Does your city have "reverse" traffic lanes?

[blondeatlast]

Phoenix does, and it is insane. From 7-9 on weekdays, you are allowed to drive in one direction, but not allowed to turn left from that lane. So what do people do?

You probably guessed--they turn left from the permanent left lane.

And of course, tourists don't know about this, the signs are pretty unclear, and they drive the wrong way. People still think they can turn left in the "wrong" direction at a light and often do. Mind you, Phoenix is notorious for it's paucity of left turn arrows.

Of course, the accidents happen in the "permanent" lanes as people swerve to avoid thoroughly confused drivers in the reverse lane.

Inspired by joeybee's stupid driver thread.

[felonious thunk]

1. Several DC avenues

do that during rush hours. Plus parking is restricted on those same roads in rush hour. So one guy in the wrong lane, or one car remaining parked causes an hour delay. And DC has its share of tourists who have zero idea how to deal with it.

[blondeatlast]

2. Why I won't be driving when I go in May.

I hear the Metro works quite well in off-peak hours. Should I use that?

[felonious thunk]

4. Definitely

If you can use Metro, do. Metro is crowded during rush hour, but it's not impossible to get on a train. But if you use it off-peak, you'll have no trouble going around. It's the nicest subway system I've ever been on.

[SOteric]

3. Yes, we have a few reversable lanes.

But they're well labeled, we've been using them for ages so most locals know what's what, and the tourists get a pretty good opportunity to figure it out as well.

[Art_from_Ark]

5. Are you in Vancouver, by any chance?

When I was up there, they had reversible lanes on the Lion's Gate Bridge and the Massey Tunnel.

[Don_G]

6. Louisville, KY

One older, busy street with a center lane that allows heavy traffic to use two lanes depending on the flow of traffic during rush hour and functions as a turning lane otherwise.

Ours is clearly marked with overhead signs every half-block or so.

It was a good alternative to destroying several miles of historic buildings like Chicago did with a few Frank Lloyd Wright structures on road widening projects.

[Intelsucks]

7. Austin, Texas: Synchronized gridlock

The traffic lights are synchronized, but no one's moving anyway, so it really doesn't matter.

[DS1]

8. Reverse traffic lanes are entirely user-optional in Boston

but I live in Framingham, we hardly even have established lines in Framingham, and spend more time stopped on green than on red due to the lag of people running red.

[Pithlet]

9. We had one

and they finally converted it to permanent lanes. It is a stupid idea. I used to drive on that road every day when it was reversible, and I can't believe I never had an accident.

[kitkatrose]

10. Memphis had them, but they just switched them

back to regular lanes. Too many accidents, cause they weren't labeled really well.