Reversible Lane Roads

[Tomahawkin]

Seems like a dying trend...I've only seem them in 2 areas. Peachtree St north proceeding northward From Atlanta to Buckhead, And Is no longer in use. U.S. 78 East of Atlanta uses them as well, but I think that they are endangered as well...Also I believe that I have seem them in the Northeast as well...

I really don't see no point in them other than they can serve a purpose for a road that recieves a lot of traffic due to high volume from events. Traffic going to and From Stadiums are a good example.

Thoughts...?

[mapman]

That's probably their best use.  I once worked on a traffic analysis on an air force base in California whose primary entry road used reversible lanes.  That made sense in that situation, because the direction flows were so extreme during the morning and afternoon -- about 95% of the total traffic on the road was traveling in one direction (inbound during the AM, outbound during the PM).

[flowmotion]

How about the Golden Gate Bridge connecting San Francisco to Marin county. I don't see how that could operate effectively without reversible lanes, and the bridge can't be expanded or replaced.

On Friday evenings, the commute traffic is going outbound, and then the entertainment traffic starts coming inbound. If they don't change the lane configurations fast enough, there's a ton of honking.

[Chris]

It works on roads with heavy rushhour traffic in one direction.

In the Netherlands for instance, due to heavy NIMBY and environmental group pressure, it takes easily a decade to widen a damn freeway with one lane. Since it's so sensitive, they sometimes build a tidal (reversible) lane, instead of widening from 6 to 12 lanes, you can widen from 6 to 10 lanes, and still have 6 lanes in the rushhour direction.

[Truvelo]

They have them in Phoenix on 7th St and 7th Ave.

Click on image to enlarge

[mefailenglish]

Colesville Rd (US 29) and Georgia Ave (MD 97) have reversible lanes between the Beltway and downtown Silver Spring, controlled by overhead lighted signs (green arrow or red X). 

The Chesapeake Bay Bridge (US 50-301) has a similar setup.

DC has a few as well.  I can think of Connecticut Avenue...and also the Rock Creek Parkway, which is entirely one way inbound in the morning, outbound in the afternoon.  I'm sure there are others, but I don't do a lot of driving in DC, especially during rush hour!

[Bryant5493]

I don't really care for them, personally. To me, it's an accident waiting to happen, especially if someone's not familiar with the area and the signage is poorly placed or poorly signed.

Also, there are reversible lanes on Decatur Street/DeKalb Avenue just east of Georgia State to just west of Decatur.

I heard that the Northside Drive reversible lanes were to be replaced with a double left turn lane. Cue video to 5:04.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFLhS2wTIpM


GDOT is replacing the reversible lanes on US 78/SR 10, between Stone Mountain and Snellville. Cue video to 3:45 for work on the reversible lane replacement.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmimjbUgfV8


Be well,

Bryant

[SSOWorld]

From the way it looks we're concentrating on surface roads here.  In this case there are a few off the top of my head - the Liberty Bridge in Pittsburgh has 4 lanes - which can be a 3-1 configuration in either direction.  Both (but I think these aren't the only ones) the Franklin and the Walt Whitman Bridges (the latter a freeway) have reversible lanes (zipper rails, or whatever you call 'em.)

Freeways with reversibles are common - Chicago's Kennedy Expressway has one - and it's not HOV (there aren't any HOV lanes in Chicago that I remember), Minneapolis's I-394 has one too - but that's a HOT that can only be used if you're a carpool or have the MN-Pass (which isn't E-Z Pass compatible btw)

[Duke87]

How about the Golden Gate Bridge

A lot of crossings do it. The Tappan Zee Bridge ha a moveable "zipper barrier" to switch between 4-3 and 3-4 depending on traffic demand. The center tube of the Lincoln Tunnel is reversible. The Brooklyn-Battery tunnel is normally 2-2 but switches to 3-1 for rush hour.

A few of the bridges over the Delaware River are like that, too. Used to be completely undivided, just a set of lanes separated by white stripes and a changeable sign telling each direction how many lanes to use... but obviously this isn't very safe in recent years zipper barriers have been added.

[Truvelo]

There's one freeway here in the UK that uses tidal flow. It is 7 lanes undivided. Normally it operates as 3+3 with the centre out of use. In the morning there are 4 lanes into the city and 2 lanes out, in the evening it is reversed. The lane between opposing traffic flows is always closed for safety so all 7 lanes are never in use at once. There's more information here.

[RoadWarrior56]

I am familiar with the US 78 reversable lane section east of Atlanta that is shown in the YouTube clips.  I live less than 10 miles from it.  GOOD RIDDANCE!!! 

[Bryant5493]

^^ I agree with you, RW56 -- good riddance!


Be well,

Bryant

[mightyace]

There are two reversible lane road that I have encountered in Nashville.

One is Lebanon Rd. (US 70) east of the city.  The reversible section is three lanes with the center reversible.  It is 2 lanes WB in the morning rush and 2 lanes EB in the evening rush.  At other times, the lane is simply a left turn lane.

The other one is the James Robertson Pkwy. bridge over the Cumberland into downtown.  It is five lanes with the middle one reversible.   3 lanes WB am and 3 lanes EB pm.

