I believe that is still a thing in Dearborn. It’s not as scary as it might sound as the lane is clearly marked with illuminated indicators suspended regularly above the center lane.
mmm
Well, yes, people do this all the time in California too (ETA: myself included). I think it’s technically illegal. I suspect it’s tolerated by the police, unless they’re lagging behind in their ticket quota or in a bad mood.
No, they got rid of that in the 90s. The turn lane is still there, but the express thing is gone. ETA: Maybe it was the early '00s when they got rid of it. 
Hmm, ok. Seems like I just saw it last month but it was probably last millennium. 
mmm
There are stretches of 3-lane highway where the middle lane belongs to uphill traffic (for passing) but can be used by downhill traffic for passing, if clear. There are usually signs telling you to yield the lane to uphill traffic.
A lane whose direction varies depending on whether the cars are going uphill or downhill sound dangerous as heck to me.
Generally though, in my experience, roads have three lanes like this in urban areas, residential or commercial. In those areas I’d expect the speed limit to be 45 or below, usually below. I don’t
think passing should be allowed in such areas.
It does not “vary”. It is an uphill passing lane. The lane actually does not exist on flat-ish ground. The road widens out at the base of a hill and goes back to 2 lanes at the top. Sometimes the other side of the hill will be losing its uphill passing lane about the same time, but usually there is several hundred feet of 2-lane road over the top of a hill. In many cases, the passing lane is there because there would be no good sight lines for passing in the oncoming (too many curves or whatever) – on those roads, the downhill side is not allowed to use the passing lane at all.
Oh, I get it. And yes I’ve seen that kind of road in quite a few instances, most recently in Wisconsin. Thanks for clearing it up.
Which I’ve never seen except here on the SDMB.
We had a center lane alternating inbound and outbound (morning and evening) here years ago, and the press used to love writing about how strange it was, but it wasn’t a location for collisions, and the people who used it didn’t find it strange: it was the people who had never driven on it who thought it was a bad idea.
But, but…we are here on the SDMB.
mmm
I’ve seen those center lanes used to make lefts onto busy streets. When traffic is clear one way folks pull into the center lane and wait for traffic to clear to complete their turn. Not sure if that’s legal or not.
As to the main question, my understanding is that use of the center lane for “forward progress” is a no-no. Not sure if this is applicable if your intent is to make a left soonish.