How to navigate UDOT's new continuous flow intersection

[nls25619]

All I see is more stop lights added before the main intersection. Also, it looks like no more right turn on red.

[CommanderCoward]

Near my town there's a proposal for one more complex than this involving doubling the other road with the main road. So, four holding lanes for left turners. The video explains it better, but I have a feeling people are gonna have to learn how to drive again. If you want to find it on Google, the town is Lake in the Hills, IL.

[freakinstein69]

You assholes ruined my neighborhood. Thanks for nothing.

[PenguinInc]

Anything designed by civil engineers is not as easy as "1, 2, 3." If it was we wouldn't have. . . whatever this is supposed to be.

[matei23]

you know you're in trouble when part of the video has to explain how to go straight

was this system invented by the stop light lobby?

[slickhector]

I love how this design forces pedestrians to cross 10 1/2 lanes of traffic. (The 'half' is due to the lack of median, which conveniently tapers off right at the painted crosswalk.)

Sure, the road would be wide anyway, but that simply points to the real problem: suburban sprawl. If developers were forced by law to use land more efficiently, there would be no need for such an intersection in the first place--there would either be an access separated highway, or an extra local road.

[train2n0where]

@slickhector "suburban sprawl" -- that's the point and that's why bigger cities (lack of space) don't have to bother with CFI anyway. CFIs may work for rural areas and the suburbs only.

[mukansamonkey]

I think some commenters are not getting the advantage of this design. It's simply trading space for time. It takes more space to have the left-turn lanes start farther back, as well as having the extra right turn lane from the side street. The gain is that the intersection no longer has a dedicated left-turn-only section of the light cycle, which means far more time for a green on the straight-through sections. All you have to do is stop for red lights just like any other intersection.

[eyeonyouproductions]

Nope, for all the Doom-and-Gllomers out there, this thing works fine. We now have 3 in a 4 mile stretch with 2 or 3 more on the way, ass soon as the retarded drivers out there learn that the 2 ft x 2 ft sign with a right turn symbol AND A GIANT RED SLASH THROUGH IT means 'DON'T TURN RIGHT ON RED', things will go well. I have yet to see an accident at one of these, and I use one every day going both to and from work.

The first one has been in almost 4 years now. No real problems.

[SpaghettiMarinarable]

Yeah, not continues. This is simply terrible. What and excuse for more lanes, and people will miss their turns. Try a round-about.

[nickys34]

An Asian driver's worst nightmare. This should check the flow of immigration from Asia.

[spagnitz321]

if the power goes off there will be chaos

[LTurbide]

wow...looks like even more places for accidents to happen, especially with people unfamiliar with the system

[SquashandEggs]

this looks like a giimick, not a solution

[sparkytube2011]

Why not spend the money and build a proper grade separated intersection? By the time the lawsuits are settled by overly confused badly injured motorists (not to mention squished bicyclist and pedestrians) a GSI would be more cost effective and much safer.

[bknesal]

@gguldens @LaCurandero Also, according to UDOT, the intersection has helped alleviate congestion. Unfortunately, Youtube does not allow you to post links in the comments, but if you go to UDOT's website, search for "3500 South Continuous Flow Intersection" (include the quotes) within their search function, and click the only link that shows up (as long as you included the quotes), then you can read the short article on it.

[ricehasnolife]

To be honest I, for one, think this is a cool idea. It eliminates the need to stop two directions of traffic in order to turn left, and has the same concept of turning left onto a one-way street. That would free up traffic and make the lights be able to go from red to green much more quickly.

[gguldens]

On the subject of roundabouts, I go through 3 every day going to work. There are still people who try to come through these at 40MPH. Again, people MUST follow the rules or the idea simply doesn't work. My suggestion is to teach people how to drive properly! Including all the illegal immigrants who have never seen city traffic before they came to America!

[ScampCamper]

WOW! More ways to create gridlock!

[cameoSNOW]

these are so confusing because you have to get into the turn lane a half mile ahead of time, before you can clearly see what street you're turning onto. If you don't know the area or have never been to that street, it'll throw you off.

[AverageJoe476]

i'm just glad there trying new things

[Lsaz17]

fuck this, im walking.

[newbimus]

Everyone who thinks this is ridiculous doesn't understand, but thinks they are so clever.

Anyone suggesting a roundabout doesn't understand the speeds on Bangerter Highway. You know 55mph doesn't work for a roundabout?! duh.

This will alleviate traffic congestion in a big way.

