Signalized Merges

[webny99]

NY 15A ramp to NY 252 EB and WB, Henrietta, NY.

15, not 15A.

Correct, my bad.  Funny how I can keep them straight south of the Thruway, but not north of it... 

[webny99]

Does this count?

[img snipped]

How about this?

[img snipped]

Based on what I can tell, yes to the first one.

I looked up the second one because it was unclear what else was going on at the intersection. I'm going to say no because it's essentially a regular T-intersection with the left turn movements prohibited on that approach.

[plain]

I forgot this one when I made my first post, but this is probably one of the busier ones out there: PA 581 WB ramp to US 15 SB.

I believe this one is disqualified because it also involves a left turn from the opposite direction.

[jmacswimmer]

I forgot this one when I made my first post, but this is probably one of the busier ones out there: PA 581 WB ramp to US 15 SB.

I believe this one is disqualified because it also involves a left turn from the opposite direction.

I suppose it's up to the OP, but I would note that this one was identical to the I-78/PA 100 one mentioned upthread by stridentweasel for many years - the left turn was added more recently to remove a tight cloverleaf formerly serving that movement.  But that ramp merge between PA 581 & US 15 still operates exactly as it did before, and the signal phasing isn't even affected because the left turn can (and does) happen concurrently with the ramp traffic coming from PA 581 WB.

[Ricw24]

https://goo.gl/maps/UeAZH1oqg6vfHnsR6

I-190 EB Exit 3A off ramp/US 62 SB in Amherst, NY

[MASTERNC]

https://goo.gl/maps/UeAZH1oqg6vfHnsR6

I-190 EB Exit 3A off ramp/US 62 SB in Amherst, NY

Interesting setup as you have lights off to the left as if either drivers are looking for oncoming traffic or as if there used to be a left turn movement there.

[sprjus4]

VA-168 South at Exit 10A.

[jakeroot]

There used to be a signalized merge between the off-ramp and frontage road of I-90 in Spokane, WA:

https://goo.gl/maps/HkTmYrbih5KJjsAx9

It was removed around 2014-2015.

[Ricw24]

https://goo.gl/maps/UeAZH1oqg6vfHnsR6

I-190 EB Exit 3A off ramp/US 62 SB in Amherst, NY

Interesting setup as you have lights off to the left as if either drivers are looking for oncoming traffic or as if there used to be a left turn movement there.

My experience at this intersection is most traffic off the off ramp tend to treat it as a stop sign. Since there is no sign prohibiting right turn on red & most drivers treat it as a right turn.

[jeffandnicole]

https://goo.gl/maps/UeAZH1oqg6vfHnsR6

I-190 EB Exit 3A off ramp/US 62 SB in Amherst, NY

Interesting setup as you have lights off to the left as if either drivers are looking for oncoming traffic or as if there used to be a left turn movement there.

My experience at this intersection is most traffic off the off ramp tend to treat it as a stop sign. Since there is no sign prohibiting right turn on red & most drivers treat it as a right turn.

The pavement markings treat it like a right turn also if you turn the GSV around.

[Ricw24]

https://goo.gl/maps/UeAZH1oqg6vfHnsR6

I-190 EB Exit 3A off ramp/US 62 SB in Amherst, NY

Interesting setup as you have lights off to the left as if either drivers are looking for oncoming traffic or as if there used to be a left turn movement there.

My experience at this intersection is most traffic off the off ramp tend to treat it as a stop sign. Since there is no sign prohibiting right turn on red & most drivers treat it as a right turn.

The pavement markings treat it like a right turn also if you turn the GSV around.

Then its purely just bad design, either lack of signages or bad use of stoplights.

[webny99]

I forgot this one when I made my first post, but this is probably one of the busier ones out there: PA 581 WB ramp to US 15 SB.

I believe this one is disqualified because it also involves a left turn from the opposite direction.

I suppose it's up to the OP, but I would note that this one was identical to the I-78/PA 100 one mentioned upthread by stridentweasel for many years - the left turn was added more recently to remove a tight cloverleaf formerly serving that movement.  But that ramp merge between PA 581 & US 15 still operates exactly as it did before, and the signal phasing isn't even affected because the left turn can (and does) happen concurrently with the ramp traffic coming from PA 581 WB.

