Michigan Lefts

[ComputerGuy]

Video: http://www.michigan.gov/documents/mdot/MDOT_Roads-Travel_mich_left_213414_7.swf

[rawr apples]

I have a love/hate relationship with these

[catofdar]

I have yet to do one myself (have not been to Michigan that much...) but I'm pretty sure I'll be royally confused when I do one.......

[rawr apples]

I grew up with these, and my first time driving out of the state I wondered why they didnt have them (it was Ohio). Thats why I love them, simply because I grew up with them, but I just hate the extra driving involved..

Theyre starting to get rid of them in some places, I know Telegraph Rd/Eureka Rd in Taylor doesnt use them anymore.

[agentsteel53]

sometimes I do that voluntarily.  Some intersections - for example, small street intersecting an 8-lane boulevard - are marked only with a stop sign and a left turn is next to impossible... so one makes the right and the U-turn whenever they can.

[Bryant5493]

Pretty straightforward. It cuts down on left turn congestion at traffic signals, but I'm sure it gets congested in the U-turn lanes.


Be well,

Bryant

[Revive 755]

Some places it's faster to do a Michigan left than wait for the traffic light to change.

There is consideration of using a Michigan left instead of a SPUI for the MO 100/Hanley Road intersection around St. Louis.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

I'm a little confused about the premise behind Michigan lefts. When I was in Michigan in 2007, even little side streets are prohibited from taking left turns, and so I had to go south and take the U-turn. So, what is the idea behind M-lefts?

[agentsteel53]

cutting down on left turns cuts down on congestion, both on the side streets as people wait, and due to people on the mainline having to brake for people making daredevil lefts.

the fewer left turns in an interchange, the better.

[Alex]

Take out the left-hand turns at an intersection and potentially take out a phase of the traffic signals (if they are protected turns). More roads should be geared toward moving through traffic.

[MIRoadMan]

Mi. Lefts have become just second nature growing up with them all my life. and for those of you that do not know, when the U-turn area is wide enough for two cars but dosent have two entrance lanes, this does not mean that u can take a wider turn just to get in front of the car that was originally in front of you. this only makes the inside car blind to cars that are driving by. PLEASE do not do this! 

[rawr apples]

Thats so my pet peeve about driving in michigan

[roadgeek]

Try driving in Grayling, MI on the I-75 Business Loop. Going north you must crossover the median to go SB and vice versa. Kinda a pain sometimes, mainly in the winter. Otherwise its not bad going with the flow of traffic.

[juscuz410]

If anyone drives through Columbus, OH (near Westerville), on SR-161 W at Buenos Aires/Strawberry Farms, you find a "Michigan Left." It's the only way to turn left on Strawberry Farms Blvd. In Columbus of all places!!!!

[mightyace]

If anyone drives through Columbus, OH (near Westerville), on SR-161 W at Buenos Aires/Strawberry Farms, you find a "Michigan Left." It's the only way to turn left on Strawberry Farms Blvd. In Columbus of all places!!!!

So, do they call it an "Ohio State Left?"  :bread:

[vdeane]

The very idea of a Michigan left is unheard of here in NY, where U-turns are prohibited (except on certain roads that allow them at interchanges, such as NY 104 in Wayne county and NY 332 north of Canandaigua) and it's discouraged to make a turn into a lane other than the nearest (ex: if you make a right turn, you should go into the rightmost lane, and if you make a left turn, you should go to the leftmost lane.  Many people ignore this, especially if they are going to make another turn soon).

[wandering drive]

At first, it looked stupid, but then I realized I did that myself a few times. When the wait for the left turn was too long, I just go straight, make a U-turn at the next intersection, then turn right.  Turning right to turn left could work too, but then I'd have to wait for the light coming back.

[Terry Shea]

The very idea of a Michigan left is unheard of here in NY, where U-turns are prohibited (except on certain roads that allow them at interchanges, such as NY 104 in Wayne county and NY 332 north of Canandaigua) and it's discouraged to make a turn into a lane other than the nearest (ex: if you make a right turn, you should go into the rightmost lane, and if you make a left turn, you should go to the leftmost lane.  Many people ignore this, especially if they are going to make another turn soon).

Well true U-turns are prohibited here in Michigan too.  Every instance I've seen of a "Michigan left turn" involves a median in the roadway with a turnaround lane in the median past the traffic signal.

[SSOWorld]

One would wonder what's worse, Michigan lefts or jughandles

I drove in New Jersey in Feb 2008 and I hated them!!!!

[UptownRoadGeek]

Almost every intersection in NOLA is the same way, sometimes even with lights just for the u-turn

[juscuz410]

LMFAO!

[Big Dave]

Michigan lefts work really well when M-DOT signalizes the hell out of them, like in most of the urban and suburban areas of the state, which always makes me wonder because for that much signalized traffic control you could just have traditional left turn lanes and cut out the middle man.  Also, I have seen instances though, where the traffic waiting to make the U-turn portion of the turn backs up into the intersection at Michigan Lefts that are controlled only by stop signs.  On the Marquette bypass there is an intersection with Michigan Lefts and an intersection with traditional left turn lanes that come right in order, at M-553/McClellan  Ave. and Grove St, respectively if you are coming from the west.

[SSOWorld]

I've seen quite a few Michigan lefts in the Detroit area when I went there last week - they were confusing at first, but I felt that these were easier to negotiate than Jersey jughandles (U-turns are easier) - This was my first experience with Michigan Lefts.

[DanTheMan414]

This is why many Michigan divided highways/boulevards like US 12, US 24, M-1, M-3, etc. in the Metro Detroit area, along with the divided portions of the East Beltline in the Grand Rapids area, are designed with medians wider than those in other states.  In fact, many of the ones in the Detroit area have a 204-ft. wide right-of-way, to accomodate those wider medians.

[SSOWorld]

Hell they use freeways as medians