[Tesorazorz]

@newbimus You can do that at a red light? Amazing!

[gguldens]

@newbimus I understand this because there are a very few intersections similar to these in Georgia. People who are unfamiliar DO miss their turn lanes because they are so far back from the road. During periods of heavy traffic people do pile into the intersection and foul things up real good as iiiTEDiii predicts in the next message! IF--little word, big meaning--EVERYONE were to follow the rules, then these would be excellent ideas! In practice they don't!

[bknesal]

@gguldens That doesn't mean a roundabout is more efficient. The options aren't this or something better; they are this, a roundabout, or a regular intersection. It may seem inefficient at times, but it would likely be much worse as anything else.

[iiiTEDiii]

Thats "continous flow" only works in theory. In heavy traffic, everyone is going to pile through the main lights..and when they get cought at the secondary turn lights...there will be cars stuck in the main intersection. :/

[gguldens]

@iiiTEDiii Seen this in action! Right on iiiTEDiii

[bknesal]

Why do laypeople always think they know more than degreed professionals?

[gguldens]

@bknesal This looks like a comment from a YPE who is just out of college and has no practical experience on the road or engineering. BTW, I know plenty of degreed professionals with Masters Degrees who can't program a simple intersection traffic light properly. Just because you have the paper, without the experience it is not worth very much. I will put my faith in Seasoned Professionals any day of the week over someone whose only claim to fame is a degree.

[bknesal]

@gguldens You just made my point for me. I will put my faith in seasoned professionals any day of the week over someone who has no education in the matter whatsoever. There are SO many comments saying this is inefficient, but I highly doubt any of them have seen any of the reports as to why this particular design was chosen. I'm sure something new and innovative like this was designed by seasoned professionals. We are both making the same point, except I'm not trying to insult you.

[LaCurandero]

@bknesal I see you know little about how government projects work.

[bknesal]

@LaCurandero I see you know little about how engineering projects work. You don't know of any design constraints imposed on the traffic engineers. Nor do you know what sorts of tests and models were performed to determine that this was the best option.

[LaCurandero]

@bknesal lol, you mad? did you work on this, or just want people to think you're smart?

[MegaManX1415]

This can only end in tears....

[CyanideXCloud]

Either I'm a fucking idiot, or this is one of the stupidest things that I've ever seen. What the fuck, Utah?

[laboye]

@CyanideXCloud I'm gonna go with option A.

[loginlover]

well it may be a bit complex, but it's still a shitload better than what it is right now: 3 separate and conflicting intersections

[kdwormy]

WHAT!?

[dtrotteryt]

This is ridiculous.

[JuanMartinTHEMAN]

Do roundabouts work with this much traffic? Twice this traffic during rush hour?

[pjmilty]

so, why can't people in the US use roundabouts? This is such a waste of money!

[PumpkinMelonJuice]

That's not continuous.

[gguldens]

@PumpkinMelonJuice Good observation, another oxymoron of a name.

[redwood629]

Right turn guy crossed a solid-white line. Isn't that an illegal lane change?

[Pegases0]

this is plain fucktarded. This would work the same if not better if it was a standard intersection

[lapierreb]

Lot more dangerous...

[adj789]

LOL

[pnserious]

I'm starting to think that this video is meant sarcastic.

[pnserious]

How insanely stupid...

[huswsimonbla]

I bet that increases accidents because of the second light that many could oversee as they are used to only one traffic light

[billytsik]

Its genius. How retarded are you people to think its complicated !!!

[firstnamejoe79]

@billytsik do you not see back ups turning left,it's a stupid design that would only work if the roads don't have a lot of cars

[32birds]

wait.. let me guess.. somebody in the building company was related to somebody in the roads department in the government.. and well.. they could both stand to benefit from a project as large as this.. ... there is no way traffic at this intersection was SO bad that 3 traffic lights are needed.... /facepalm

[hikimicub]

I don't understand why people need a video to teach them how to use an intersection. This is simple ...

[tpblanke]

Seems like a pretty good idea. Lets the people turning left cross traffic while the cross-traffic goes through the light. Not sure why all the hate on this.

[darkshy]

@tpblanke because its the same as what we do now but it's all complicated.

[electrobassrock]

It's a 4 way intersection. I don't get it. Isn't this overkill? What about when the traffic is light and you still have to hit multiple lights for 1 intersection. Think of all the 80yr olds who will mow right through this bitch. When two seniors try to make it through this at the same time you'll see how screwed up this can get.

