TX: What is this?

[texaskdog]

Nothing like encouraging the bad behavior!

[InterstateNG]

Drivers all over Texas are a bit shit.  Especially at night, they seem to be afraid of the dark.

[kphoger]

I'm OK with whatever intended use that weird lane (remember the OP?) has.  But that's definitely not the right way to stripe anything.

(I originally typed this post without the word not, which made it mildly funny.)

[texaskdog]

Drivers all over Texas are a bit shit.  Especially at night, they seem to be afraid of the dark.

and if you see ONE RAINDROP you'd think it was a blizzard.

Once I crossed the OK/TX border moving down here the use of turn signals reduced by 90%

Rained after work Tuesday and took 25 minutes to go 2.2 miles, and it was WORSE up ahead (same stretch as the picture but heading north).  We gave up and went home on the back way.  No traffic on the back way but Austin is notorious for avoiding building "back ways"

[empirestate]

I'm OK with whatever intended use that weird lane (remember the OP?) has.  But that's definitely not the right way to stripe anything.

Oh right, yes, my question. :-)

Is there any other place that uses this type of lane, for last-chance merging of entering traffic, perhaps striped a little more appropriately? I'm quite sure I've seen it somewhere, just can't remember where. (Long Island, maybe?)

[kphoger]

I-35W & I-494 in Minnesota come to mind.

Northbound to westbound:  http://binged.it/16klzxr
Southbound to eastbound:  http://binged.it/10l49Np
Eastbound to northbound:  http://binged.it/16kl2vr

The last one serves a dual purpose, the second purpose being a sort of oops-I-didn't-really-want-this-exit acceleration lane for northbound through traffic.

[Alps]

I-35W & I-494 in Minnesota come to mind.

Northbound to westbound:  http://binged.it/16klzxr
Southbound to eastbound:  http://binged.it/10l49Np
Eastbound to northbound:  http://binged.it/16kl2vr

The last one serves a dual purpose, the second purpose being a sort of oops-I-didn't-really-want-this-exit acceleration lane for northbound through traffic.

Similar: I-280 (NJ) WB at Exit 4A, signed as Exit Only but the lane actually drops after the ramp to allow 4B traffic the chance to merge - and to allow me to gain space by passing everyone on the right. (People drive abnormally slowly on this part of I-280 for some reason)

[US81]

I'm of two minds about these. I hate drivers who know that these lanes are exit only, but drive in them anyway to pass a few vehicles. Then they try to merge back into the through lanes and end up blocking the exit-only lane for drivers who are actually trying to exit as well as disrupting flow in the rightmost through lane.  Since this behavior occurs frequently, I guess striping it in this way provides some guidance and at least helps minimize the exit lane block.

Side rant: When did this become acceptable behavior? When I learned to drive, if you found yourself in an exit only lane and couldn't merge back into a through lane, you took the exit and then figured out how to get back to where you wanted to go.

[agentsteel53]

Side rant: When did this become acceptable behavior? When I learned to drive, if you found yourself in an exit only lane and couldn't merge back into a through lane, you took the exit and then figured out how to get back to where you wanted to go.

alternately - if you found yourself missing the exit, do not cut across at the last second. 

a few weeks ago, someone missed the 805 exit off 52... 805 slows to a crawl during morning rush hour while 52 keeps going at a quick pace, but he came to a complete stop, just before the gore sign, completely disrupting 52's traffic.  when no one would let him in (why should we?) he merged across quickly, nearly hit the gore sign, and clipped a UPS truck.

since they have cameras... yeah that guy's about to get what's coming.

I have no idea where these people have learned to be such shafts, but I generally blame the "give me Kardashian or give me death!" entitlement-industrial complex.

[Alps]

I'm of two minds about these. I hate drivers who know that these lanes are exit only, but drive in them anyway to pass a few vehicles. Then they try to merge back into the through lanes and end up blocking the exit-only lane for drivers who are actually trying to exit as well as disrupting flow in the rightmost through lane.  Since this behavior occurs frequently, I guess striping it in this way provides some guidance and at least helps minimize the exit lane block.

Side rant: When did this become acceptable behavior? When I learned to drive, if you found yourself in an exit only lane and couldn't merge back into a through lane, you took the exit and then figured out how to get back to where you wanted to go.

Hey, I agree, and a little police enforcement against this would go a long way. That said, I do duck into these lanes, but I also duck out before the gore area, finding the last acceptable gap before I become a problem/impedance to flow. Most people will just stop either at the gore or up to 500 feet in advance and slowly wedge their way into the tightest possible gap - it's these people that you should hate most of all.
But if an "EXIT ONLY" lane continues beyond the gore before ending, you're damn right I'm using it up until that point if it's moving the fastest.