The first of four displaced left turn lanes will soon open on the Lloyd Expressway, here's why experts say these are beneficial.

Displaced Left Turn Lanes

There has been a lot of talk in the community about displaced left turn lanes after it was announced that four would be coming to the Lloyd Expressway in the coming months, and one has been under construction at Epworth Road and the Lloyd for months. For a quick refresher, here's a displaced left turn lane and how it works:

Being totally honest with you, I've driven through the construction there often, and I've watched videos on displaced left turn lanes, and I've tried to understand how this could be better, and I just don't get it. I mean INDOT has even hosted in-person classes with displaced left turn lane simulations to help people better understand how these new turn lanes will work.

Even though I still find it confusing,  figure there are people who are paid to figure that stuff out, so they probably know better than I do. But I still wondered, are they actually helpful and safer than regular left turn lanes?  According to INDOT, they are.

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Epworth's Displaced Left Turn Lane to Open Soon

According to an article from 14 News, the intersection at Epworth and the Lloyd Expressway will open on Tuesday, August, 20th.  While that is exciting as that intersection has been under construction for what seems like forever, many folks are still apprehensive about this new turn lane.

However, according to INDOT displaced left turn lanes actually are safer to navigate than regular turn lanes at intersections where there is frequently heavy left turn traffic.   They also say there are fewer conflict points at these types of intersections than standard intersections.

DLT intersections are proven to reduce delay at high-volume locations by allowing left turning traffic and through traffic to proceed through the main intersection simultaneously. This eliminates the additional time necessary to accommodate left turns at a traditional intersection. The DLT provides reduced delay and improved operation at high volume intersections, for a greatly reduced cost and physical footprint when compared with a grade-separated interchange. Additionally, a full displaced left turn intersection has only 28 conflict points where crashes could occur, in comparison with 32 conflict points at a traditional intersection and removes the left turn severe right angle crash type from the primary intersection.