UDOT will begin construction in April 2011 on Utah’s first Thru Turn Intersection (TTI) at 12300 South and Minuteman Drive in Draper. The TTI is based on an innovative intersection design successfully implemented in other states to improve traffic flow.
via http://www.udot.utah.gov/thruturn/.
Check out the video on the site, gives a good visual of what they want to do.
I drive through that intersection regularly, it is only 3 miles from my home. My gut feeling is that the thru turn intersection isn’t going to be as helpful as they are predicting. I’d rather see road projects that allow people to take other routes to reach their destinations, eliminating the need to go through the 12300 intersection in the first place. There are already projects in the works that will do that, like the work on 11400 South.
My bigger concern is that the thru turn intersection could potentially make things worse. What happens when someone tries to turn left any way? Will the creation of new intersections (via the new lights) result in traffic being backed up even further and provide another space for additional accidents?
<starwars> I’ve got a bad feeling about this. </starwars>