Unsignalized Double Left Turns

[mrsman]

From the northern suburbs of Pittsburgh (McCandless TWP, I do believe)The left turn from NB Babcock Blvd onto Corporate Drive is a dual left-turn that encounters a stop sign  (opposing traffic does NOT stop)

https://goo.gl/maps/PUp1G93aQF7ptP616

I know of a similar intersection in Sylmar, CA, but the left turn movement faces an all-way stop sign.  San Fernando at Truman.

https://www.google.com/maps/@34.2934263,-118.4519905,3a,75y,155.57h,74.24t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sMV5WIPPJZPcdk0ny-Q9A9Q!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

[fwydriver405]

During the MPA basketball playoff games this year... this left into the Cross Insurance Center was made into a double unsignalised left at least for the duration of the playoffs... from Buck St there were two lanes turning into the parking lot to access the arena. Seems like the signage has been like this for a while... GSV below was from 2019 but still signed the same as of 4 March 2022.

From Buck St.
Turning into the Cross Insurance Arena

The intersection of Maine and Mason Streets in Brunswick, Maine has a double left-turn that's protected only by flashing beacons.

Damn, that's a great example! Almost all of these are decidedly rural or suburban. This one is definitely very urban.

Just for the heck of it (and looking for something in the local area), I looked up the intersection using the GSV history. Seems like it was signalised with protected-only lefts initially before sometime in the mid 2000's where the signals were set to flash, and eventually, the signals converted to beacons in 2012-ish.

[jakeroot]

The intersection of Maine and Mason Streets in Brunswick, Maine has a double left-turn that's protected only by flashing beacons.

Damn, that's a great example! Almost all of these are decidedly rural or suburban. This one is definitely very urban.

Just for the heck of it (and looking for something in the local area), I looked up the intersection using the GSV history. Seems like it was signalised with protected-only lefts initially before sometime in the mid 2000's where the signals were set to flash, and eventually, the signals converted to beacons in 2012-ish.

I'm not sure I've ever heard of a line of events like that: fully protected, flashing arrow, flashing beacon (still a yield). Normally it's the opposite, even for single lane turns. To have the opposite with double left turns is, well, I can't imagine there has ever been such a thing elsewhere.

Perhaps, if this was done elsewhere, northbound Maine would have a stop sign.

I looked up the intersection on Historic Aerials; even back in 2001, traffic turning left was yielding, judging by the car stopped midway into the intersection. Still see no indication of there ever being a stop line. Based on nearby intersections, I have to assume that they always use stop lines in Maine (they don't always over here, although without a crosswalk there normally would be).

[ran4sh]

At the main exit to Six Flags coming from Atlanta, the off ramp has an unsignalized double left turn onto the crossroad: https://goo.gl/maps/eEPC32PxRoXCQQLP9

[kphoger]

Didn't want to start a separate thread for unsignalized right turn lanes.  Split it if you think it should be split.

Before the intersection was rebuilt a few years ago, the EB K-254 exit for 45th Street here in Wichita had one.  And the SB I-135 exit for 9th Street still does.  But are there examples at non-interchange locations?

[webny99]

Also at an interchange, there's this absurdity at I-64 and KY 11 in Mount Sterling, KY. Fortunately, it's now been signalized. (I don't think I've ever seen an unsignalized double left or right turn in the wild, I just happened to remember this example from another thread.)

[plain]

Didn't want to start a separate thread for unsignalized right turn lanes.  Split it if you think it should be split.

Before the intersection was rebuilt a few years ago, the EB K-254 exit for 45th Street here in Wichita had one.  And the SB I-135 exit for 9th Street still does.  But are there examples at non-interchange locations?

VA 30 EB at Meadow Event Park

https://maps.app.goo.gl/voukmnMMra2yw3eW9

[CardInLex]

I use this one in Louisville, KY all the time. https://maps.app.goo.gl/ZvtjkYqckQkiLouFA?g_st=ic

Although there are now plans to change the ones way streets to two way streets in this area and this will be eliminated.

[roadfro]

A double unsignalized right turn in Nevada: WB Meadows Lane at Decatur Blvd.

Off hand, I can't think of another spot in Nevada where a double right turn situation is not signalized.

[jakeroot]

A double unsignalized right turn in Nevada: WB Meadows Lane at Decatur Blvd.

Off hand, I can't think of another spot in Nevada where a double right turn situation is not signalized.

The right turn slip lane from Neil Rd to Southbound I-580 in Reno is two lanes with a yield: https://goo.gl/maps/cubTdoi1h4AYSgyj7

[roadfro]

A double unsignalized right turn in Nevada: WB Meadows Lane at Decatur Blvd.

Off hand, I can't think of another spot in Nevada where a double right turn situation is not signalized.

The right turn slip lane from Neil Rd to Southbound I-580 in Reno is two lanes with a yield: https://goo.gl/maps/cubTdoi1h4AYSgyj7

Forgot about that one.

