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Old 07-23-2010, 02:25 PM
 
22 posts, read 41,301 times
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I was driving westbound on Interstate 94 last Saturday, and there was a section with 2 extra lanes (albeit closed off) between the westbound lanes in use and the eastbound lanes.

What exactly are these 2 extra lanes for? Given that there were no interchanges in this section, there's no point in having local and express lanes. I didn't see any work being done on them, so why were they closed off? If those 2 extra lanes aren't really needed, then what are they for? I've never seen anything like this on any road. This is even stranger than the US 12 2-lane expressway through Long Lake and Orono. (At least I understand why that section of US 12 is only 2 lanes instead of 4 - the space and money available were limited.)
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Old 07-23-2010, 02:27 PM
 
20,793 posts, read 61,308,820 times
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If they are what I am thinking of I think they are pavement testing spots (like on highway 36 where they test line paint). Those lanes have been there since the 80's at least.
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Old 07-23-2010, 02:30 PM
 
812 posts, read 2,172,928 times
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It's a test highway. They try different things on the road like paint, etc. and divert the traffic to see how it wears.

http://www.dot.state.mn.us/mnroad/
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Old 07-23-2010, 03:34 PM
 
Location: MINNESOTA
1,178 posts, read 2,706,921 times
Reputation: 505
Quote:
Originally Posted by embedded_engineer View Post
I was driving westbound on Interstate 94 last Saturday, and there was a section with 2 extra lanes (albeit closed off) between the westbound lanes in use and the eastbound lanes.

What exactly are these 2 extra lanes for? Given that there were no interchanges in this section, there's no point in having local and express lanes. I didn't see any work being done on them, so why were they closed off? If those 2 extra lanes aren't really needed, then what are they for? I've never seen anything like this on any road. This is even stranger than the US 12 2-lane expressway through Long Lake and Orono. (At least I understand why that section of US 12 is only 2 lanes instead of 4 - the space and money available were limited.)
They used to do MnDot Testing there. I remember in the summer driving over it they would have 5 sections of different types of paints and seeing how long they would last..

On the north side there is a track that a semi- woould drive around all day long in circles.....
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