Lane mis-alignments at intersections

[Brian556]

This topic is about streets where the lanes don't line up with the lanes on the far side of the intersection, resulting in an awkward shift in the middle of the intersection

I think the MUTCD needs to address this and reqiure standard signs and puppy track pavement markings, like in the drawing below:



Here is a Google Map link to this situation, which is at Valley Ridge Blvd & Morriss Rd, in Flower Mound, TX
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Flower+Mound,+TX&hl=en&ll=33.066298,-97.061407&spn=0.000004,0.001714&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=34.450489,56.162109&vpsrc=6&hnear=Flower+Mound,+Denton,+Texas&t=m&z=19&layer=c&cbll=33.066298,-97.061407&panoid=fibdLBa0Z4t_cHuJt_KZ5A&cbp=12,304.43,,0,0

[Brian556]

Here's a really bad on on the I-35E northbound frontage rd in Denton, TX
This is rather unsafe, because the traffic going straight gets really close to hitting the right turning traffic.
In this situation, I know the MUTCD does say that a single larger cheveron sign may be used.

[agentsteel53]

puppy track pavement markings

I had never heard this term before, but I like it.  I generally also support the idea.

in general, there should be more in-lane identifiers, especially at freeway on-ramps where the approaching road curls enough that distant overhead signs do not line up intuitively with the lanes.

http://g.co/maps/mgfku

that's an example from here in San Diego (in fact, about 1/4 mile from my work) and the distant green signs do not do a good job of identifying which lanes are the 805 ramps.  (the turn from Scranton Rd. to Mira Mesa Blvd. just behind that street view is even less intuitive.)

[tradephoric]

Good topic.  I can think of one such intersection at Elizabeth Lake Road & Johnson Ave in Pontiac, Michigan.  Traveling WB Elizabeth Lake you have to shift over 1-lane in the middle of the intersection.
http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ll=42.641005,-83.308921&spn=0.000623,0.001034&t=k&z=20&vpsrc=6

[Brian556]

puppy track pavement markings

This is a very common term used by engineers and workers in the road business. It might be in the MUTCD; I can't remember.

in general, there should be more in-lane identifiers, especially at freeway on-ramps where the approaching road curls enough that distant overhead signs do not line up intuitively with the lanes.

Sounds like you are referring to on-pavement shields.

[Mergingtraffic]

I call them guide dots as they guide you through the intersection.  In CT, there are some cases of this and CT doesn't repaint the guide dots often and they wear out.  So, drivers don't know where to go and change lanes without realizing it.  I don't know why they don't repaint them as often as the other lines. 

in one case I wrote to the DOT and asked them to paint guide dots at an intersection that didn't have them and they actually did it about 2 weeks later.  (They have since worn out) 

[vdeane]

Potsdam has a couple.  At one point where US 11 turns there is a "straight" into an alley.  This "strait" requires one to turn left for 30 feet and then make a right.

Going from Main St to Market St is also a "straight" but more like a left turn.

[1995hoo]

US-29 and US-50/VA-236 in Fairfax City, Virginia, outside the old Best Products store. The odd lane alignment isn't much of a problem anymore, but when they first put it into place maybe 20 years ago it proved very dangerous for a time. Essentially what they were trying to do was to shoehorn in an extra left-only lane on VA-236 westbound and US-50 eastbound to provide two straight-ahead lanes and two left-turn lanes. But in order to do that, they had to shift the straight-ahead lanes to the right and have them move left as they cross the intersection (sort of the reverse of the right-hand side of the OP's sketch). So when they first reconfigured it, there were lots of crashes and near-crashes when people went straight out of the right-hand left-turn lanes, partly out of habit and partly because the lanes lined up that way.

Later, they added signs of the sort the OP envisions. Click here for Street View link looking westbound. (The additional sign says "Don't Block the Box" and has a diagram showing what "the box" means.) There used to be diamond-shaped warning signs with WHITE backgrounds and the same-shaped arrows located on the side of the road prior to the intersection to emphasize the point, but those were taken down some years back, presumably because most drivers became familiar with the arrangement. The intersection also has "puppy tracks."

[Alps]

puppy track pavement markings

This is a very common term used by engineers and workers in the road business. It might be in the MUTCD; I can't remember.

I've certainly never heard of puppy tracks. I'd call them kitty tracks if I had. But the MUTCD definitely has an example of using lane markings through an intersection when the other side doesn't line up.

[Takumi]

I've heard them called puppy feet but not tracks.

[roadfro]

puppy track pavement markings

This is a very common term used by engineers and workers in the road business. It might be in the MUTCD; I can't remember.

The term I have heard used more commonly by professionals is "cat tracks", which I believe is the term NDOT has in their standard plans.

Neither term is in the MUTCD, which refers to these as simply "extensions through intersections or interchanges" or "line extensions".

[1995hoo]

I've heard the term "puppy tracks" used for at least ten years. Maybe it's a "regionalism," like the way some people from the Great Lakes region refer to soda as "pop."

[twinsfan87]

I've never heard the term "puppy tracks", "cat tracks", etc for those markings, so maybe it is a regionalism. I've always just referred to them as dotted lines (much like the lines used when a lane ends).

[J N Winkler]

I have heard "elephant tracks" in Britain, generally in reference to dotted lines which extend a cycle lane across the mouth of an intersection.  These dotted lines are fairly similar in appearance to American lane extension lines.

[bassoon1986]

Here's a really bad on on the I-35E northbound frontage rd in Denton, TX
This is rather unsafe, because the traffic going straight gets really close to hitting the right turning traffic.
In this situation, I know the MUTCD does say that a single larger cheveron sign may be used.

UGH...I hate that intersection...I drive it nearly everyday leaving UNT. If i'm turning right I never feel like there's enough room

[Brian556]

UGH...I hate that intersection...I drive it nearly everyday leaving UNT. If i'm turning right I never feel like there's enough room

Yeah, this and several other situations along the I-35E frontage roads are incredibly unsafe due to S*** engineering, and the frontage roads being too close to the freeway.

(BEGIN RANT)Denton has the most ghetto and unsafe streets of any city around here. I used to live there and I hated it for that and other reasons such as high crime, trashy people, old ugly buildings, crappy living conditions, and the fact that it is just plain unsafe to drive at night due to the poor driving skills of others and bad pavement markings. The police department's traffic enforcement at night is completlely inadaquate, people are always running red lights, driving with no lights, driving the wrong way, ect. I HATE DENTON!(END RANT)