New "thru-turn" at 123rd S and State in Draper... (Salt Lake City: construction, restaurants)

[azdr0710]

Just read in a wiki article that this was built last year....Plans are to do a similar thing in my hometown (Tucson)....does this seem to be working efficiently?....is safety good?....confusion?...thanks for any comments....

the wiki article:

The city of Draper, a suburb of Salt Lake City, Utah, announced in 2011 that it would be building Utah's first "Thru-Turn" at the intersection of 12300 South and State Street, just off Interstate 15 through Salt Lake County. Construction began in summer 2011 and was completed in fall 2011.[1]

[kwm03160]

It has helped ease congestion in the area, but it can be confusing... most people, however, have caught on & I haven't heard of any major accidents happening because of it.

[mlb]

It's a disaster.

If you're driving south on the frontage road you cannot turn left on 123rd. You have to drive two blocks south and then LOOP back around and do a RIGHT turn.

Dumbest move EVER.

[irman]

Originally Posted by mlb

Dumbest move EVER.

About as dumb as creating an On-Ramp to I-15 that only can be used by multiple passenger cars ....
As always, the term *Oh well* applies here as well !

Originally Posted by mlb

You have to drive two blocks south and then LOOP back around and do a RIGHT turn.

Makes sense if your steering wheel is only capable of making right turns ...

[11thHour]

Originally Posted by mlb

It's a disaster.

If you're driving south on the frontage road you cannot turn left on 123rd. You have to drive two blocks south and then LOOP back around and do a RIGHT turn.

Dumbest move EVER.

Yeah, ditto that. I don't like the new setup either.

[Calibelle]

As for all the businesses in that area.... Chuck a rama, Carl's Junior, Sees, Cafe Rio, Coldstone, Panda Express.... it makes getting in and out of that whole area TONS easier. They honestly had to do something, because traffic was just a nightmare trying to organize people going in and out of both sides where the restaurants are. If you were turning left out of that shopping center, then making a left onto state street to go to the freeway... it was backed up for ages and it was all kinds of crazy. IMO it takes less time to drive a bit, and do the u-turn, then dealing with the madness of everyone turning left towards state street coming out of the chuck a rama/carls junior parking lot.

IMO I wish the lights were better synchronized, and I think that would help a lot. I think that the Uturn lights that are east, and west of the 1-15, are too long, and need to be shortened. The u turn lights that are north and south of 12300 south by In and Out Burger, and down by Sees Candies are fine, they don't take long at all. Yes it stinks that you can't turn left/east onto state street, if you are heading south on state street/factory outlet drive. But it really isn't that much longer to just head down to the U-turn light, make the U-turn, and then bust a right onto 12300.

For those who find it annoying, what you would do differently to make it to your liking? They had to do something about the congestion that was happening when people were turning left out of the chuck a rama parking lot. It was out of control and dangerous.

[InSandy]

I don't like it. It may be great for the people going straight, but for people turning left at the intersection it is ridiculous. They say left hand turns are where accidents happen....well there are now U-turns instead, but not at the intersection, nope, now they they are two blocks away. So in my mind you haven't eliminated the problem, you've just moved it.

My son happens to know an engineer who designed it (or was part of the team -I'm unsure there). He obviously thinks it is great. His contention is that the greatest majority of people go straight, so the design was to help those going straight to get through the light faster... apparently those turning left don't count.

And for Calibelle who says something had to be done to help those leaving Chuckarama parking lot,,, All that was needed was a medium which would prevent the left turns from there. We had already quit turning left there and gone down to where you have to go now anyway.