Reader says another turn lane needed on Memorial Parkway service road at Weatherly Road (original) (raw)
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View full size The Memorial Parkway overpasses at Whitesburg Drive and Weatherly Road are opened in this Dec. 10, 2009 file photo. (The Huntsville Times/File photo)
HUNTSVILLE, Alabama - Chris Jones wants to know if a second left-turn lane could be added on the Memorial Parkway southbound service road to Weatherly Road.
Jones said in an email that, to his knowledge, all the Memorial Parkway service roads at intersections where there's an overpass have the same lane markings - a left lane for left turns or U-turns under the overpass, and a center lane for either turning left or going straight. Except, he said, at Weatherly Road.
"For some reason, the middle lane southbound is designated as a straight-thru only, and only the left lane can turn left to go east on Weatherly," he said. "What's the reasoning for this?"
Normally, when a lane has an optional movement for drivers, it's because a large number of vehicles make both movements but the number of lanes are limited because of space, said Dennis Thompson, traffic improvements project engineer with the city's Traffic Engineering Department.
The Alabama Department of Transportation would have to approve any changes in the lane marking at the intersection as well as change the signs and lane pavement markings, Thompson said.
He said the Traffic Engineering Department will conduct a turning movement study at the intersection and send the result to the DOT to consider any changes.
Double yellow trouble
Drivers who don't abide by double yellow lines on the road have one read seeing red.
Harold Jennings said in an email that drivers in Alabama don't seem to understand the meaning of a double yellow line. Specifically, he said, it's a problem on Moores Mill Road just south of Winchester Road, an intersection he travels almost daily.
The problem is heading south on Moores Mill Road just south of Winchester Road where the double yellow lines have been extended after the intersection was improved as part of the Winchester Road widening.
The double yellow lines have been extended past businesses on the left side of Moores Mill Road and prevent a motorist from moving into the center lane to turn left to reach the businesses, Jennings said.
Jennings said extending the double yellow lines south of the intersection was probably a good decision considering the heavy volume of traffic heading north on Moores Mill Road.
"If this hadn't been done you would have people in the left turning lane blocking the heavy volume of traffic needing to turn left at Winchester," Jennings said.
But, he said, if a southbound motorist wanting to turn left to reach one of the businesses doesn't cross the double yellow lines and stays in the through lane until the northbound traffic clears, motorists behind the driver will honk the horn because they think the driver should be in the turning lane instead of blocking them. "Which," he added, "if they understood the rules of the road, they would realize it was illegal to do so."
Aerial photos indicate that the double yellow lines end at the same point they did before the intersection work was done, said Thompson of the Traffic Engineering Department.
"This person is correct, however, about the maneuver; a driver should not cross the double yellow until it becomes a two-way left turn lane to make his/her left turn," Thompson said.
To leave a comment or question about traffic or roads, contact Keith Clines at 256-532-4236, email keith.clines@htimes.com, tweet @KeithClines or fax 256-532-4420.
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