Posted on 02/17/2020 10:52:44 PM PST by ducttape45
PERU – The Indiana Department of Transportation is moving forward with plans to install five J-turn intersections on U.S. 31 in Miami County just three year after pulling a similar proposal that received fierce pushback from legislators and residents.
INDOT confirmed last week it will install the intersections, which the state now calls median U-turns, at the intersections of 850 South, Ind. 218 South junction that goes into Bunker, Ind. 218 North junction that runs by Grissom Air Reserve Base, 100 North and Ind. 16.
Median U-turns are an alternative to traditional roadway intersections that requires traffic turning onto U.S. 31 to first travel south or north and then make a U-turn into traffic.
In 2017, INDOT announced plans to eliminate the traffic lights along U.S. 31 at the intersections of Ind. 218 North junction and Ind. 18 and install median U-turns.
That proposal drew unanimous and fierce criticism from residents, county officials and state legislators during an hours-long public hearing, which led INDOT to pull the project.
Now, three years later, county officials are calling foul after INDOT confirmed it will install five of the controversial interchanges as part of the state’s long-term plan to turn U.S. 31 into a free-flowing highway without any traffic signals.
Jim Tidd, executive director of the Miami County Economic Development Authority, said it’s difficult to believe the state is moving forward with median U-turns considering the instant, and sustained, criticism the last proposal received in 2017.
“Needless to say, we’re disappointed,” he said. “This is totally different than what we heard out of the governor’s office when this issue came up. They are still claiming these are going to add safety to U.S. 31, and we’re saying they’re not, and I think most of the residents say they’re not. It’s just a cheap way of getting out building interchanges.”
Brad Bagwell, president of the U.S. 31 Coalition, which advocates for the highway be turned into a freeway, called the new median U-turns “Band-Aid fixes” for the safety issues on U.S. 31.
He said over half the traffic on the highway drives over 65 mph in most places, which makes it difficult to make a U-turn into traffic.
“J-turns work in some places, and can be a great fit for low-traffic, low-speed roads,” Bagwell wrote in an editorial. “But U.S. 31 is not that type of road.”
But Nichole Hacha-Thomas, media relations director for INDOT’s Fort Wayne district, said data shows that median U-turns work reduce the number and severity of crashes, regardless of the negative sentiment some have towards them.
“Unfortunately, the U.S. 31 Coalition has given J-turns a bad name,” she said. “… Some of the fears about turning into traffic and merging into three lanes is just unfounded, because that’s not the way you drive a U-turn.”
Hacha-Thomas said median U-turns make it easier to navigate an intersection because drivers only have to manage one direction of traffic at a time. She said the intersections would be designed to accommodate large vehicles such as semis and tractors.
Installing median U-turns will also achieve the state’s goal of making U.S. 31 a free-flow highway with no traffic lights, she said, but at a fraction of the cost of installing full on interchanges like the one at U.S. 31 and Ind. 28 in Tipton County.
“Why use dollars that aren’t needed?” Hacha-Thomas said. “If we can reach the same goal at a more cost-effective dollar amount, why wouldn’t we? That’s our duty to the taxpayers.”
But, Tidd said, it’s unfair for INDOT to spend millions of dollars on new interchanges in Howard and Tipton counties, but then use a low-cost approach in Miami County that won’t solve any problems.
“It may be in the best interest of INDOT for cost saving, but it’s not in the best interest of the constituents up and down the corridor of U.S. 31,” he said.
INDOT is installing two new full-on interchanges in Miami County at Ind. 18 and Business 31. Those projects are projected to be finished by 2023.
New interchanges are also being built at 236th Street in Hamilton County and Ind. 10 in Marshall County. The total cost of all four new interchanges is around $100 million, according to INDOT.
The state’s long-term capital plan, called Next Level Roads, is also investing nearly $300 million on U.S. 31 to improve intersections, remove railroad overpasses and eliminate private driveway access.
Hacha-Thomas said although Miami County will have five median U-turns, INDOT could reevaluate the intersections in the future to see if they warrant full-on interchanges like the ones being built at the two intersections.
“We can still reevaluate our plans as we move forward,” she said. “Priorities can change. What we know now is that we can go back and build interchanges if we find that that’s what warranted.”
