Apparently these “indirect lefts” that will going in up and down Grant are actually going to be a thing that we have to figure out as drivers, but thankfully, the RTA has this happy (and very brief) jingle to assist with the process. Put it on repeat and sing along!
[HT: Reddit Tucson]
This article appears in Aug 29 – Sep 4, 2013.
Grant Road? Are they out of their minds?
that song f*cking rocks
I smell a traffic ticket bonanza. guys turning right will use the lane, which means traffic will back up along it. This will back up traffic in the lane waiting to make a u-turn which will back up into the intersection. Some nimrod will speed up to make the yellow and plow into the backed up traffic, or plow into the idiot who decides he can make a left turn at the light.
Please do your usual in-depth investigative reporting and ring out who did this song! HoCoFest anyone?
Yes they are out of their minds.
Out of their minds? Certifiably so!!! But then, this is Tucson, where construction that would take a few months anywhere else, takes years (Grant & Oracle, for instance).
To illustrate, in the 60’s, the state of New Jersey expanded 36 MILES of the NJ Turnpike, from 6 to 12 lanes, IN A YEAR AND A HALF, and during that time, never was there less than 3 lanes in each direction, and never was the speed limit less than the legal 60 mph. Grant and Oracle has been going on for…. HOW LONG???… and it’s STILL not finished!!!
Kentop, it sounds like the drivers were at fault in each case. If people can’t follow the rules and drive correctly, then they should lose the privilege. Driving is not a right.
Driversatfault, people following the rules is not the issue here. It’s the “process” that the powers that be have come up with for dealing with Tucson’s traffic problems. The “michigan left turn” is a disaster that will only exacerbate the problem. For decades now, Tucson has refused to do what will actually solve most of the traffic issues and take a great deal of traffic OFF our city streets – A FREEWAY (or two). Imagine the concept! Not here in Tucson, I guess!
Yikes…my beach cruiser is shaking its handle bars. And NOT like Miley….sigh.
Guarantee you these first 2 Michigan lefts will be the ONLY Michigan lefts in town.
What. A. Disaster.
Mark my word!
This is the kind of thing that gives me a sort of perverse pride in Tucson. When was the last time a major road or public construction project done right? I can’t even remember it. Even when they did something so simple as resurface my street, when they got done the street was two inches lower than it was previously, and none of the driveways were flush with the street anymore. Big, useless projects designed by planners and traffic engineers who plainly discovered the joys of smoking bath salts long before the teenagers made it popular.
There’s just a sort of weird and almost comical…familiarity, for lack of a better word, in the epic poor planning that Tucson’s been subjected to over the past few decades, and in the bad ideas that have been allowed to escape the bars where civil engineers hang out.
Tucson is still the finest city in these United States, which at least means it’ll be hard for incompetent city councils and planners to f%&# it up permanently and irredeemably.
Kentop, the numbers don’t bear out your speculation. From http://www.michigan.gov/mdot/0,4616,7-151-9620_10694-161777–,00.html :
“[Michigan Lefts] provide 20 to 50 percent greater capacity than direct left-turns… On roadways where crossovers and Michigan Lefts have been added, crashes have been reduced 30 to 60 percent overall. The greatest reductions are in rear-end and head-on crashes during left-turns (60 to 90 percent reduction) and right-angle crashes (60 percent reduction). Slight increases are noted for two other crash types. Non-left-turn rear-end crashes increase by approximately 25 percent, and fixed-object crashes increase by approximately 20 percent.”
It goes on to state that the 20 percent increase in fixed-object crashes is possibly due to icy conditions, which won’t be anywhere near as much a problem here as they are in Michigan.
Tucson planning and construction may have other problems, but indirect lefts have proven their worth for over 40 years.
First one installed: Oracle/Ina. should be operational soon.
Living in the town of Oracle, watching the work at Oracle and Ina is almost sickening, knowing that I have to make that left onto eastbound Ina a lot. How anyone in their right mind could ever think that this is going to work, is beyond me.