Unnatural lane endings

[golden eagle]

These are lanes that that end without ending at an exit. A couple of examples are on I-20 west of Atlanta and between Tuscaloosa and Birmingham in which the interstate goes from six lanes down to four. Of course, there will be a sign giving you a one-mile warning.

[iwishiwascanadian]

Could I-91 North at Exit 33 (Jennings Road) in Hartford count?  The lane ends just after the exit (which I could never understand).

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

I-70 in Licking County is three lanes in each direction and shrinks back to two lanes between Buckeye Lake and Reynoldsburg. (That section I-70 in Licking Co. was one of the first sections built in Ohio)
I-71 is the opposite, it shrinks to two lanes from three lanes in northern Delaware Co and all of Morrow Co.

[TheStranger]

On I-5 south in Elk Grove, the left lane ends a bit after the Elk Grove Boulevard exit...

[PAHighways]

The recently rebuilt section of the Turnpike in Cumberland County widens to six lanes just after Exit 201 and then contracts to four long before Carlisle.

[Mr_Northside]

The PTC's 6-lane-ing between Cranberry & Butler valley also won't be exit to exit either.  (Though Irwin <-> New Stanton will be)

[cu2010]

I-490 eastbound goes from six lanes to four just past Exit 25. Why the right lane just doesn't exit is beyond me.

[UptownRoadGeek]

Google Maps
Google Maps

[Bryant5493]

I-285 West does this on the Top End, narrowing from three lanes to two after passing the I-75/U.S. 41 exit. It then becomes four lanes again when the lanes from I-75 South merge with I-285 West.


Be well,

Bryant

[Mergingtraffic]

Could I-91 North at Exit 33 (Jennings Road) in Hartford count?  The lane ends just after the exit (which I could never understand).

I think it is safer when a lane ends after the exit...b.c you always have people that don't read the "Exit Only" sign.  I think it is called a "taper lane" but I am not sure.  They want to add those to I-84 in Danbury after Exit 1 WB & Exit 7 WB.

[agentsteel53]

I think it is safer when a lane ends after the exit...b.c you always have people that don't read the "Exit Only" sign.  I think it is called a "taper lane" but I am not sure.  They want to add those to I-84 in Danbury after Exit 1 WB & Exit 7 WB.

I disagree; I'd rather have people exit and scratch their heads wondering where they went wrong (you didn't read the signs, that's where!), as opposed to me assuming the rightmost lane is a through lane and then running into the inconvenience of a lane ending.  

ending a through lane without an exit is the most unintuitive impediment possible to through traffic on the freeway.  When one stays in a lane, he expects to go, go, go.  Bad enough having to exit a numbered highway onto itself; but when, in the middle of nowhere, the lane ends for seemingly no reason, that is the worst.

[bugo]

I think it is safer when a lane ends after the exit...b.c you always have people that don't read the "Exit Only" sign.  I think it is called a "taper lane" but I am not sure.  They want to add those to I-84 in Danbury after Exit 1 WB & Exit 7 WB.

I disagree; I'd rather have people exit and scratch their heads wondering where they went wrong (you didn't read the signs, that's where!), as opposed to me assuming the rightmost lane is a through lane and then running into the inconvenience of a lane ending.

Usually what happens is they swerve to the left, not even looking if there is a car in that lane.  I've been cut off many times that way.

[agentsteel53]

Usually what happens is they swerve to the left, not even looking if there is a car in that lane.  I've been cut off many times that way.

oh I've seen people spray grass cutting across the gore to either make, or miss, an exit that was contrary to their plans.

having a "taper lane" will not make people smarter.  It will just make people come to an abrupt merge a half-mile past the exit because they read every sign, and assumed the through lane really was through.

assuming 95% of people can read signs, whom would you rather inconvenience?  the smart or the stupid?

[bugo]

assuming 95% of people can read signs, whom would you rather inconvenience?  the smart or the stupid?

The smart.  The stupid ones are the ones that will get you killed.

[agentsteel53]

The smart.  The stupid ones are the ones that will get you killed.

that's what we have police for. get off your ass, stop sitting in your cruiser looking at doughnut porn, waiting for your radar detector to beep when someone exceeds 85mph in your general vicinity ... and actually patrol the highway like you have been assigned to do.

[Mergingtraffic]

true it's not the speeders, its the ones that cut you off and make unsafe ;ane changes.

[agentsteel53]

true it's not the speeders, its the ones that cut you off and make unsafe ;ane changes.

oh I know it's not the speeders; the speeders are the ones that even the laziest cops can catch.  as far as actual bad driving goes; that's what they need to be awake for!