Hacha-Thomas said some intersections on U.S. 31 at lightly trafficked county roads may not be changed at all and require drivers to simply stop and merge into traffic like they do now.
Tidd said local and state officials are currently formulating a plan to convince INDOT to hold off, once again, on installing median U-turns on U.S. 31 in order to develop a long-term plan to fund the construction of interchanges instead.
But, Hacha-Thomas said, once the median U-turns are implemented, it won’t take long for drivers to get used to them.
“Miami County may not love this, but we know that they work and they’re worth the investment,” she said. “People will learn how to use them.”
Anyone out there in Hoosier territory have any knowledge or opinions on this matter?
Who you gonna believe?
You’re own common sense or some Government Bureaucrat shoveling crap?!?!
For the curious, here are two videos that discuss and illustrate these types of intersections. I think it is an interesting idea, but without knowing about the traffic patterns for the proposed locations, it is hard to judge if these are appropriate.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPcMeh0gDC0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09RZ8llXjZQ
These intersections look dangerous and confusing.
Dang. That looks Suicidal
I ran into one of those GD* things a few months ago. Avoided that route ever since.
*Gosh Darn
But Nichole Hacha-Thomas, media relations director for INDOT’s Fort Wayne district, said data shows that median U-turns work reduce the number and severity of crashes, regardless of the negative sentiment some have towards them.
“Unfortunately, the U.S. 31 Coalition has given J-turns a bad name,” she said. “… Some of the fears about turning into traffic and merging into three lanes is just unfounded, because that’s not the way you drive a U-turn.”
Hacha-Thomas said median U-turns make it easier to navigate an intersection because drivers only have to manage one direction of traffic at a time. She said the intersections would be designed to accommodate large vehicles such as semis and tractors.
Installing median U-turns will also achieve the state’s goal of making U.S. 31 a free-flow highway with no traffic lights, she said, but at a fraction of the cost of installing full on interchanges like the one at U.S. 31 and Ind. 28 in Tipton County.
...
They’re a great idea.
"Michigan Left"
That's how it keeps traffic at the targeted intersection, "free flowing", a lot of people avoid that intersection and choose another route. I suspect that after declaring the solution a great success they'll present the plan to widen and alter alternative routes at significant expense.
The cost of modifications to alternate routes will be attributed to anything but the problems these intersections cause. I don't know the area, but in areas where there is declining population and therefore less traffic, it's going to justify other construction that isn't now justifiable.
JMHo
It’s less suicidal than trying to make a left turn on a busy highway. I generally turn right then make a u turn at first opportunity. It takes less time than waiting for traffic to be clear from both directions for a left turn.
Sure would hate to have to slam the brakes as some semi turns in front of me trying to get back up to speed.
Idiots!
They haven’t seen anything till they cutoff and take land if they make it a freeway.
Jug handles will work in that area.
The speed limit is not 65 .
The guy from the opposition is a liar.
Something that traffic planners probably didn’t think about when designing a ‘J’ turn is the increasing numbers of cars that have the ‘stop/start’ technology. If one is driving a newer car with this ‘feature’ and you are waiting to J-turn into traffic that is moving at a high rate of speed, the last thing you need is for your car to pause while it spools up the engine.
It would seem that ‘J’ turns are an idea just waiting for class-action lawsuits against the auto makers who built the car, the local governments who install J-turns, and possible the Federal DOT for mandating the ‘stop/start’ crapola.
Cars going 70 through there slamming on brakes for the stop lights are a real issue.
I think it is just to save money on an overpass. Having trouble remembering the term for the cost of project vs. human life
For me, it all boils down to the state going back on a promise to not install them, to now cramming them down our throats whether we like them or not. Plus the intersections that they propose installing them at will NOT be better served by them. The county was promised something like what other counties got, and we deserve something in that vein.
They are just that. Many people have been killed at the intersections they are proposing installing J-turns at. They won’t help.
Do not even know what a J turn is.
Looks like a fishing hook. Any good for catfishin'?
True...but you know the light is there and “should” be ready for it...most have advance flashing light warnings ahead of the intersection. At least its that way on roads I travel.
The J intersection is much more random and uncertain with regard to speed of the merging traffic, yeilding, the judgment of the turning driver with regard to distance etc. IMHO, a turning tractor trailer rig trying to get back up to speed would be a huge concern to me especially in more adverse conditions like snow, rain or fog.
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