(Half) Useless Center Turn Lanes

[Mr. Matté]

When a center turn lane is implemented on a road where there is absolutely nothing on one side into which you can make a left turn, why are they created or signed anyway?

Here's an example of this on PA 8 in Etna (outside of Pittsburgh): https://maps.google.com/?ll=40.50636,-79.946149&spn=0.00118,0.001742&t=k&z=20&layer=c&cbll=40.50626,-79.94616&panoid=x74Fy9XFbmHhlOluluuemw&cbp=12,176.16,,0,-1.8 There's businesses that can be accessed from the northbound side of PA 8 but the option is there for southbound travelers to make left turns into the side of a hill.

[roadfro]

Presumably because there is still a desire to allow left turns from the one direction and not have those turning vehicles blocking the through traffic.  There isn't really another way to deal with this situation that wouldn't introduce confusion, unless it were striped as a left turn pocket.

[jeffandnicole]

When the GPS says to turn into the side of the hill, it becomes completely obvious why the lane is there.

[kphoger]

I've always assumed most of them were put there in anticipation of driveways being built later.

[Joe The Dragon]

Presumably because there is still a desire to allow left turns from the one direction and not have those turning vehicles blocking the through traffic.  There isn't really another way to deal with this situation that wouldn't introduce confusion, unless it were striped as a left turn pocket.

also the arrows are only painted one way other places are setup the same way.

[NE2]

also the arrows are only painted one way other places are setup the same way.

Whoa, they are. That's poo.

[Signal]

I'd assume that its because there may be future connecting roads, or businesses, or driveways, on the other side of the street.

Since, on the "used" side of the road, those parking lots connect directly to the street, there is not enough space for individual turn lanes. So there would be a continuous left turn lane for the northbound traffic. They might as well have the center lane for lefts both ways, so they don't have to redo it in case anything is developed on the other side. 
(And possibly to make legal uturns?  )


There is one like that near me, but it is completely uselss, with nothing on BOTH sides!  :
https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Sam's+Club,+970+Hilton+Heights+Road,+Charlottesville,+VA&hl=en&ll=38.097298,-78.468229&spn=0.005395,0.009624&sll=40.503982,-79.947054&sspn=0.001843,0.002406&oq=sams+c&t=k&hq=Sam's+Club,+970+Hilton+Heights+Road,+Charlottesville,+VA&radius=15000&z=17&layer=c&cbll=38.096926,-78.468541&panoid=RUdyb-9-MSN6-Hh_6dIV4w&cbp=12,223.51,,0,15.65

[Alps]

There is one like that near me, but it is completely uselss, with nothing on BOTH sides!  :
https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Sam's+Club,+970+Hilton+Heights+Road,+Charlottesville,+VA&hl=en&ll=38.097298,-78.468229&spn=0.005395,0.009624&sll=40.503982,-79.947054&sspn=0.001843,0.002406&oq=sams+c&t=k&hq=Sam's+Club,+970+Hilton+Heights+Road,+Charlottesville,+VA&radius=15000&z=17&layer=c&cbll=38.096926,-78.468541&panoid=RUdyb-9-MSN6-Hh_6dIV4w&cbp=12,223.51,,0,15.65

I see those plenty - it's where a four-lane road went on a "diet" to annoy through traffic, even though no one lives or works on either side for a good mile. The center lane becomes a truck passing lane in those circumstances.

[agentsteel53]

using a turn lane as a passing lane seems ... slightly dangerous.

[theline]

Here's another one that is totally useless. About 6 miles of SR-67 between Muncie and Daleville, IN, has nothing on either side to turn into. Wherever there is a cross road, the center turn lane is replaced with a single turn lane: https://www.google.com/maps?hl=en&ll=40.113527,-85.487366&spn=0.22344,0.528374&sll=40.257521,-85.705719&sspn=0.887667,2.113495&mra=mr&t=m&z=12&layer=c&cbll=40.127162,-85.448338&panoid=j0-eI40a2YaONzmOuRpo9Q&cbp=12,45,,0,0

INDOT was way overoptimistic about the development potential of the area. "If you build it they will come" NOT.

[PurdueBill]

Some years ago they rebuilt a section of Lindberg Road in West Lafayette, Ind. over the Celery Bog with a center turn lane and later scrubbed the arrows off and tried to stripe it with diagonal stripes (although the newer stripes were in cheap paint and the original stuff from the expensive renovation was thermoplastic).  Then that started to sink into the bog and it was redone, again, as a narrower bridge but the road does still widen at the eastern end to include a useless center turn lane.

Aerial view is new enough to show the new bridge; street view still shows the useless center lane.  There was ZERO chance of there ever being anything to turn left into along there; what were they thinking?

[sp_redelectric]

I know of two on Oregon 18:

Just east of the junction with U.S. 101, this was at one time the entrance to the Pixieland Campground (and even an amusement park for a few years).  The center left turn lane is still here, but the driveway is actually blocked and gated off.

Further east... This used to be a passing zone, but due to the sharp curves and an active landslide underneath the road, ODOT finally took out the passing lane and just put in a median.

[jjakucyk]

It's an expression of the highway engineer's desire to have an unbroken cross-section regardless of actual need, context, or cost because...because the standards say so.   

[kphoger]

using a turn lane as a passing lane seems ... slightly dangerous.

Less dangerous is the risk of an oncoming collision.  More dangerous is the risk of pissing someone else off enough that they run you off the road.