Left Hand Exits

[ethanhopkin14]

I thought left hand exists were bad.  They were being phased out and avoided if necessary.  They cause unsafe weaving in the fast lane. 

I have noticed lately a lot of brand new constructions with left hand exits:

SH-288 north at Sam Houston Tollway south of Houston.
SH-288 north at I-610 south of Houston.
(These are both too new I don't think they have street view images)
Northbound US-281 at Loop 1604 in San Antonio
Northbound SH-130 at SH-45
Eastbound SH-71 at US-183 in Austin. (Also too new for street view)

I get that some of these are trying to utilize toll express lanes, but what gives?

[Hobart]

I'm not sure about this situation in particular, but they might be putting in left exits because they don't have the frontage to build an interchange with right exists. I know it's happened before in order to reduce how wide the freeway is through a certain area.

[CoreySamson]

The TX-288 left exits are actually pretty ingenious, as they allow traffic on both the main lanes and the toll lanes to access the exits. I haven't experienced any weaving issues at each one (and I have at other conventional stack interchanges around here). And here's some GSV:
288 @ I-610 SB
288 @ I-610 NB
288 @ Sam Houston Tollway NB
288 @ Sam Houston Tollway SB

also, is TxDOT turning into CalTrans?

[ethanhopkin14]

The TX-288 left exits are actually pretty ingenious, as they allow traffic on both the main lanes and the toll lanes to access the exits. I haven't experienced any weaving issues at each one (and I have at other conventional stack interchanges around here). And here's some GSV:
288 @ I-610 SB
288 @ I-610 NB
288 @ Sam Houston Tollway NB
288 @ Sam Houston Tollway SB

Yes the SH-288 ones make the most sense.  I personally have never experienced weaving issues with left hand exits.  Here in Austin, we still have the southbound Mopac to eastbound Loop 360 and it's never been a problem....for me.  All you got to do is pay attention.  I did also forget to mention when creating the post that I am aware that some times limited right-of-way is to blame (I think that's the issues with US-281 at Loop 1604), but after hearing such a stink about left hand exits, I am surprised to see them in such abundance. 

also, is TxDOT turning into CalTrans?

Hahaha.  That's been a long standing Houston thing.  Don't know why I don't see it anywhere but in the Houston area. 

[achilles765]

I know I may be a weirdo for saying this but I have actually always kind of had a weird fascination and affinity for left exits. I don't know why but I've always kind of liked them and preferred them when given a choice.
When I've lived in or used to frequently be in New Orleans, I almost always preferred using the left exit for US 90/BUS US 90 to get into downtown, or the left exit for Poydras Street
Here in Houston, if I'm heading into downtown coming from the north, I'll use the McKinney street left exit rather than the Dallas street/pierce street exit. I'll use Allen parkway too if I'm heading to montrose too instead of Dallas street. If I'm on 69/288 I'll use the Chenevert street exit too just because it's a left exit.
If anything I wish we had more.

[Tom958]

I'm too lazy to look it up, but the horrendously expensive scheme to eliminate the numerous left exits and entrances at the I-26-40-240 interchange near Asheville has been superseded by a plan to rebuild it with the same schematic layout, just adding a couple of ramps to provide the now-missing movements.

[jeffandnicole]

I thought left hand exists were bad.  They were being phased out and avoided if necessary.  They cause unsafe weaving in the fast lane. 

I have noticed lately a lot of brand new constructions with left hand exits:

SH-288 north at Sam Houston Tollway south of Houston.
SH-288 north at I-610 south of Houston.
(These are both too new I don't think they have street view images)
Northbound US-281 at Loop 1604 in San Antonio
Northbound SH-130 at SH-45
Eastbound SH-71 at US-183 in Austin. (Also too new for street view)

I get that some of these are trying to utilize toll express lanes, but what gives?

The only roadway that does it "right" is the NJ Turnpike, where it manages to keep all exits to the right side. It's an expensive way to build, but in order to maintain uniformity, they spend the $$$.

[Flint1979]

I-75 at US-24 (Exit 93 in Michigan) has left lane entrances but the exits are on the right.

[ethanhopkin14]

I-75 at US-24 (Exit 93 in Michigan) has left lane entrances but the exits are on the right.

Now, driving a motorhome, left-hand entrance ramps suck.  I hate coming from a ramp I have to slow down on to then get dumped in the fast lane and I got four lanes to get over because I can't just floor it and get up to speed.  It takes me three miles to match everyone's speed. 

[kphoger]

Yeah, I'd much rather have exits on the left than entrances on the left.

I always hated having to merge on here, for example.

[Flint1979]

Yeah, I'd much rather have exits on the left than entrances on the left.

I always hated having to merge on here, for example.