I'm pretty sure that movement was signalized when it first became a double right turn (concurrent with construction of the roundabout at Kietzke/Neil/Del Monte in the mid-2000s). I can't confirm that in Street View, but the presence of a stop bar instead of a yield line and there being pedestrian signals across the movement despite the yield in older Street Views seems to corroborate that memory.

[countysigns]

https://goo.gl/maps/gRhd5KSBf67K5oX7A
Until Jackson Street was changed to two-way traffic, this was a double left turn from 11th Street in uptown Toledo.

[fwydriver405]

Reviving a long dormant thread from hibernation, but just had to mention this unsignalised double left turn on the Daniels Pkwy EB in Ft Myers FL near JetBlue Park, as I passed by this while I was on a FGCU MTE trip back in November 2024. Earliest date I could find on GSV of this existing was in Nov 2013.

[74/171FAN]

Traffic in the opposite direction of this double left-turn in Chattanooga that must be used to stay on US 11 SB/US 64 WB.

[jakeroot]

In Phoenix, at North 50th and McDowell Road, there is a double left from a side-street that only has stop signs. The second left turn also can go right.

Most of the examples in this thread are pretty safe and would operate just fine. But this one is highly unorthodox in my opinion.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/FTwovtdMHaMmhXEZ8


McDowell Road / N 50th, Phoenix, AZ by Jacob Root, on Flickr

[webny99]

^ I'm not convinced that shared left/right arrow isn't supposed to be a shared thru/right arrow.

[US 89]

^ I'm not convinced that shared left/right arrow isn't supposed to be a shared thru/right arrow.

I don't think there would be two dashed lines painted through the intersection if the second lane weren't also for left turns.

[jakeroot]

^ I'm not convinced that shared left/right arrow isn't supposed to be a shared thru/right arrow.

I don't think there would be two dashed lines painted through the intersection if the second lane weren't also for left turns.

My thought as well. Those dashed line are almost exclusively used when there are multiple turn lanes, to keep traffic from drifting into the wrong lane. Single turns virtually never have them since drifting isn't really a concern.

[webny99]

^ I'm not convinced that shared left/right arrow isn't supposed to be a shared thru/right arrow.

I don't think there would be two dashed lines painted through the intersection if the second lane weren't also for left turns.

My thought as well. Those dashed line are almost exclusively used when there are multiple turn lanes, to keep traffic from drifting into the wrong lane. Single turns virtually never have them since drifting isn't really a concern.

That's fair, but then the painted arrow in the right lane should be a triple header (including an arrow pointing straight) instead of just a double header.

[Revive 755]

There's one at north end of the Amstutz Expressway in Waukegan, IL.

[mrsman]

^ I'm not convinced that shared left/right arrow isn't supposed to be a shared thru/right arrow.

I don't think there would be two dashed lines painted through the intersection if the second lane weren't also for left turns.

My thought as well. Those dashed line are almost exclusively used when there are multiple turn lanes, to keep traffic from drifting into the wrong lane. Single turns virtually never have them since drifting isn't really a concern.

That's fair, but then the painted arrow in the right lane should be a triple header (including an arrow pointing straight) instead of just a double header.

I agree that it seems somewhat unsafe.  For an intersection that is stop signed controlled on the side street alone, it would seem that McDowell has a lot more traffic than 50th.  Going straight or making a left from side street to big street is usually difficult, so right turns are generally preferred, or at least a dedicated right turn lane is formed so that right turning traffic can go when there is a gap in the eastbound right lane.  Obviously, that gap is much more frequent than a gap in all of eastbound and the left lane of westbound which is necessary to complete the left turn.

My guess is that there is a lot of traffic making a left here since more of Phoenix is to the west.  Plus, there is a nearby onramp to AZ-143.  The left turns might back up so much traffic that two lanes were needed to prevent blocking driveways, but it's likely only needed for a relatively small part of the day, so it wasn't enough to warrant a traffic signal.

Still a weird and unusual setup.

[jakeroot]

I suppose it's worth mentioning that the lane use sign approaching the intersection matches the arrows painted on the road. No straight-through movement permitted, apparently.

This left turn is leaving some kind of industrial facility; the gate leaving it does seem to operate part-time. It is hard to believe it produces enough traffic to warrant a double left.

[michiganguy123]

US-31 in Ludington, MI has a 2 lane right turn without any pavement markings from a stop sign

[Big John]

US-31 in Ludington, MI has a 2 lane right turn without any pavement markings from a stop sign

and the usual verbiage is "right turn only", not the first 2 words reversed.

[kphoger]

I suppose it's worth mentioning that the lane use sign approaching the intersection matches the arrows painted on the road. No straight-through movement permitted, apparently.

Straight through onto what?  It doesn't look to me like what's on the far side of the intersection is actually a city street.  I think it's just a big driveway for the storage unit business.  The lack of a STOP sign on the far side of the intersection reinforces that for me.  And if that's the case, then there wouldn't need to be a straight-through arrow for approaching traffic.