Permissive 3-lane roads

[michravera]

Before its completion as freeway in 1972 or so, US-50 in East Sacramento had a permissively striped 3-lane section along Folsom Blvd near CSU Sacramento. I believe that it was actually striped with dashed white lines (before the "yellow separates opposite direction travel" convention was adopted). There were often lane controls that put an angry red "X" (or was it just a circular red light) over the center lane when traffic was designed to go in the opposite direction (and green when it was designated for travel in your direction, and, presumably either went dark or yellow when it was "free for all"). There was for a few more years after that a section of Broadway in Sacramento that had alternating sections with two lanes designated in one direction and one in the other, but with a dashed line on the side with only one lane. Both of these examples were mostly replaced before I got my license in 1976. Although one of the "4 Basic Driving Rules" that I was taught in Driver Ed and which were publish in the California DMV Driver's Handbook mentioned 3-lane roads.

My question for the group is whether permissive 3-lane roads still exist in California or more largely whether they are in any sense "Common" elsewhere and the circumstances that make them seem like a good idea.

[Rothman]

DC's reversible lanes were legendary.  Not sure if they're still around.

[hotdogPi]

I remember seeing on Google Maps some minor (but not residential) surface road in either Quincy or Braintree MA that was one lane in each direction and had about an 8-foot striped section in the middle. The signs said to form two lanes during rush hour (going into the yellow zone since there's no room otherwise). I can't find which street it is, though.

If you want to try to find it, you want to look for either 2018 or 2019 imagery in case they changed it.

[GaryV]

I first saw this and thought of the "suicide lanes" used for passing way back when. The center lane was a free-for-all that either direction could use.

Talking about reversable lanes, Opdyke Road outside the old Pontiac Silverdome had gantries with arrow/x's over the lanes that governed game-day traffic. It could be 4 lanes in one direction and 1 in the other.

[Max Rockatansky]

Phoenix has something like this on 7th Avenue but it isn't three lanes:

https://flic.kr/p/2owJuVo

[1995hoo]

DC's reversible lanes were legendary.  Not sure if they're still around.

Some are, but they've gotten rid of others (including, perhaps most notably, the Connecticut Avenue reversible lanes, which were abolished in 2021 due mainly to excessive crashes). One difference in DC is that they've never had the lane control signals overhead except on Memorial Bridge during the reconstruction project a few years ago. Instead, drivers are/were expected to see, and obey, the signs (both fixed and light-up) advising what the restrictions are.

For example, see the black-and-yellow sign in this 2019 Street View image at 17th and K. (17th is no longer reversible through there.) Those arrow signs were the only thing telling you the street was one-way at certain times of day. I remember one morning when I was walking to work from the Metro stop and some guy was driving the wrong way on 17th; a bunch of us were waving and yelling at him to stop, but he kept going. No idea whether he wound up in a crash. People who were familiar with the configuration tended to go pretty darn fast for a city street.

Canal Road is still reversible and uses a combination of fixed "Do Not Enter" signs with the hours listed and light-up signs showing "Do Not Enter" (that's what that box on top is); further out near Chain Bridge, where there are three lanes and there is always at least one in each direction, the light-up signs show the lane configuration. The problem on Canal Road comes on certain federal and District holidays that are not widely observed by the private sector (Columbus Day and Veterans Day, for example). The road is not reversible on those days, but a lot of commuters get on autopilot and drive on the wrong side.

[US 89]

There is a 3-lane reversible roadway on Atlanta St in Roswell, Georgia north of Atlanta. The same setup also existed on Decatur St/DeKalb Ave east of Atlanta but was removed last year. I don't think the lane is ever "permissive", though.

It isn't 3 lanes, but 5400 South southwest of Salt Lake City has "flex lanes" that can shift the location of the center turn lane. The road has 7 lanes total and usually operates in a 3-1-3 configuration, but during rush hour shifts to 4-1-2 in the direction of heavier traffic (eastbound in morning, westbound in evening).

[kurumi]

The downtown section of Lafayette Street in Santa Clara, CA is a current example. I don't know of others in the Bay Area.

[michravera]

There is a 3-lane reversible roadway on Atlanta St in Roswell, Georgia north of Atlanta. The same setup also existed on Decatur St/DeKalb Ave east of Atlanta but was removed last year. I don't think the lane is ever "permissive", though.

It isn't 3 lanes, but 5400 South southwest of Salt Lake City has "flex lanes" that can shift the location of the center turn lane. The road has 7 lanes total and usually operates in a 3-1-3 configuration, but during rush hour shifts to 4-1-2 in the direction of heavier traffic (eastbound in morning, westbound in evening).

My wife was able quickly to come up with lanes that were reversible, but every example was 4 or more lanes (one of which was a tunnel where one bore had two-way traffic at some times of the day). Her example included configurations like the one that you mentioned but was just before she was able to drive.

I'm truly looking for PERMISSIVE 3-lane roads. For example, I'm pretty sure that there was one near the Princess Juliana Airport on Sint Maarten (which was striped white and had a 90 km/h speed limit, if memory serves). I've not been there in the third millennium, so I'm not sure of the current configuration nor that I remember it correctly. Dashed on the one-lane side and solid on the 2-lane side would fit the bill in a fashion, but I'm really looking for fully permissive. Basically "check way out in front of you and don't get into a head-on".