I know the Lincoln Tunnel and Brooklyn Battery Tunnels were mentioned as regular reversible lanes.  However, most multi-tube tunnels are set up with reversible lane markers for when one tube is closed for maintenance.  I know the PA Turnpike tunnels are set up this way.

[Revive 755]

* St. Louis has a section of I-70 with two reversible lanes in the median.  Right now they are opposite what would normally be expected - in the morning they are for outward traffic from downtown, and in the afternoon they are for inward traffic.  The speed limit for them is wrong, as they should be posted at 65 instead of 55 given the lack of exits.

East end heading WB (this area will be partially redone with the new river bridge):
http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=38.637372,-90.186102&spn=0,359.992576&t=k&z=17&layer=c&cbll=38.637279,-90.1861&panoid=qgOabc7B4RMGmnGw5Auh5g&cbp=12,0.7363149195693128,,0,-0.462427745664742

West end heading EB:
http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=38.687528,-90.249596&spn=0,359.992576&t=k&z=17&layer=c&cbll=38.687918,-90.250079&panoid=xhp1OmcQrESjIF8e1JUGoA&cbp=12,80.26510204880522,,0,3.699421965317918

* Omaha has a reversible center lane on US 6, most likely due to the cancellation of the West Expressway (freeway).  They could use to upgrade the signs and signals so it could be used as a center turn lane in the off hours.
http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=41.259678,-95.972443&spn=0,359.956055&z=15&layer=c&cbll=41.259676,-95.972328&panoid=yzR5CjZv7Aifjd5DmsU4KA&cbp=12,95.92404601634709,,0,4.912109375000001

* Somewhere in Omaha there is a completely reversible street that branches off of US 6 between I-480 and 72nd Street.  I can't seem to find it today.

[ComputerGuy]

Seattle has some on I-5 and I-90, reversible (free) express lanes.

[Sykotyk]

Greentree Rd in Greentree (suburb of Pittsburgh) has it from I-279 south. Three lanes. The middle lane reverses, depending on rush hour.

Sykotyk

[74/171FAN]

Obviously the I-95/I-395 HOV lanes from Dumfries to the Pentagon

[rawr apples]

The m2 Freeway in Adelaide, South AU is completely reversable

Mornings flow northbound into the city, and evenings, traffic flows out of the city. It's pretty cool.

[Bryant5493]

Here's a view of reversible lanes on DeKalb Avenue NE (Atlanta, GA).

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=DeKalb+Avenue+NE,+Atlanta,+GA&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=30.599615,78.75&ie=UTF8&ll=33.758028,-84.355345&spn=0.015663,0.038452&z=15&layer=c&cbll=33.75432,-84.359204&panoid=qIfJ6BvDP5-X18GU90t-qg&cbp=12,260.8050997041587,,0,13.839285714285717


Be well,

Bryant

[Duke87]

The m2 Freeway in Adelaide, South AU is completely reversable
Mornings flow northbound into the city, and evenings, traffic flows out of the city. It's pretty cool.

The whole thing? As in, you can't leave the city on it in the morning, period? Wow.

I know that near São Paolo, Brazil, there's a pair oh highways (the Rodovia Anchieta and the Rodovia dos Imigrantes) which are both completely reversible, but they run parallel, so even when one is going all away from the city, you can still go towards it on the other.

Adelaide just went and built itself a one-way freeway with local surface streets (A13) needing to meet opposite direction demand. That just seems sloppy for some reason.


On another note, aren't there some interstates along the gulf coast which are designed to run both carriageways in the inland direction in the event of needing to evacuate for a hurricane?

[yanksfan6129]

Yes, many interstates all over the east coast are designated as hurricane contraflow routes.

[74/171FAN]

Yes, many interstates all over the east coast are designated as hurricane contraflow routes.

Examples of that are I-64 in VA and I-40 in NC.  BTW my fictional US 250 freeway is also a contraflow route.  On the other hand, when the NHRAs come to Virginia Motorsports Park in Dinwiddie County the center left-turn only lane on US 1 is used as a reversible lane instead,

[mightyace]

On the other hand, when the NHRAs come to Virginia Motorsports Park in Dinwiddie County the center left-turn only lane on US 1 is used as a reversible lane instead,

That seems to be common for special events.

When NASCAR races at Pocono Speedway, the two-lane PA 115 between I-80 and the track is turned to 3 lanes inbound (southbound) before the race and 3 lanes outbound (northbound) after the race.

Talladega does that with Speedway Blvd. from the two I-20 exits to the track.  At peak, it's all inbound or outbound but they re-open opposing direction lanes as traffic dies down.

[74/171FAN]

That seems to be common for special events.

When NASCAR races at Pocono Speedway, the two-lane PA 115 between I-80 and the track is turned to 3 lanes inbound (southbound) before the race and 3 lanes outbound (northbound) after the race.

Talladega does that with Speedway Blvd. from the two I-20 exits to the track.  At peak, it's all inbound or outbound but they re-open opposing direction lanes as traffic dies down.

I know that they do that for Meadowbridge Rd for the races at Richmond(at least before the rece, probably afterwards too)

[PAHighways]

General Robinson Street on the North Side of Pittsburgh