Growing up in Tucson we had what everyone referred to as “suicide lanes” which were the middle lane of the road which was for left turns most of the day, but during certain hours in the morning it was driving traffic in one direction, and during certain hours in the afternoon it was driving traffic in the other direction. They’ve since gotten rid of them because they were too dangerous.
I’m curious how many other places have them. Does your town? Have you seen them before? Have you even heard of them?
Atlanta has those. The traffic lights have big red "X"s for the wrong-way lanes. I never heard them called “suicide lanes,” though. I always called them “those lanes that switch direction depending on th time of day.”
Yes. We have roads like you describe, and even some roads that are 6 lanes across and the middle 2 lanes are variable direction. We also have entire streets whose direction changes during rush hour with little or no signage to indicate this. There are also certain highways where the shoulders are opened for use as a lane during rush hour. Every day is a new adventure.
There’s some in Cleveland Heights. Driving in Cleveland Heights/Shaker is scary enough with its weird intersections and buggy-width roads. No need for this “suicide lane” nonsense too but alas, I think it might be…part of the charm?
I’m not sure what to answer, because on the few times people have referred to “suicide lanes” around me, they mean middle lanes that are always left-turn lanes and do not have any median breaks or concrete barriers. They’re dangerous-seeming enough as it is without changing operationality in the middle of the day!
I voted “yes” before I noticed the distinction that the “suicide lane” needed to be used as a regular traffic lane and not only for starting or finishing turns. I was thinking of the center lanes with solid yellow lines on the outside and broken yellow lines on the inside, which I would expect to be extremely common. As far as I know, Los Angeles doesn’t have any such lanes for regular traffic flow.
They have them in Swansea, but not for turning – there is a central overtaking lane on some roads, that can be used by both directions of traffic (but not at the same time…)
We’ve got the direction-changable express lanes on I-90/94, but they’re not left turn lanes. The suburbs near us have some left turn lanes that are wide open and some people drive down them for some distance before turning, but you’re not supposed to. I don’t recall any of those in the City of Chicago proper, but it’s possible I’m just not recalling one.
So no, we don’t have exactly what you’re talking about, although we have pieces of it.
No, but in Virginia, where I lived. It’s a single lane in the middle that provides a turn lane for cars traveling in either direction. But wait you ask, if you’re moving left to get into the turn lane how can you know if someone will suddenly and without signalling move to turn left from the opposite lane? Answer: you don’t. It’s freaking scary.
I’ve never seen one so I’m pretty sure we don’t have them. Closest we got in the city proper is where it’s illegal to park on some major streets during rush hour, so cars can use what is normally the parking lane as another driving lane. I don’t quite remember if it’s (for example) illegal to park going east in the morning, and west in the afternoon, or illegal to park at all during those times – I just avoided parking on those streets altogether so I wouldn’t have to move my car.
Lanes that change direction AND are sometimes turn lanes strike me as idiotic, though. If you’re an out-of-towner, or are running late, look out.
I’ve never heard them referred to by that name but we have at least one in downtown Toronto. They have overhead signals so you don’t need to remember the rules, just watch the lights and stay out of the lanes with large red X’s and cars coming towards you.
Lexington, Kentucky has one major street that does this. When I was there in the 80’s it was 5 lane, so normally 2 each way with turning lane, and 3 vs. 1 in the morning and afternoon. I think it has been widened to 7 lanes, with it now being 5-1 during rush times. I have never heard them called suicide lanes, though.
Heard of them, none in my small town. Seen them in Atlanta many years ago.
When I was a kid, (early 70’s) my Mother would drive to Montreal to see her sister (we lived in Northern VT). There was a 3 lane rural road (5-10 miles) that the middle lane was for passing only, both directions. That road always scared me. I have never seen a similar road.
I’d not heard them called that, but Melbourne has at least one street like that. Auckland Harbour Bridge used to have a similar thing with big concrete barriers which were moved like a giant zip to cope with direction changes at rush hour. Assume it still does.
I voted no, but there is at least one instance of this in the UK that I know of, in Reading. I used to drive that lane occasionally, and it always made me uncomfortable - did the other drivers realise that it goes in different directions at different times of day?
Grew up in Pennsylvania and never knew about them until I moved here to Tucson at 23, but I sure got acquainted with them in a hurry. Thank heavens they’re only a distant memory now, the last one having bitten the dust in 2004.
We used to have a saying, “Three right turns are as good as a left,” meaning that when suicide lanes were in effect and you needed to turn left onto a cross-street, you had to go slightly past the intersection, turn right, turn right again opposite your original direction of travel, then make a third right onto the cross street you want to enter, going completely around the block in a clockwise direction. Then there were the idiots who decided to go balls-out and make a left turn, anyway, waiting for a break in opposite-direction traffic, meanwhile holding up everyone behind them who were going straight through, leading to a symphony of horn-blowing.
We have one in Indianapolis. It’s extremely useful, as it’s really the only thoroughfare that connects NE Indy with downtown - and there’s been a ton of suburban sprawl in the NE the last few years. How people suffer through two hours of stop-and-go traffic when there are perfectly good neighborhoods in Indy where it takes 5 minutes to get downtown is beyond me. And still those are the same people that shout down any suggestions of mass transit upgrades. Weirdos.