I think it's even worse on the Kennedy where they have those entrance ramps like every 500 feet.

[Mergingtraffic]

Come to CT "the left exit state"

A decade ago, I-84 widening kept a left exit in place (Exit 29)

I-91/CT-15/US-5 interchange will create a left exit.  It will be a two-lane left exit.  It used to be an underpowered right hand exit. However, they moved it to the left in the middle of construction. Until it's completed it will be an underpowered left hand exit.

I-691/I-91 interchange will keep and gain a left exit.

CT-9 Expressway, which currently has stoplights, a stoplight removal project will remove the stoplights but create a left exit and entrance Northbound. Since it will be between the NB and SB lanes it means the ramps will be tighter.

That in addition to all the other left exits built years ago.

[andrepoiy]

I don't think left exits by themselves are a problem per say.

I feel that it becomes problematic if it's not signed or communicated to drivers properly

I thought that Quebec had a clever way of handling a left exit before a complex interchange. I don't remember exactly which interchange I encountered the following.

There was first a sign that indicated that the middle lane would exit, but the next sign indicated that the left lane exited. It's pretty clever, as someone who didn't know the area, I didn't have to scramble to the left lane, and instead I just followed the signs and gradually made it into the left lane.

[Flint1979]

What left exits do is causes everybody that's exiting to get over in the left lane about a half mile before the exit and drive ridiculously slow just because they're getting off at the exit.

[wanderer2575]

I-75 at US-24 (Exit 93 in Michigan) has left lane entrances but the exits are on the right.

Now, driving a motorhome, left-hand entrance ramps suck.  I hate coming from a ramp I have to slow down on to then get dumped in the fast lane and I got four lanes to get over because I can't just floor it and get up to speed.  It takes me three miles to match everyone's speed.

Even worse is that ramp has no "straightaway" section at all before merging, so someone taking that curve a little too fast and overshooting the right edge ends up just shooting into the left lane of I-75.  Exact same situation on the entrance ramps from US-24 to M-10 in Southfield:  https://goo.gl/maps/sLSrWJij8YtoZLzTA.  I use the left exit to I-696 just 1/4 mile farther along but I almost never get into the left lane until I'm past this point, for fear that I'll be T-boned.

What left exits do is causes everybody that's exiting to get over in the left lane about a half mile before the exit and drive ridiculously slow just because they're getting off at the exit.

And this differs from right exits how?

[hotdogPi]

What left exits do is causes everybody that's exiting to get over in the left lane about a half mile before the exit and drive ridiculously slow just because they're getting off at the exit.

And this differs from right exits how?

The left lane is supposed to be faster than the right lane.

[1995hoo]

What left exits do is causes everybody that's exiting to get over in the left lane about a half mile before the exit and drive ridiculously slow just because they're getting off at the exit.

Only half a mile? In my observation, it tends to happen a lot earlier than that.

The worst left-side exit, in my opinion, is the former left-side exit from the Capital Beltway (I-495) to westbound I-66 in Virginia; the ramp is now an HO/T lane exit inaccessible from the general-purpose lanes (unless you drive over the pylons). The problem wasn't the left-side exit per se–rather, it was the exit's proximity to the next interchange to the south (US-50), which had (and still has) only a conventional right-side entrance. There was less than a mile between the right-side entrance and the left-side exit, and while there was a second exit located on the right a short distance up the road (plus a BGS advising entering traffic to use that ramp), people refused to use it–they instead insisted on bombing across four or five lanes of traffic in a desperate attempt to use that left-side ramp. Getting rid of that maneuver was a major plus from the HO/T lane project.

[Dirt Roads]

What left exits do is causes everybody that's exiting to get over in the left lane about a half mile before the exit and drive ridiculously slow just because they're getting off at the exit.

Only half a mile? In my observation, it tends to happen a lot earlier than that.

The worst left-side exit, in my opinion, is the former left-side exit from the Capital Beltway (I-495) to westbound I-66 in Virginia; the ramp is now an HO/T lane exit inaccessible from the general-purpose lanes (unless you drive over the pylons). The problem wasn't the left-side exit per se–rather, it was the exit's proximity to the next interchange to the south (US-50), which had (and still has) only a conventional right-side entrance. There was less than a mile between the right-side entrance and the left-side exit, and while there was a second exit located on the right a short distance up the road (plus a BGS advising entering traffic to use that ramp), people refused to use it–they instead insisted on bombing across four or five lanes of traffic in a desperate attempt to use that left-side ramp. Getting rid of that maneuver was a major plus from the HO/T lane project.

