AARoads Forum

Spotted today: At the junction of I-25 and US 18/20, the bridge over the freeway is closed for construction, so traffic heading from I-25 south to US 18/20 east needs to take a detour. So, what's the detour?

Go a mile down the freeway, and make a U-turn across the median! The left lane is closed in both directions so traffic can exit and merge. Perhaps this is common practice in Wyoming, but it's new to me.

(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fzoza.com%2F%7Ekniwt%2Fi25a.jpg&hash=207f76307da589a3fa6c86ea363ad9b38df87dcc)

(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fzoza.com%2F%7Ekniwt%2Fi25b.jpg&hash=b6b36bff743a6768728eb21a7f786233d1b7d28c)

Note the dual trailer making the tight turn followed by the short merge.

There's a permanent setup like this if you want to go from I-20 west to I-10 east. There's also one for IL 129 north to I-55 south near Wilmington, IL. Both are in wide medians though.

I never saw that in Wyoming while I was there (or anywhere else for that matter), but there's not very  many interchanges around there unless you made traffic follow the frontage road all the way from Douglas, and that stretch of I-25 has no traffic on it, so it seems reasonable.

You couldn't get away with that in a more populated area - that's for sure. But then, there's no way in hell a freeway would be there if not for the Feds.

Quote from: NE2 on July 01, 2011, 09:06:33 PM
There's a permanent setup like this if you want to go from I-20 west to I-10 east.

Except that it doesn't use an emergency median crossing, it has it's own ramp, an exit only lane and a lane pick-up entry.

Freeways in flyover country really don't need to be freeways in most instances. It's just for continuity's sake that they're built to the same standard. Realistically, there's no difference between, for instance, SD-79 from US16 to US18 and any stretch of I-90 in terms of drivability. Just SD-79 has the occassional cross road that probably sees less than 5-10 cars per day turning, merging, or crossing.

Quote from: Kniwt on July 01, 2011, 08:59:00 PM
Spotted today: At the junction of I-25 and US 18/20, the bridge over the freeway is closed for construction, so traffic heading from I-25 south to US 18/20 east needs to take a detour. So, what's the detour?

Go a mile down the freeway, and make a U-turn across the median! The left lane is closed in both directions so traffic can exit and merge. Perhaps this is common practice in Wyoming, but it's new to me.

Wyoming Interstates normally permit U-turns across the median.  This is especially common just outside of a town where traffic trying to leave town is turned around when snow closes the road beyond, but the U-turn is not prohibited even when there is no snow closure.

QuoteWyoming Interstates normally permit U-turns across the median.  This is especially common just outside of a town where traffic trying to leave town is turned around when snow closes the road beyond, but the U-turn is not prohibited even when there is no snow closure.

Are you sure about that? I know they use the medians for snow closure, but I'm pretty sure there are signs in the medians that say "Authorized vehicles only"

Page 58 of the driver's manual  (http://www.dot.state.wy.us/webdav/site/wydot/shared/Driver_Services/Driver%20License%20Rules%20of%20the%20Road.pdf) (warning PDF) reads:

QuoteDO NOT cross the median of an Interstate highway

Quote from: corco on July 03, 2011, 09:41:29 AM

QuoteWyoming Interstates normally permit U-turns across the median.  This is especially common just outside of a town where traffic trying to leave town is turned around when snow closes the road beyond, but the U-turn is not prohibited even when there is no snow closure.

Are you sure about that? I know they use the medians for snow closure, but I'm pretty sure there are signs in the medians that say "Authorized vehicles only"

I was sure there would be too, only in most instances there weren't, and the median crossings with "Authorized vehicles only" or "No U-Turn" signs were the exception rather than the rule.  That surprised me, and made me notice.

Quote
Quote from: corco on July 03, 2011, 07:41:29 AM
Quote
Wyoming Interstates normally permit U-turns across the median.  This is especially common just outside of a town where traffic trying to leave town is turned around when snow closes the road beyond, but the U-turn is not prohibited even when there is no snow closure.

Are you sure about that? I know they use the medians for snow closure, but I'm pretty sure there are signs in the medians that say "Authorized vehicles only"

I was sure there would be too, only in most instances there weren't, and the median crossings with "Authorized vehicles only" or "No U-Turn" signs were the exception rather than the rule.  That surprised me, and made me notice.

