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Turn-lane help from state to state
Map Quest can be handy when figuring out how to get from one place to another. I've used it to get from Ohio to Montana through Minnesota, for example. Sometimes though, like if you're going to an out of the way place you'd better look at a conventional map. The folks who run the Hope Springs Institute in near Pebbles, OH have told me not to rely on the Map Quest map to find them and so has somebody who lives west of Dayton, OH in a place that doesn't have a post office box.
Map Quest also doesn't cover all the road navigating possibilities. The New York Times recently had a nifty article that runs through the possibilities. Consider the "jughandle turn" in New Jersey or the "Michigan left." And there are the low water crossings in Texas and Kentucky and the frontage roads. Texas has them, and from experience, I can tell you that so does New Mexico.
Ohio has turn lanes that run down the center of busy roads. They basically allow you to pull into the middle of lanes going either way so you can make your turn without stopping the flow of traffic--nerve-wracking for people hailing from elsewhere.
The jughandle is basically the same concept as the center lanes in Ohio but, instead of putting you in the center of a road where traffic careens by on either side, it's a road that goes off the right side of the road then loops around to the left. The Michigan left is a turn lane that basically allows you to make a U-turn.
The New York Times article included a University of Maryland website, Unconventional Arterial Intersection Design, that explains the various regional turns. It includes an animated feature. Pretty cool.
Filed under: Business, Stories, United States
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Debbi Aubee Feb 4th 2007 5:30PM
I've never heard the middle lane for turning called a Jug Handle and I'm not entirely sure the name even makes sense. "Jug Handle"? Mighty large jug I'd say; however, when you consider what I call that lane, perhaps it could be considereed the handle of a ginormous bottle of liquor. I call that lane the suicide lane for obvious reasons. Sometimes, I refer to it as the parking lane for dummies. What really makes me want to push some "drivers" (and for a good number of them I use the term loosely) clear across the road regardless of what might be coming. It's the "dummies" who will pull into that lane while driving down these roads with the entire rear end of their car in the thru lane - where did they see the sign along the way that said to wait till they are but a car length or two from the car they'll be behind before making any move whatsoever into the "jug handle" / "suicide" lane? I missed it. And where's the sign posed that says if you are makeing a left from a parking lot (they have to cross 2 or 3 lanes to get to the middle lane before merging into the flow of those 2 or 3 lanes). Did I explain that right? Anyway, I'm curious to see that sign or meet the other dummy that told them they could only use that lane - at the last minute mind you - if they are coming out of the actual flow of traffic and NEVER from a parking lot, as such. These poeple are delusional which makes me wonder why they're driving in the first place. Those are the very one who cause accidents day after day after day (at least where I live), some die - hence my referring to is as the suicide lane. They didn't think that through at all. Oh, lastly, I've noticed more and more that drivers in that lane are few and far between anymore who use a turn signal either. How am I to know if they are turning or merging? But, hey I guess those people were smarter than I was when I bought my vehicle because they clearly opted OUT of purchasing turn signal for their vehicle. I mistakenly bought 'em. I wonder how much those set me back? Food for thought.