Some might say this is a change of pace for me, but I'm not going to be too pedantic about it. 

If it's a two-phase signal, which it appears to be, presuming these arrows are permanently green, then it fits the spirit of the thread.

[webny99]

https://goo.gl/maps/UeAZH1oqg6vfHnsR6

I-190 EB Exit 3A off ramp/US 62 SB in Amherst, NY

Interesting setup as you have lights off to the left as if either drivers are looking for oncoming traffic or as if there used to be a left turn movement there.

My experience at this intersection is most traffic off the off ramp tend to treat it as a stop sign. Since there is no sign prohibiting right turn on red & most drivers treat it as a right turn.

The pavement markings treat it like a right turn also if you turn the GSV around.

Then its purely just bad design, either lack of signages or bad use of stoplights.

Huh. I had forgotten there was a signal at this location. I think it does make sense, though, because imagine how challenging it would be to turn left onto Ridge Lea Road if it was a merge instead of a signal. You'd be almost to the intersection by the time you merged and still have several more lanes to cross.

[1995hoo]

Some might say this is a change of pace for me, but I'm not going to be too pedantic about it. 

....

If you really want to be pedantic, technically it's only a "stoplight" if it's red. 

(I've never heard anyone call a green light a "golight," though!)

[webny99]

Some might say this is a change of pace for me, but I'm not going to be too pedantic about it. 
....

If you really want to be pedantic, technically it's only a "stoplight" if it's red. 

(I've never heard anyone call a green light a "golight," though!)

LOL, this is the debate I wage with myself every time I refer to a traffic signal. I know that's the correct term, and yet it sounds and looks in writing just a bit too esoteric for my liking. And of course, the shorter "light" and "signal" are both too ambiguous for a thread title.

[Ricw24]

https://goo.gl/maps/UeAZH1oqg6vfHnsR6

I-190 EB Exit 3A off ramp/US 62 SB in Amherst, NY

Interesting setup as you have lights off to the left as if either drivers are looking for oncoming traffic or as if there used to be a left turn movement there.

My experience at this intersection is most traffic off the off ramp tend to treat it as a stop sign. Since there is no sign prohibiting right turn on red & most drivers treat it as a right turn.

The pavement markings treat it like a right turn also if you turn the GSV around.

Then its purely just bad design, either lack of signages or bad use of stoplights.

Huh. I had forgotten there was a signal at this location. I think it does make sense, though, because imagine how challenging it would be to turn left onto Ridge Lea Road if it was a merge instead of a signal. You'd be almost to the intersection by the time you merged and still have several more lanes to cross.

The really should add a no turn on red sign if their intension is to stop traffic at the intersection with only right turn arrows.

[kphoger]

If you really want to be pedantic, technically it's only a "stoplight" if it's red. 

According to whom?

I'm not aware of any MUTCD of FHWA definition for the word stoplight.

No dictionary I can find defines stoplight as only the red aspect.  In fact...

stoplight
noun
US (also stop light)
US/ˈstɑːp.laɪt/ UK/ˈstɒp.laɪt/
(also traffic light)

one of a set of red, yellow, and green lights that control the movement of vehicles, usually at a point where two or more roads join

[jakeroot]

LOL, this is the debate I wage with myself every time I refer to a traffic signal. I know that's the correct term, and yet it sounds and looks in writing just a bit too esoteric for my liking. And of course, the shorter "light" and "signal" are both too ambiguous for a thread title.

I don't think there's anything esoteric about "traffic signal". That's a very common term. In fact, I find "stoplight" to actual be a more retro term that seems to have fallen out of fashion.

There is a "traffic signal" thread on here. I'm sure we would have known what you meant.

Better thread title: "Signalized Merges"

[webny99]

... Better thread title: "Signalized Merges"

The nature of the term 'traffic signal' could be debated, but I do concur with this. Updated.

[1995hoo]

If you really want to be pedantic, technically it's only a "stoplight" if it's red. 

According to whom?

I'm not aware of any MUTCD of FHWA definition for the word stoplight.

