Life Without Left Turns

[marmar]

from the Infrastructurist:



We are not all ambi-turners. Turning left has been a problem for Derek Zoolander since he was a baby. George Costanza’s love life is beholden to right-hand advances. UPS delivery routes are designed to eliminate left turns, a “seemingly silly strategy” that saves money and reduces delays, Business Insider reminds us:

UPS’s routing software shaved 20.4 million miles off their routes last year while delivering 350,000 more packages. It also diminished CO2 emissions by 20,000 metric tons.

Some intersections are even designed with the UPS mantra in mind. Earlier this year we wrote about the “superstreet,” which prevents drivers on side streets from turning left onto main roads. The result is a much safer ride: superstreets reduce “conflict points” from a normal 32 down to 14 or even 8. It’s also a quicker one: one superstreet analysis found a 20 percent reduction in travel time, most of it gained from not having to wait for traffic to clear to turn left.



This week Tom Vanderbilt writes at Slate about another anti-left traffic innovation: the diverging diamond interchange. Conceived by the engineer Gilbert Chlewicki, the diamond crossing enables drivers to get onto a major highway without making a left. Example: let’s say you’re driving eastbound toward a north-sound highway interchange. If you want to go southbound on the highway you merge right, as usual. If you want to go northbound, however, you first cross at a light to the left side of the road then enter the interchange via an unimpeded left turn. ..............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.infrastructurist.com/2011/08/03/life-without-left-turns/

[EFerrari]

1. I've only ever gotten 2 tickets. One was for trying to turn left in San Francisco.

:)

[ashling]

5. Was the other for

a grammar violation?

:shrug: just wondered :shrug:

[EFerrari]

8. No, it was for going through an orange light while nagging at kids.

lol

[redwitch]

2. I knew UPS did away with left turns.

I had no idea how much they saved though! Some people haven't figured out that insisting on turning left costs them lots of time and gas. I am definitely not a "must turn left-er' That's what hubby and I call the people who will attempt a left at a notoriously bad intersection rather than go around.

[Xithras]

7. Yep. So many were skeptical that Mythbusters even did an episode on it.

They did a test run around a track in a normal car, and across SF in a delivery truck. In both instances, limiting themselves to only right turns was both faster and more fuel efficient.

It's weird, but it's true.

[uppityperson]

3. k&r for Derek

[11 Bravo]

4. Oh no! They've abolished NASCAR?

[ashling]

6. Maybe that is Obama's strategy:

3 right turns make a left ?


Nevermind.