[17Hongo]

What is it with americans? put in a roundabout! then all you get are a lot of angry drivers - a lot safer than confused ones!

[marino1487]

disaster waiting to happen

[cupmyplums]

this is too complicated. put in a roundabout with traffic lights and it's sorted.

[StormtrooprDan]

I wonder what the accident rate is before and after this new system is put in place.

[daedalum]

How is adding another 4 pairs of lights to an intersection "continuous flow"?

[iiDuRbiNii]

Seems pretty easy to follow.

[MBCplayerzoob]

that was the most jackass thing I've ever seen! I love it!

[TheoMarkAllen]

it seems nifty to me, why do they be hatin'?

[Adam805726]

That is fucking retarded.

[edenite]

jesus this is terrible.

[Shippoyasha]

Even with roundabouts, I don't know many people who know what 'go straight through the roundabout' means. They don't understand you have to ignore one exit then go out the next.

This level of high learning curve will get someone killed.

[sunglassdepot]

I would like to preface this statement by saying this is the beginning of the comment and this is the end.

[shixnya]

Simple question is "How much does it improve from the normal intersection?" Where is the answer?

[Exarchimedes]

Why in the name of all that is sensible don't they just build tunnels or bridges for turn lanes??? Then you don't need lights...

[zackconklin1]

...Couldn't this be a regular intersection?

[zombiefeynman]

We have intersections like this in Canada, but we don't need instructional videos to figure them out because we aren't retarded.

[sahandn9]

I need an instruction to understand this instruction!

[KiDPANDA14]

holy nutshot batman. this is just bananas and makes the turning more complicated. so now you have to pay attention to extra lights? i dont see the ease of this... am i missing something?

[kholla17]

Ayn Rand is rolling over in her urn.

[kholla17]

Uhm....that didn't look very continuous.

[fnmatrix]

@kholla17 I think they are talking about traffic not having to stop for left turns.

At a normal intersection, left turning cars get their light first, then regular traffic flows once they are done. With this, left turning cars and regular through traffic can go at the same time in both directions. If you follow that.

[anon609]

roundabouts are the better option when people know how to use them if you would like to know come to nz

[Calquon]

they should have made it go under or over instead.

[IHaveAWeaknessFor]

this is a terrible idea. If they implement this across the country ill never drive agian.

[Baker5446]

there is one of these in ohio. it sucks ass.

[BigoletchAsketch]

@Baker5446 I was just thinking "Hey, one good thing about Ohio, we don't have this crap"

way to crush my hopes </3

[MrAaaarg]

omfg

[asdfgahnnahn]

How bout a highway interchange, lol

[thearnes]

trust Utah to screw up a simple concept like an intersection. I'm so glad I moved away 20 years ago!

[artofnick]

@thearnes don't you love puppies? i fucking love puppies soooo much. I love to cuddle a puppy more than sex itself because i'm a gay faggot. sometimes i love to touch a puppies genitals and see if they notice because they're so oblivious to the world around them. they're drunk on the joy of being alive!

[jakehr3]

@ 1:20 the dude in the computer animation is breaking the law. DO NOT DO WHAT HE DID!!! YOU!! SHALL!! NOT!! PASS!!!

....

the solid white line when merging with traffic.

[lalaurentide]

So, if I get this right, instead of turning ONCE when there is no traffic, you now turn twice, the first time when THERE IS NO TRAFFIC!!!! Americans.........

[darkbob87]

@lalaurentide whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa...don't lump the rest of us in with the mouthbreathers who live in the Mormon State, please.

[EADC32]

Stupid Mormons.

[Metalmandy8]

Who ever came up with this should be fired.

[seks03]

What a waste of taxpayer money! a roundabout would have been a lot better

[4545bmx]

Fucking Mormons...

[artofnick]

@4545bmx David Cross???

[martyvonx]

The point of this is to let people make left turns without stopping the parallel traffic that would normally need to be stopped to let them turn. But yeah, wouldn't a roundabout work?

[DrHalibut]

What the fuck..?

[vi0cs]

"continuous flow" Where is the flow in this? Because I don't see any at all.

[SilentEcho8]

What a ridiculous concept, I hope this never catches on..

[artofnick]

@SilentEcho8 yes because concrete bends and flows to the whims of capricious choice...

