Double "reverse jughandle" U-turn facility on US 7/202

[kurumi]

First time I've seen this in CT: http://goo.gl/maps/f1OVu

On a four-lane divided highway, there's a provision for longer vehicles to U-turn by using a "reverse jughandle" roadway that merges back into the opposite lanes.

Is there an official term for this?

[NE2]

It's called a loon. No kidding.
http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/research/safety/09059/

(Or simply a jughandle, especially if there's a raised island: http://www.dot.state.pa.us/Internet/pdnews.nsf/636956deb64cc52e852566130048b950/424e74c02840a2fe8525783b005459ad?OpenDocument )

[Pete from Boston]

Not a double, but there's one a little ways north, in Hadley, MA:

http://goo.gl/maps/83P20

[Mr_Northside]

US-22 features plenty of those on the stretch in Westmoreland and Indiana (and maybe one or two in Cambria) counties (PA), along with regular jughandles.

[shadyjay]

There's one on US 5 South just south of White River Jct proper in VT, though it's a single (5SB->5NB) with no NB->SB counterpart.

https://www.google.com/maps/preview#!q=white+river+jct%2C+vt&data=!1m4!1m3!1d1826!2d-72.332948!3d43.6505614!2m1!1e3!4m10!1m9!4m8!1m3!1d271!2d-73.4202719!3d41.5105692!3m2!1i1440!2i775!4f35&fid=7

[kphoger]

Pretty common in México, and I think they use them in Sweden as well.  I don't think I've ever seen on in the States.  At least now I know what to call them.

[roadman65]

US 202 has plenty of them between Somerville, NJ and Flemington, NJ.

[deathtopumpkins]

I've seen a fair number of these used at tight u-turns. There's one place I remember seeing them consistently, but I can't recall where it was.

[Anthony_JK]

Louisiana is installing more and more of those here, except we just call them "J-turns". We use them both for U-turn and for "Michigan Left" turning movements at specialized intersections. US 90 from Lafayette to Broussard has plenty of them.

[Ned Weasel]

I would have called them "inverse jughandles," until I knew they were called "loons."  "Reverse jughandles" are technically the variety that come in the form of post-intersection loop ramps, while these are more akin to forward jughandles flipped around the main roadway as if it were an axis--that is, a forward jughandle, inverted.  Loons appear even in states where forward and reverse jughandles don't.  A couple of examples that might have been posted in other threads:

There are a few on the former alignment of US 24 in Kansas City, Kansas, which is now simply known as State Avenue:

https://maps.google.com/maps?ll=39.116398,-94.782078&spn=0.000759,0.001321&gl=us&t=k&z=20

There are several on the non-freeway portion of US 71 in Northwest Arkansas, but I think they only occur in conjunction with intersecting roadways:

https://maps.google.com/?ll=36.489642,-94.260673&spn=0.001121,0.002642&t=k&z=19

They are often not signed for U-turns, even though that is their purpose.  They're probably the most useful for people who already know they're there.

[NE2]

I don't think it qualifies as a loon if there's a raised island.

[Ned Weasel]

I don't think it qualifies as a loon if there's a raised island.

Oh.  Well, if it's not a loon, then I say it should be called an "inverse jughandle."   

[agentsteel53]

which is regular, and which is reverse jughandle?

one is "traffic exits as though taking a diamond off-ramp, turns left" - the other is "traffic exits as though taking a clover off-ramp, ends up left by turning 270 degrees right"

[Ned Weasel]

which is regular, and which is reverse jughandle?

one is "traffic exits as though taking a diamond off-ramp, turns left" - the other is "traffic exits as though taking a clover off-ramp, ends up left by turning 270 degrees right"

The former is forward (or regular), and the latter is reverse.

I didn't make that up: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jughandle

[NE2]

I didn't make that up: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jughandle

Also: http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/research/safety/07032/

[jp the roadgeek]

There's one on US 20 just east of the center of Sturbridge.  Main function seems to be an intersection where traffic is coming from the right, and u-turns are allowed, but cars making the u-turn must enter the jughandle on the other side of the highway then merge.