[Rothman]

Hm.  There was a suicide lane on US 9 somewhere in NY up until recently, but I think they finally got rid of it.

I think in Vermont I remember three-lane roads where up hill two lanes had a white dashed line and down hill one lane had a yellow-solid/yellow-dashed to permit passing when clear, but last time I was across VT 9 it seemed the downhill permission has been revoked.  Maybe elsewhere they still have that set-up.

[pderocco]

I grew up in Massachusetts, where suicide lanes were quite common. I actually liked them, because I was good at them. Some people weren't, though, and every now an then some unlucky family would get wiped out in a head-on. But they took them out in the mid 1970s, and I haven't seen any since, in any of my travels.

As to three-lane reversibles, the Lions Gate Bridge between Vancouver and West Vancouver BC is a good example. It uses overhead lights.

[froggie]

I think in Vermont I remember three-lane roads where up hill two lanes had a white dashed line and down hill one lane had a yellow-solid/yellow-dashed to permit passing when clear, but last time I was across VT 9 it seemed the downhill permission has been revoked.  Maybe elsewhere they still have that set-up.

No such examples that I can think of.  They're all double-yellow now.

[Molandfreak]

Hm.  There was a suicide lane on US 9 somewhere in NY up until recently, but I think they finally got rid of it.

I think in Vermont I remember three-lane roads where up hill two lanes had a white dashed line and down hill one lane had a yellow-solid/yellow-dashed to permit passing when clear, but last time I was across VT 9 it seemed the downhill permission has been revoked.  Maybe elsewhere they still have that set-up.

This is the setup on several sections of US 2 in Wisconsin.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

Hm.  There was a suicide lane on US 9 somewhere in NY up until recently, but I think they finally got rid of it.

I think in Vermont I remember three-lane roads where up hill two lanes had a white dashed line and down hill one lane had a yellow-solid/yellow-dashed to permit passing when clear, but last time I was across VT 9 it seemed the downhill permission has been revoked.  Maybe elsewhere they still have that set-up.

This is the setup on several sections of US 2 in Wisconsin.

Occasionally you see this setup with signs saying "NO PASSING WHEN ONCOMING TRAFFIC IS IN EITHER LANE". Minnesota for one does not permit the single lane to pass whenever opposing traffic has a passing zone.

[michravera]

Hm.  There was a suicide lane on US 9 somewhere in NY up until recently, but I think they finally got rid of it.

I think in Vermont I remember three-lane roads where up hill two lanes had a white dashed line and down hill one lane had a yellow-solid/yellow-dashed to permit passing when clear, but last time I was across VT 9 it seemed the downhill permission has been revoked.  Maybe elsewhere they still have that set-up.

This is the setup on several sections of US 2 in Wisconsin.

This is an example of how I remember Broadway in Sacramento above. No one has given me a present (or recent) "fully permissive" 3-lane example. I'm guessing that most, if not "basically all" of them have been eliminated in the US. I'm not sure about elsewhere. I only am aware of the one in Sint Maarten since 1980 and I was last there in 1997 or so.

[JREwing78]

Hm.  There was a suicide lane on US 9 somewhere in NY up until recently, but I think they finally got rid of it.

I think in Vermont I remember three-lane roads where up hill two lanes had a white dashed line and down hill one lane had a yellow-solid/yellow-dashed to permit passing when clear, but last time I was across VT 9 it seemed the downhill permission has been revoked.  Maybe elsewhere they still have that set-up.

This is the setup on several sections of US 2 in Wisconsin.

Occasionally you see this setup with signs saying "NO PASSING WHEN ONCOMING TRAFFIC IS IN EITHER LANE". Minnesota for one does not permit the single lane to pass whenever opposing traffic has a passing zone.

Michigan has a handful of passing lane sections that are similar - they will allow the single-lane direction to pass as long as there's no traffic in either oncoming lane. In recent years they have actively worked to replace those with 4-lane passing zones (2 lanes in each direction) or paint double-yellow separating the directions.

It's as close to a "suicide lane" setup as you'll ever see in the United States, but even then they're clearly labeled as to which direction takes precedence over the other.

[US 89]

The "no passing when oncoming traffic in either lane" setup is pretty common in the western US.

Example from US 40 in eastern Utah.

[webny99]

Not quite the same situation, but the Peace Bridge connecting Buffalo, NY and Fort Erie, ON has three lanes and the center one can be used by either direction depending on traffic conditions.

[wanderer2575]

The "no passing when oncoming traffic in either lane" setup is pretty common in the western US.

Example from US 40 in eastern Utah.

Michigan has posted "Do Not Pass When Opposing Traffic Present" signs in these situations, but for whatever reason has been eliminating them in sign replacement projects.

[crispy93]

Not quite the same situation, but the Peace Bridge connecting Buffalo, NY and Fort Erie, ON has three lanes and the center one can be used by either direction depending on traffic conditions.

The Mid-Hudson Bridge has that too, along with the short section with no pavement markings and you're kinda on your own: https://maps.app.goo.gl/Q8aAWFD4LUNb6aGb6