Indiana’s Department of Transportation is considering upgrading portions of U.S. 31 in Taylorsville to improve safety.
After completing a full traffic analysis, state transportation officials have decided to install J-turns along U.S. 31 near Bear Lane and Tannehill Road to accommodate motorists making left-hand turns, INDOT spokesman Harry Maginity said.
The point of a J-turn is to greatly reduce a significant number of severe crashes common when drivers must cross-over busy highways to reach another road, according INDOT.
One such crash at U.S. 31 and Bear Lane four years ago critically injured Josh Speidel, a standout basketball player for Columbus North High School who is now a member of the University of Vermont Catamounts basketball team.
J-turns have proven to be a safer alternative to traditional intersections because they eliminate or substantially reduce right-angle crashes, which are the type considered most responsible for fatalities and serious injuries, according to INDOT officials.
Rather than motorists crossing fast-moving lanes of traffic to get to the opposing lanes, drivers don’t make a immediate left hand turn. Instead, they continue in the same direction of traffic and merge into a left lane.
After traveling about 600 feet past the junction they intended to turn left on, drivers enter a left-turn area that allows them to make a wide U-turn to head back toward their destination.
These types of highway designs are frequently nicknamed “Michigan Lefts” because they have been in use frequently in that state since the 1960s, Maginity said.
But these changes won’t take place for quite some time. No engineering plans have been created at this time, and INDOT officials are still talking with property owners, Maginity said.
However, a tentative request for bids is scheduled for August 2020, Maginity said. Barring any unforeseen circumstances, that means improvements could be completed in 2021, he said.
Although J-turns are designed to accommodate a full U-turn by large trucks, their presence will not have any impact on thru-traffic or drivers making right turns.
Over the past four years, safety improvements along U.S. 31 at Taylorsville have been discussed by state and county authorities, as well as individuals.
Suggestions brought up in public meetings have included median closures, expanded frontage roads, lower speed limits and additional lighting.
During a February 2016 meeting, Bartholomew County commissioner Larry Kleinhenz said there was hesitation to invest in improvements while most commercial land located east and north of Bear Lane was undeveloped.
But in November, Hubler Honda confirmed plans to construct a new dealership on a 10.5-acre site east of U.S. 31 and north of Bear Lane.
[sc:pullout-title pullout-title=”Recent statistics about J-turns” ][sc:pullout-text-begin]
Nationwide, statistics show a more than 50 percent decline in crashes where J-turns are installed. Fatal crashes decline by as much as 85 percent.
In June 2015, the Indiana Department of Transportation opened its first J-turn intersection at U.S. 41 and State Road 114 in northwest Indiana.
From 2008-2015, the intersection averaged four crashes a year, almost 40 percent of those were injury crashes, including one fatality. In the first year of operation for the J-turn, the intersection experienced one minor crash, and no injuries or fatalities.
In 2011, INDOT widened U.S. 231 in Spencer County to four lanes, and for the first three years, there were at least four deaths and nine injuries at the intersections with State Road 62 and State Road 68.
Since the intersections were converted to J-turns in the summer of 2016, no serious injuries or fatalities have occurred at either location.
Source: Indiana Dept. of Transportation
[sc:pullout-text-end]