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Stewartsville,+NJ&hl=en&ll=42.111898,-72.097038&spn=0.003932,0.010568&sll=41.600498,-72.880345&sspn=0.126827,0.338173&oq=stewarts&hnear=Stewartsville,+Warren,+New+Jersey&t=m&z=17&layer=c&cbll=42.112149,-72.097373&panoid=YLSYo2PPZEODFqBgHaOi6A&cbp=12,281.08,,0,0

[Pete from Boston]

Then there's this crazy thing on former US 1 on the Boston/Dedham line:

http://goo.gl/maps/gO7Yr

As far as I can tell, you're supposed to exit as if it's a traditional jughandle, then cross over into a "loon" on the other side.  Through all of this setup, the "loon" and the jughandle combine to form a single through lane in each direction that circumvents the traffic light on the mainline.

[kphoger]

Then there's this crazy thing on former US 1 on the Boston/Dedham line:

http://goo.gl/maps/gO7Yr

As far as I can tell, you're supposed to exit as if it's a traditional jughandle, then cross over into a "loon" on the other side.  Through all of this setup, the "loon" and the jughandle combine to form a single through lane in each direction that circumvents the traffic light on the mainline.

Common enough for one direction only (as part of a cheap interchange, for example), but rarer for both directions.  Usually, double crossovers are through the median rather than on the outside.

[cpzilliacus]

Pretty common in México, and I think they use them in Sweden as well.  I don't think I've ever seen on in the States.  At least now I know what to call them.

I have driven a lot on the Swedish  highway network, and I don't believe I have ever seen one of those in the Nordic nations. 

I have seen a few jughandles, but they are not nearly as common there are they are (for example) in New Jersey.

What is common in parts of Finland are grade-separated crossings with jughandle-type access between the two roads, which are usually what we would classify as minor or principal arterial highways (not access controlled, posted speed limit of 80 k/h or 90 k/h). 

Example here at the junction of National Highway 2 and National Highway 9/E63 near Humppila.

[kphoger]

You're right, it was a false memory.  I was thinking of traditional jughandles in Sweden.  Example here:  http://goo.gl/maps/WA3M0

[cpzilliacus]

You're right, it was a false memory.  I was thinking of traditional jughandles in Sweden.  Example here:  http://goo.gl/maps/WA3M0

Cool. I have driven on a lot of E18, though not that segment.  I believe the long-range national highway plans in Sweden call for all of it to eventually get upgraded to full motorway, or maybe to motortrafikled (Super-2) all the way from Stockholm to the border with Norway.

The Swedish National Transport Board even has a sample BBS (which I like a lot) to  be used at a jughandle for left turns from the right lane:

[Avalanchez71]

Is this type of feature really that much safer?  It seems that one needs to enter traffic twice in lieu of once.

[Alps]

Is this type of feature really that much safer?  It seems that one needs to enter traffic twice in lieu of once.

There are two reasons to have a jughandle, neither primarily related to safety, although both have related benefits.
1) U-turn movements. Only passenger cars can U-turn within the width of a regular roadway. PA uses loons instead of jughandles, but those have the disadvantage that if they back up due to volume, now your queue is on the left side of the road instead of the right. Jughandle queues can theoretically use the right shoulder, but most roads don't have a wide enough left shoulder for that.
2) Signal phasing. Jughandles eliminate a left-turn phase from the signal, allowing more green time for the through movement. This is particularly important in NJ, where all of our divided arterials are clogged with congestion during commuting hours and Saturday shopping. (It is not an overstatement to say "all," by the way.) In the rare case where both roadways have jughandles, you get down from four phases to two, which maximizes what you can do without widening the roads. In general, a corner acquisition for a jughandle is less impactful than a strip acquisition for a lane, because only 1-2 properties are affected by the process instead of 10-20.

[webfil]

We have some of them in Québec. I always thought that they would be a misconception of Jersey jughandles.
Two are located on R-112 in Carignan : http://goo.gl/maps/9B4Fj

EDIT : The only remnant of such config on R-138 east of Québec city is here : http://goo.gl/maps/siS9N
Every other (there used to be 6 or 7 more) were replaced by such devices, i.e. roundabout with right-turn island.

[johndoe]

I could be wrong, but I think you guys are using the term "jughandle" differently than the FHWA documents.  I think they're calling a jughandle a design which converts left/U-turns to rights (and then, depending on the design, either more rights or lefts).  But the important part is to make a left you leave the road you start on from the RIGHT side of the road.  A median U-turn (in an R-CUT, J-turn, Michigan left, or superstreet) isn't a jughandle, as you're still making a LEFT turn (not a right like a jughandle).  The "loon" is just the extra pavement for large vehicles to get turned around.  I've seen them made with mountable curbs (ala a roundabout truck apron) perhaps to help direct smaller vehicles, but larger vehicles need the full area due to the offtracking.