Michigan Lefts outside Michigan

[Alps]

While starting to narrate my Louisiana photos, I found a Michigan left: LA 45 at Lapalco Blvd..  I couldn't find another thread on this, so put your findings here!

[corco]

I don't know if I heard about this here or somewhere else, but

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/072710dnmetleftturn.416f9bf.html

[JREwing78]

Why not? Like roundabouts, once people get used to them, they make perfect sense.

Wisconsin, in particular, needs to adopt them. They have a ton of divided boulevards and highways with left turns made at the intersection that holds up traffic flow.

[tradephoric]

Loop 360 in Austin, Texas is a 13.987-mile 4-lane divided arterial with at-grade signalized intersections.  It is known for traffic backups during rush hour (the entire city of Austin is known for bad traffic congestion for that matter).  TxDOT is considering converting most of the intersections to Michigan Lefts.

[Brandon]

Why not? Like roundabouts, once people get used to them, they make perfect sense.

Wisconsin, in particular, needs to adopt them. They have a ton of divided boulevards and highways with left turns made at the intersection that holds up traffic flow.

Ditto with Illinois.  The divided highways here are a nightmare with the dedicated left turn signals.

[BlueNacho]

http://maps.google.com/?ll=41.992264,-88.046075&spn=0.005965,0.011877&t=m&z=17&vpsrc=6&layer=c&cbll=41.992155,-88.046106&panoid=lxVj9w007NxJ-jOokgj5pg&cbp=12,102.63,,0,4.07

The Elgin-O'Hare Expressway at illinois 53. I have no idea why IDOT didn't make an interchange with 53 to provide better access to I290. The stopping to transfer highways is an unnecessary delay.

[Brandon]

http://maps.google.com/?ll=41.992264,-88.046075&spn=0.005965,0.011877&t=m&z=17&vpsrc=6&layer=c&cbll=41.992155,-88.046106&panoid=lxVj9w007NxJ-jOokgj5pg&cbp=12,102.63,,0,4.07

The Elgin-O'Hare Expressway at illinois 53. I have no idea why IDOT didn't make an interchange with 53 to provide better access to I290. The stopping to transfer highways is an unnecessary delay.

There's a reason IDOT gets its nickname.

[1995hoo]

I'm not sure this qualifies because the right turn is the only turn. In Bordentown, NJ, traffic on Ward Avenue wanting to go south on either US-130 or US-206 has to make a right, then make a U-turn further up the road. But the right turn is the only way you can go because Ward Avenue ends there–for that matter, if you want to go straight (onto Elizabeth Street), you still have to make the right and then the U-turn. So it's probably not a true "Michigan left" but the concept is roughly the same.

http://maps.google.com/?ll=40.151096,-74.699221&spn=0.006273,0.016512&t=m&z=17&vpsrc=6

I remember when I was a kid we used to stop at that diner for lunch going to or from visits to our grandparents in Brooklyn and we thought it was the weirdest thing how you couldn't turn left normally.

[tchafe1978]

Wisconsin is starting to implement Michigan Lefts in a few locations. WisDOT calls them J-turns on its website. Two I know of that are being planned are on WIS 29 just west of US 41 in Green Bay and on US 53 south of Superior.

[tradephoric]

I think Austin is taking the right approach by applying Michigan lefts along a major arterial (12 intersections along a 14.3 mile stretch) and not just a single intersection.  Plano, Texas just recently installed a Michigan left at a single intersection in the city and after over a year of operation people still seem to be confused.

It would be a radical change in Austin when 12 major intersections are converted to Michigan lefts but at least drivers would know what to expect.  Drivers would quickly associate "The Loop"  to "Crazy Michigan Lefts" .

Another major problem is the public perceptions to the benefits of Michigan lefts are negligible when only a single intersection is converted along an arterial. The intersection may carry 30% more capacity but tell that to the guy stuck in a backup a mile down the road waiting for a 4-phase traffic signal to turn green.  After the installation of Michigan lefts at the intersection of Preston & Legacy in Plano, a 13-mile drive on Preston Drive during the PM rush might take 23.5 minutes vs. 25 minutes before the installation.

[CL]

There's a signalized Michigan left of sorts at the intersection of State Street and 12300 South in Draper, a suburb of Salt Lake. Here's the "thru-turn" project website: LINK

[WolfGuy100]

There's a signalized Michigan left of sorts at the intersection of State Street and 12300 South in Draper, a suburb of Salt Lake. Here's the "thru-turn" project website: LINK

Wow, that's rather interesting.

[SidS1045]

Why not? Like roundabouts, once people get used to them, they make perfect sense.

Wisconsin, in particular, needs to adopt them. They have a ton of divided boulevards and highways with left turns made at the intersection that holds up traffic flow.

There's an intersection about a mile from my house that has a Michigan left in only one direction on the main road, and the direction that doesn't have it backs up horribly during rush hours.  Problem is, there's no land available on either side of the road to create the extra lane needed.

[tradephoric]

Hey SidS1045.  

I'm curious what intersection you are talking about.  I'm interested in finding as many examples of Michigan Lefts outside of Michigan that i can.  Thanks!

[vtk]

Hilliard-Cemetery Rd ends at a RIRO on Trueman Blvd just north of Cemetery Rd / Fishinger Blvd signal in Hilliard.  There's a u-turn north of the intersection, to facilitate Hilliard-Cemetery Rd to SB Trueman Blvd (and on to Cemetery Rd and I-270) but there's no u-turn before or at the traffic light to facilitate SB Trueman blvd to Hilliard-Cemetery Rd.

[US71]

There is a Michigan Left between Lowry City and Osceola, MO along Hwy 13.

[tradephoric]

A Michigan Left in Brazilia, Brazil:

[US71]

There are at least 3 on US 65 south of Buffalo, MO

[NE2]

There are at least 3 on US 65 south of Buffalo, MO

If you're forced to turn right, even to go straight across US 65, it's not a Michigan left.

[US71]

There are at least 3 on US 65 south of Buffalo, MO

If you're forced to turn right, even to go straight across US 65, it's not a Michigan left.

What would you call this then?

[NE2]

A Michigan left. Because you can go straight across US 31.

[US71]

A Michigan left. Because you can go straight across US 31.

Works the same on US 65, so what's the difference? Have you even BEEN to Missouri?

[Kacie Jane]

I see what NE2 is saying, but I would still call the Missouri ones Michigan Lefts.  (Perhaps they're Michigan Lefts with a little something extra.)  To me the defining characteristic of a Michigan left is the U-turns downstream, which are identical to those of a "true" Michigan left.

Why would the fact that you also have to use those U-turns for the straight movement disqualify it from being a Michigan left?  (Or should we start calling Michigan lefts with no median break Missouri lefts?)

ETA: The map layer and satellite layer on Google maps don't match.  I'm assuming the satellite layer is the correct one?

[NE2]

A Michigan left. Because you can go straight across US 31.

Works the same on US 65, so what's the difference?

You must be talking about different interchanges than I am, because this is certainly not a Michigan left. It's just a median closure with a couple U-turns.

[Kacie Jane]

If you were to draw the red and green arrows from the US 31 diagram on to the map of US 65, you'd see that the left turns do in fact work exactly the same.  The only movement that's not identical to a Michigan left is the straight across on the crossroad.