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
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.
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They’re a great idea.
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.
Do not even know what a J turn is.
Looks like a fishing hook. Any good for catfishin'?
I watched one video looks safe to me, People do this all the time with out a intersection for it. I live in a area of the country with some of the fastest growth of about 3-4 decades of people moving into the area, slow moving traffic jambs like crazy during rush hour, if you got to turn left to go from one shopping center to get to another it is just easier to turn right go down the road, get into the center lane, and then pull and then turn left, these J lanes just make it much much safer especially for semi trucks once you get use to it. These are like roundabouts, if your not use to them they can be dangerous, once you get use to them you say to your self why don’t we build more of these things, if you can’t handle roundabouts stay off the road.
Much safer than a Roundabout.
There are thousands of these in Michigan. They work just fine.
The problem with this concept is that they gave these types of median openings a name. The FDOT removed the median opening for exiting my subdivision long before I moved here. Now, instead of waiting for a break in 4 lanes of traffic when I want to go north, I only have to wait for a break in the 2 southbound lanes so that I can turn right. Then I go southbound for a very short distance, get into the left turn lane, and then wait for a break in the northbound lanes. I much prefer this to a traffic signal that would delay 4 lanes of traffic tor me to exit my subdivision and for me to be delayed going up and down the road for other locals to exit theirs. This system works very well and is better at moving traffic and avoiding delays than a trafgic light at the entrance to every subdivision. But there must be room for the left turn storage lane at the u-turn location.
My new job in Ann Arbor, MI has these along the road. Speed limit on that stretch is 55mph and goes down to only 45mph later. Lights are still at the major intersections and even some of these “turns” have their own lights due to the amount of traffic.
The first time through they are daunting. There are definitely safety concerns in my mind. I don’t see where they are coming up with the cost savings as they require additional lanes and often additional lights. Why do they have to mess around with something they know works.
It is called a “Michigan Left” and installed properly with lights at the turns, is the safest way to make a left hand turn on a busy road. We have been doing it for many many decades here, and it works
Those are called “leftovers” around here. Much cooler name than J-turns...but just as dangerous.
A J-turn is what I always called a policeman turn around.
They oughta just install a series of roundabouts.
/s
I love the Michigan “turn arounds”. Beats the heck out of left turn lanes!
Slightly off topic, but have you seen that the DOT is pushing to build the I-67 road? It runs north-south and is halfway between I-65 and the unfinished I-69. It will go from nowhere to nowhere. A stupid waste of money.
After having used a the J intersection at the US 41 - Ind 114 intersection. I’ve decided they are more dangerous than a normal 90 degree intersection and/or a traffic circle. One is required to cross 2 lanes of US 41 traffic to get to the left turn lane and then swiftly cross 2 more lanes to continue either east or west on 114.