That's weird- I guess in two years of living in Wyoming I tended to notice the signs more than where there weren't signs

Quote from: corco on July 04, 2011, 03:46:22 AM

Quote
Quote from: corco on July 03, 2011, 07:41:29 AM
Quote
Wyoming Interstates normally permit U-turns across the median.  This is especially common just outside of a town where traffic trying to leave town is turned around when snow closes the road beyond, but the U-turn is not prohibited even when there is no snow closure.

Are you sure about that? I know they use the medians for snow closure, but I'm pretty sure there are signs in the medians that say "Authorized vehicles only"

I was sure there would be too, only in most instances there weren't, and the median crossings with "Authorized vehicles only" or "No U-Turn" signs were the exception rather than the rule.  That surprised me, and made me notice.

That's weird- I guess in two years of living in Wyoming I tended to notice the signs more than where there weren't signs

I happen to be driving through Wyoming now, so I took some rough counts of median crossovers with signs prohibiting U-turns and/or limiting to authorized users, vs. crossovers with no such signage.

Between I-80BL Pine Bluff (west end) and I-80BL Cheyenne (east end):  3 signed crossovers, more than a dozen unsigned.
Between I-80BL Cheyenne (west end) and I-80BL Laramie (east end):  8 signed crossovers, 18 unsigned.
Between I-80BL Laramie (west end) and exit 260 (when darkness and rain forced me to stop counting):  9 signed crossovers, at least 12 unsigned.

OK, not as lopsided as I'd recalled from my 2006 and 2008 trips.  Still, suggests a more relaxed policy re:  U-turns across medians in Wyoming than in, say, Nebraska, where the 350+ miles of I-80 I drove yesterday had only *one* crossover without a no U-turn sign.

QuoteI happen to be driving through Wyoming now, so I took some rough counts of median crossovers with signs prohibiting U-turns and/or limiting to authorized users, vs. crossovers with no such signage.

Between I-80BL Pine Bluff (west end) and I-80BL Cheyenne (east end):  3 signed crossovers, more than a dozen unsigned.
Between I-80BL Cheyenne (west end) and I-80BL Laramie (east end):  8 signed crossovers, 18 unsigned.
Between I-80BL Laramie (west end) and exit 260 (when darkness and rain forced me to stop counting):  9 signed crossovers, at least 12 unsigned.

OK, not as lopsided as I'd recalled from my 2006 and 2008 trips.  Still, suggests a more relaxed policy re:  U-turns across medians in Wyoming than in, say, Nebraska, where the 350+ miles of I-80 I drove yesterday had only *one* crossover without a no U-turn sign.

Heh, interesting. I guess I never paid much attention. Although I'm not sure that a lack of sign makes the u-turn legal- this may have even been an explicit question on the driver's license test in Wyoming. I definitely answered that to get a license in some state- I can't remember if it was in Wyoming or Washington though.

Up until a couple of years ago (5 if you're counting...), there was a median loop ramp for US 85 just after its merge onto SB 25 just north of Cheyenne. If you were heading southbound on US 85 and wanted to go northbound on I-25 (or southbound on 25 and wanting to exit northbound on US 85), you'd take the median U-Turn.
WyDOT has closed that loop ramp now and signed the next exit for your doubling back.

Quote from: corco on July 05, 2011, 10:22:20 AM
Heh, interesting. I guess I never paid much attention. Although I'm not sure that a lack of sign makes the u-turn legal- this may have even been an explicit question on the driver's license test in Wyoming. I definitely answered that to get a license in some state- I can't remember if it was in Wyoming or Washington though.

Aside from the legalities, using the median crossover can be unsafe too,  But as it happened, yesterday morning I and a bunch of others did that, at a crossover without a signed U-turn prohibition, to get out of the backup from an accident closure of both westbound lanes on I-80 just west of Rock Springs.  The troopers at tje accident scene were too busy to direct traffic, so I and the other drivers chose the do-it-yourself solution rather than to wait for the troopers to authorize us to use the crossover.

While traveling in NE Wyoming on I-90 i forgot something at my hotel room and i was on the interstate and crossed over in the median and a trooper passed by and did nothing.  I do notice more crossovers are getting the no u-turn signs put up.

Quote from: NE2 on July 01, 2011, 09:06:33 PM
There's a permanent setup like this if you want to go from I-20 west to I-10 east. There's also one for IL 129 north to I-55 south near Wilmington, IL. Both are in wide medians though.

Last month the U=Turn ramp near Wilmington was closed.  IDOT closed the flyover ramp from SB I-55 to SB IL 129 and the ramp from NB I-55 to SB I-55.  A week later they dug up a part of both ramps and piled the rubble on the ramps.