No dictionary I can find defines stoplight as only the red aspect.  In fact...

stoplight
noun
US (also stop light)
US/ˈstɑːp.laɪt/ UK/ˈstɒp.laɪt/
(also traffic light)

one of a set of red, yellow, and green lights that control the movement of vehicles, usually at a point where two or more roads join

As the smiley indicates, I was trying to be funny. But you have out-pedanticked me! 

(I think of "stoplight" as a regionalism because most people I know who say that tend to be from the New York area–which, I suppose, also sort of applies to webny99. There is also, of course, the insipid Christmas carol "Silver Bells" that uses that word, although that song always brings New York to mind for me as well.)

[jmacswimmer]

I forgot this one when I made my first post, but this is probably one of the busier ones out there: PA 581 WB ramp to US 15 SB.

I believe this one is disqualified because it also involves a left turn from the opposite direction.

I suppose it's up to the OP, but I would note that this one was identical to the I-78/PA 100 one mentioned upthread by stridentweasel for many years - the left turn was added more recently to remove a tight cloverleaf formerly serving that movement.  But that ramp merge between PA 581 & US 15 still operates exactly as it did before, and the signal phasing isn't even affected because the left turn can (and does) happen concurrently with the ramp traffic coming from PA 581 WB.

Some might say this is a change of pace for me, but I'm not going to be too pedantic about it. 

If it's a two-phase signal, which it appears to be, presuming these arrows are permanently green, then it fits the spirit of the thread.

As far as I know, they are indeed permanently green...the only potential reason for a red would be the ramp merging from PA 581 on the right, but that is unsignalized (and if it was, well then it'd just be another example for this thread!!!)

[CoreySamson]

I found this interesting example in San Marcos at the I-35/SH-80 interchange on the Texas U-turn:
https://www.google.com/maps/@29.8819696,-97.9217047,3a,75y,11.69h,78.23t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sByu0XZX-9BdihhNuoegRgw!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

This interchange is basically a mashup of a traditional Texas-style freeway with feeder roads and Texas U-turns with a continuous-flow intersection:
https://www.google.com/maps/@29.8821506,-97.9215777,583m/data=!3m1!1e3

Wonder if any other interchanges like this exist anywhere else (the concept is nice, though I wonder how effective it actually is).

EDIT: this interchange has another 3 signalized merges!
https://www.google.com/maps/@29.8817467,-97.9204171,3a,75y,78.71h,85.53t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sG_OyZ4bbfCtvRNx0SwWQDQ!2e0!7i16384!8i8192
https://www.google.com/maps/@29.8837147,-97.9229366,3a,45y,296.21h,88.33t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sz6bjZiIZUHJXG27j9qMI7w!2e0!7i16384!8i8192
https://www.google.com/maps/@29.8832852,-97.9222315,3a,32.8y,172.33h,93.59t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sQgzc5dhj1uGOymCfxPbKtw!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

[HighwayStar]

There are a few more in PA:

Liberty Bridge in Pittsburgh (there are two merges in a row)

I-76 and US 1 SB outside Philadelphia (an absolute mess due to a lot of weaving from two offramp and a left turn lane a few hundred feet later)

I will second the Bala Cynwyd example as being a mess.

[Scott5114]

I don't think there's anything esoteric about "traffic signal". That's a very common term. In fact, I find "stoplight" to actual be a more retro term that seems to have fallen out of fashion.

I think it's matter of regional dialect. "Stoplight" is very common in Oklahoma, and "traffic signal" is basically only used in formal contexts. "Traffic light" is used too.

[jakeroot]

I don't think there's anything esoteric about "traffic signal". That's a very common term. In fact, I find "stoplight" to actual be a more retro term that seems to have fallen out of fashion.

I think it's matter of regional dialect. "Stoplight" is very common in Oklahoma, and "traffic signal" is basically only used in formal contexts. "Traffic light" is used too.

If I had to rank the most common terms in the Seattle area: (1) "light", (2) "traffic light", (3) "signal", (4) "traffic signal", (5) tie with everything else.

Around here, "stoplight" just isn't a term. I would associate more with older people, and then more rural areas, and then other parts of the country. But it's not a normal term here by everyday drivers.