[TLLtoasterpastries]

I've lived in Utah for years, (no not Mormon...we do exist) and people here drive with their heads up their over-medicated asses. I am too scared to drive on the freeway anymore for fear of being wiped out by a minivan going 90. This intersection is going to kill people. People WILL fuck it up. Every day.

[h0lmie]

YES, the american way: Move the problem about 15-20 meters.

[Syle187]

This is fucking stupid.

[dirmaster0]

Fuckin Morons!

[Golfman52392]

@dirmaster0 Fuckin Mormons!

FTFY

[artofnick]

@Golfman52392 sweet sloppy cock jammed up my prolapsed throbbing ass meats. are you still feeling liberal?

[dirmaster0]

@Golfman52392

Hehe I wouldve put that originally but I thought Id get beef from a real mormon and dudes 8 wives

Thats probably why theres so much traffic in Utah, yes? :D

[theedqueen]

Note to self: NEVER drive in Utah.

[OminousHaze]

this shit is pointless and stupid

[dgrome]

They solved it! Add more stop lights and merging lanes! Somehow that makes it "continuous".

[sev3ndaytheory]

my god this is the most retarded piece of engineering i have ever seen....go figure it's in Utah

[imoprahrich]

i could tell this was going to be retarded when i noticed all the cars in the right hand lane going faster than the ones in the left hand lane.lol

[baddy1987]

Over-engineering at it's finest. It's called a roundabout, google it.

[clemoyne]

I didn't know Rube Goldberg designed intersections. A roundabout or a Michigan Left intersection would be way better.

[irwatchvids]

so to turn left there are 2 extra lights? and to go straight you need to look for 1 extra light, and turning right is the same??? stupid fucking idiots

[Walrusii]

I think it's safe to assume that the engineers who went to school for several years and spent months researching this aren't dumb enough to put in a system that performs worse than a normal light. Don't assume more lights means slower traffic.

[ZuKahta]

no, put a roundabout. PROBLEM SOLVED

[goopaloopadingdong]

@ZuKahta roundabouts can't handle this volume of traffic DUMBO

[mypetridish]

@ZuKahta u have never been to a busy roundabout have you? roundabouts are one of the most inefficient designs in traffic management. only an idiot would suggest that.

[superal1394]

@ZuKahta Americans cannot figure out round abouts

[hawks951]

@superal1394 What's not to get? You just drive in a fucking circle! We have our way and you have yours so go fuck yourself.

[ZuKahta]

@superal1394 i would think the road in the video is much more complicated and unnecessary

[MrWhale1000]

@ZuKahta I would rather have one of those. America needs more roundabouts

[mewsez]

here's a funny fact: in russian udot means someone who is not in their mind, idiot basically. cosmic coincidence? :)

[mewsez]

my brain is hurting watching this video

[xanchoq]

oh wtf is gained by this? besides doubling the cost of electronics and tripling the amount needed to be paved?

[artofnick]

@xanchoq when herding cattle, the cows typically are not required to understand the upgraded mechanics of the gate systems through which they pass... UNICORNS AND PUPPIES TO YOU TOO!

[c0rv377]

@xanchoq cars can go straight and left from both sides at the same time.

[dodgyhingst]

So you are going to add FOUR more traffic signal locations to join the original four at this one intersection. lolrofwmp. For the love of Harry S. Truman, I hope MoDOT never sees this.

[thenext90days]

A drunk driver's worst nightmare.

[BGParrott]

I'm impressed! They called it "continuous flow" while actually REDUCING the flow by adding MORE stoplights! It takes guts to be that backwards.

[Doctors2Advocate]

@BGParrott Continuous flow because through traffic AND left turn traffic can go at the same time, in BOTH directions. Can't do that in a normal intersection.

[BGParrott]

@Doctors2Advocate

I guess I don't understand what you mean by "go at the same time"-- the left -hand turn traffic has to STOP and WAIT until the through traffic STOPS.

[byusnowboarder]

Udot is a joke.

[JHEATHJR]

And How Many Accidents Have You Had At That New Crossing?

And I Thought Denver Was Bad, Udumb Has Them Beat Now.

Why Not A Roundabout? There The ""Best"" At Traffic Flow Right?

Thank God I Don't Live There.

[JHEATHJR]

And How Many Accidents Have You Had At That New Crossing?

And I Thought Denver Was Bad, Udumb Has Them Beat Now.

Thank God I Don't Live There.

[Tallavana]

bridge cost about 1mill for every 100ft.

[Kartracer6]

Just build a damn overpass where you have to cross traffic like they have in Chicago