? not this
Flow away better? YES
Get pushed away? i guess yesish (per previous answer) but not how you'd phrase it
Absorbed? no
Evaporated? no
Blown away? no (slight ish, maybe best to ignore)
Drunk? no -- i love the idea though
Otherwise removed by animals? no
Is weather relevant? just in that it is raining or rained very recently; nothing else
Manmade objects, apart from the road? yes
Is this effect intentional? no

[trebor2]

Is there a storm drain on one side?

Does the slope of the road change somehow?

Are vehicles (other than your bike) relevant? If so, other bikes? Cars? Trucks? Vans? Semis? Buses? Trains? Emergency vehicles? Do vehicles driving over this side of the road splash the water away?

Is the water cleared away due to human activity? Or, another angle: does it not flow away from the other side as well as it could, due to human activity?

[zephyr14]

Great round of questions!

Is there a storm drain on one side? no/irrel
Does the slope of the road change somehow? Yes!
Are vehicles (other than your bike) relevant? Yes If so, other bikes? Cars? Trucks? Vans? Semis? Buses? Trains? Emergency vehicles? but none of these Do vehicles driving over this side of the road splash the water away? no

Is the water cleared away due to human activity? yesish; yes if any human automation counts as human Or, another angle: does it not flow away from the other side as well as it could, due to human activity? not this

[GalFisk]

Is it on a bridge? Suspension bridge? Does traffic change its angle? If so, does it change when particularly heavy vehicles are present? When different traffic volumes are present?

[zephyr14]

Is it on a bridge? Yes!
Suspension bridge? No or irrelevant, to my understanding of what a suspension bridge is. Clarify if needed.
Does traffic change its angle? Yesish If so, does it change when particularly heavy vehicles are present? When different traffic volumes are present? but not in these ways. simpler, i think.

[GalFisk]

Does it relevantly tilt? Bend? Tighten? Expand? Shake? Twist? Slope? Light traffic relevant? Heavy traffic? Traffic jams? Fast vehicles? Slow vehicles? Road vehicles? Rail vehicles? Motor vehicles? Pedal vehicles?

[zephyr14]

Does it relevantly tilt? yes Bend? no Tighten? no Expand? no Shake? no Twist?no Slope? yes
Light traffic relevant? no Heavy traffic? no Traffic jams? no Fast vehicles? no Slow vehicles? yesish Road vehicles? no Rail vehicles? slight yesish Motor vehicles? yes, in a very general sense Pedal vehicles? no

[GalFisk]

Is the bridge for: pedestrians? Bicycles? Cars? Trains? Does the train you take to or from the station have anything to do with it? Is the twisting and sloping dramatic? Gentle? Imperceptible? Fast? Slow?

[trebor2]

So one end of the bridge gets more waterlogged than the other? Because it’s lower than the other end?

Cable cars relevant?

Oh, I forget what it’s called, but is this one of those bridges that raises to let ships pass? If that’s it, the edges would definitely get a lot more water pooled than the middle part, at least when the middle part is up.

[Sundowner64]

I think this is called a lift-bridge or drawbridge. Is it something like that?
A bridge that is lifted to one side? or split in the middle and lifted to both sides? lifted vertically as a whole?

[zephyr14]

GalFisk:

Is the bridge for: pedestrians? yes Bicycles?yes Cars?yes Trains?no Does the train you take to or from the station have anything to do with it?indirectly, yes Is the twisting and sloping dramatic?yes Gentle?yes Imperceptible?no Fast?no Slow?yes

trebor2:

So one end of the bridge gets more waterlogged than the other? Because it’s lower than the other end? yes

Cable cars relevant? no

Oh, I forget what it’s called, but is this one of those bridges that raises to let ships pass? If that’s it, the edges would definitely get a lot more water pooled than the middle part, at least when the middle part is up. Yes!

I think this is called a lift-bridge or drawbridge. Is it something like that?
A bridge that is lifted to one side? or split in the middle and lifted to both sides? lifted vertically as a whole?
This particular bridge has a middle section that opens, but i think all of these variants would drain a lot of water every time they open as well..

This is basically 95% solved but there's a tiny thing I'd like to still let you close: why does it only happen sometimes?

[GalFisk]

Does it only open sometimes? Does it open in different ways? At different times? Relevant what it opens for? Tides relevant?

[zephyr14]

Does it only open sometimes? i can't quite answer this with a yes/no but we are close enough so I'll say: yes in the sense that my commute only sometimes encounters it open. Does it open in different ways? no At different times?yesish Relevant what it opens for?not beyond clarifying an early "yes" answer to relevant vehicles, Tides relevant? probably not

[Sundowner64]

Is it a bridge over a waterway?
Are the vehicles ships? boats? yachts? barges? pulled barges (as you yesishly agreed to rails)?
Does the bridge open only when a certain number of vehicles has accumulated to pass? does it open at fixed times?
only during daytime? only when the sun is shining? (with the side effect that the upper end of the bridge will dry up)

[zephyr14]

Is it a bridge over a waterway? Yes
Are the vehicles ships? boats? yachts? barges? pulled barges (as you yesishly agreed to rails)? can be all of these
Does the bridge open only when a certain number of vehicles has accumulated to pass? no does it open at fixed times? yes!
only during daytime? i don't know / irrel only when the sun is shining? (with the side effect that the upper end of the bridge will dry up) no

[Sundowner64]

Do you usually cross the bridge at the same time? at different times? shortly before the bridge opens? shortly after it closed?
Waiting time while the bridge is open relevant?
Won't the bridge get wet when it is tilted upwards while it's raining?

[trebor2]

This seems like a silly question, but does the way the bridge lowers affect how wet part of it gets?

[zephyr14]

Sorry for the delay!

trebor2:

This seems like a silly question, but does the way the bridge lowers affect how wet part of it gets? I don't think so.

Sundowner64:
Do you usually cross the bridge at the same time? at different times? shortly before the bridge opens? shortly after it closed? That's it basically: different times depending on the trains I catch (and delays). Which could place me right after a bridge open/close cycle, or very long after the last one.
Waiting time while the bridge is open relevant? Only in that while I wait I see all the water draining into the river, prompting this puzzle.
Won't the bridge get wet when it is tilted upwards while it's raining? Yes. It's always wet while raining, but there is a lot less water trapped right after it opens.

***Spoiler***
One day as I was coming home from work, I arrived at this bridge just as it was opening to let some ships pass through. The bridge opens to one side. As it was raining and I was first in line by the barrier I saw a large volume of rain water draining down into the river, and sure enough, once it closed there were no substantial puddles along the bridge. The effect is probably not too noticeable unless you catch it happening, and if the rain is heavy it might cancel out quickly. My first thought was I'd hate to be under the articulation at that moment. My second thought was it makes for a cute lateral puzzle.