[bugo]

The smart.  The stupid ones are the ones that will get you killed.

that's what we have police for.

They're too busy busting speeders and cannabis users to go after the dangerous drivers.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

Up until a few months ago the US 10 freeway in Anoka County, MN just randomly dropped from six to four lanes at Egret Blvd (which is just an overpass) going west. The third lane was extended to Hanson Blvd a few months ago where it is exit-only, so the drop is no longer puzzling.

I-494 westbound drops a lane in similar fashion between Portland Ave and Nicollet Ave, as does I-494 South right after its beginning in Maple Grove.

I-94 East drops from six to four lanes about 1/2 mile after the Somerset exit (Exit 4) just outside Hudson, WI.

[froggie]

I think it is safer when a lane ends after the exit...b.c you always have people that don't read the "Exit Only" sign.  I think it is called a "taper lane" but I am not sure.  They want to add those to I-84 in Danbury after Exit 1 WB & Exit 7 WB.

I disagree; I'd rather have people exit and scratch their heads wondering where they went wrong (you didn't read the signs, that's where!), as opposed to me assuming the rightmost lane is a through lane and then running into the inconvenience of a lane ending.

It depends on the level of traffic exiting.  If it's a large amount of traffic that exits, it's better for safety and traffic flow to end the lane at the exit.  However, if it's a lightly used exit, it's safer to continue the lane (as a "taper", or "escape", or other) and end it beyond the interchange.

[deathtopumpkins]

Just about every lane drop on I-64 in Hampton is a "taper lane."

-Eastbound at 664 (from 4-3 lanes), the optional lane from the exit ends maybe 1000 feet later. No one uses that lane for anything but exiting because you can see where it ends from before the gore point, so I think it would make more sense to just have it exit. Though it will be nice for when they widen 64 east of there (that lane will actually become through).

-Eastbound at Settlers Landing (US 60 West / VA 143) (from 3-2 lanes), the right lane ends AT the exit. The gore signage for the exit has a large overhead lane ends sign. And, oddly enough, the pavement for the lane continues through that interchange and the next all the way to the HRBT Inspection Station.

-Westbound at Magruder Blvd (from 5-4 lanes), the optional lane from the exit ends about 1/2 to 3/4 miles after the exit, which was likely done to aid with the weaving caused by the close proximity of the Mercury Blvd interchange before it, but I've never had any trouble merging over 3 lanes before the exit, and I've never seen anyone else use the lane except people passing on the right and one minivan who drove straight off it onto the shoulder not paying attention.

[algorerhythms]

On westbound I-68 between Hancock and Cumberland, MD, there's a third lane on the ascent of Town Hill, but at the top instead of the right lane ending as would be expected, the left lane ends.

[tdindy88]

I-69 in Fishers, Indiana is four lanes wide heading up to Exit 5 (which connects to SR 37 and the growing suburb of Noblesville) and within a mile past that exit the left two lanes drop leaving it just two lanes in each direction. What's nerveracking about this set up is how they recently extended the exit ramp to two additional lanes off the right of the mainline lanes. So instead of incorperating any of the mainline lanes into the exit, all traffic that uses that exit has to be in the far right lane just to get into the exit lanes, causing backups on that far right lane at rush hour. INDOT could have just turned that far right lane, or even the two furthest right lanes into exit lanes for SR 37/116th St. and use the left two for through traffic. It also gets confusing when the overhead sign points out that three lanes go north toward Fort Wayne when a half mile away it only becomes two lanes and traffic in that far left lane has to suddenly move over.

[froggie]

On westbound I-68 between Hancock and Cumberland, MD, there's a third lane on the ascent of Town Hill, but at the top instead of the right lane ending as would be expected, the left lane ends.

It's been found over the years that ending the climbing lane on the left is safer than ending the right lane, because you thus don't have slow-moving trucks in the right-most lane forced to merge into the middle lane.

[Brandon]

For about a decade, I-55 had the most unnatural lane drop between Weber Rd (Exit 263) and Naperville Rd (Mile 265) southbound.  The lane drop was an extension of a third lane to that point from the previous interchange (Exit 267), but instead of dropping the lane at the very busy Weber Rd interchange, IDiOT decided to drop the lane under one mile from the interchange.     The backups were legendary, extending over 20 miles some days, back inside I-294.  IDiOT finally rectified this in 2004, adding one more mile of a third lane.  Amazingly, the backups dissipated.