Interesting example.  Whenever the majority of Beltway traffic from Springfield was headed for I-66 westbound, the left-hand exit worked much better than the right-hand leaf ramp does.  But Beltway traffic is much more complicated now, plus it seems like a much smaller percentage of Beltway traffic is heading west here.  The left-hand Beltway exit for I-270 in Maryland has a different set of problems, where right side traffic entering at Exit 39 (River Road, MD-190) jams things up in the right lanes trying to get over to the left lanes.  Both of these examples highlight why traffic engineers need to view certain sections of freeways as multiple roads overlaid in the same corridor, and design to handle those traffic patterns separately.

To that end, much of the old traffic headed from I-95 to I-66 westbound is now avoiding the Beltway altogether (think FCP/VA-286, VA-123, PBP/VA-294, VA-234 and even US-17//US-29 then coming back I-66 eastbound).

[ztonyg]

What left exits do is causes everybody that's exiting to get over in the left lane about a half mile before the exit and drive ridiculously slow just because they're getting off at the exit.

Only half a mile? In my observation, it tends to happen a lot earlier than that.

The worst left-side exit, in my opinion, is the former left-side exit from the Capital Beltway (I-495) to westbound I-66 in Virginia; the ramp is now an HO/T lane exit inaccessible from the general-purpose lanes (unless you drive over the pylons). The problem wasn't the left-side exit per se–rather, it was the exit's proximity to the next interchange to the south (US-50), which had (and still has) only a conventional right-side entrance. There was less than a mile between the right-side entrance and the left-side exit, and while there was a second exit located on the right a short distance up the road (plus a BGS advising entering traffic to use that ramp), people refused to use it–they instead insisted on bombing across four or five lanes of traffic in a desperate attempt to use that left-side ramp. Getting rid of that maneuver was a major plus from the HO/T lane project.

Interesting example.  Whenever the majority of Beltway traffic from Springfield was headed for I-66 westbound, the left-hand exit worked much better than the right-hand leaf ramp does.  But Beltway traffic is much more complicated now, plus it seems like a much smaller percentage of Beltway traffic is heading west here.  The left-hand Beltway exit for I-270 in Maryland has a different set of problems, where right side traffic entering at Exit 39 (River Road, MD-190) jams things up in the right lanes trying to get over to the left lanes.  Both of these examples highlight why traffic engineers need to view certain sections of freeways as multiple roads overlaid in the same corridor, and design to handle those traffic patterns separately.

To that end, much of the old traffic headed from I-95 to I-66 westbound is now avoiding the Beltway altogether (think FCP/VA-286, VA-123, PBP/VA-294, VA-234 and even US-17//US-29 then coming back I-66 eastbound).

I remember that left exit used to have a right entrance to I-66 added sometime in the 1990s.

[Flint1979]

What left exits do is causes everybody that's exiting to get over in the left lane about a half mile before the exit and drive ridiculously slow just because they're getting off at the exit.

Only half a mile? In my observation, it tends to happen a lot earlier than that.

Oh I know, I was underestimating.

[amroad17]

The king of left-hand exits (and entrances) in Northern Kentucky.  I-275/I-471 interchange in Highland Heights: https://goo.gl/maps/1mDsgTKuqyGXQgqdA

[kenarmy]

Yeah, I'd much rather have exits on the left than entrances on the left.

I always hated having to merge on here, for example.

I have to deal with this one quite often.

[webny99]

Yeah, I'd much rather have exits on the left than entrances on the left.
I always hated having to merge on here, for example.

I respectfully disagree, for the below-mentioned issue:

What left exits do is causes everybody that's exiting to get over in the left lane about a half mile before the exit and drive ridiculously slow just because they're getting off at the exit.

Only half a mile? In my observation, it tends to happen a lot earlier than that.

At least with an entrance, most people have enough sense to start moving towards the right hand lane(s) once they merge. With an exit, people sometimes sit on the left for miles and miles because they're "going to be exiting". Here is one example of where traffic will enter on the left, and then sit in the left lane for nearly three miles because they're taking the exit for downtown. Between that and middle-lane campers, this entire freeway section often functions in reverse, with slowest traffic on the left, regular traffic in the middle, and fastest traffic on the right.

This also happens on my commute because of a left turn. I can't imagine how much more frustrating it would be if it was a left exit by design.

[Rothman]

Have to say that I did wonder yesterday, as I headed up I-81 NB in Scranton, if the left exits at Moosic and for the Central Scranton Expressway caused issues at rush hour, with the right-hand exits in between them.  Seems people would hang out in the left lane.

At least the entrances aren't on the left.

[vdeane]

The king of left-hand exits (and entrances) in Northern Kentucky.  I-275/I-471 interchange in Highland Heights: https://goo.gl/maps/1mDsgTKuqyGXQgqdA

Reminds me of this.