User:Hawkeygoal/IL Pages/IL Turns(2015)

This information is under consideration for the Illinois state wiki. It should not be considered official guidance.

Turning Restrictions

The provisions for turning in Illinois are defined in Rules of the Road, in Illinois Compiled Statutes 625 ILCS 5/11. In this wiki section we cover two specific situations: Left turns across medians and U-Turns.

Left Turns across Medians

Left turns across paved non-curbed medians are allowed in Illinois, defined in 625 ILCS 5/11-708 (e).

The Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) defines several types of medians in Bureau of Design and Environment Manual Ch. 34, Cross Section Elements:

• Flush - A median which is adjacent to traffic lanes and on the same plane as the lanes. These are painted on the pavement surface.
• Depressed - The median between opposing traffic lines is slightly below the elevation of the traffic lanes. It is also designed for drainage and storage of plowed snow.
• Raised-Curb - The curb on these medians is greater than two inches in height.
• Traversable - This type of median has a curb two inches in height.

A Two-Way Left Turn Lane (TWLTL) is typically a flush median. IDOT allows a traversable median to be used as a TWLTL in place of a flush median.

U-Turns

In Illinois, U-Turns can be performed unless specifically prohibited by law. Illinois statute defining the limitations on U-Turns is 625 ILCS 5/11-802 and can be reviewed in the Illinois Secretary of State Rules of Road booklet.

When considering enabling a U-Turn on the Waze map in Illinois, do so only if there is a strong potential to provide improved routing and the movement is not prohibited by law. Some possible situations where this could be the case are:

• Residences or business driveways or parking lots are connected to a divided primary street (PS/mH/MH), where doing so would eliminate complex routing to reach the other side of the road.
• At the ends of a single segment at a corner gas station (or similar corner parking lot road usage) to allow add-a-stop or new destination selections to provide an optimal exit route.

Do not enable U-Turns at every intersection on streets or primary streets (PS/mH/MH) even if allowed by law as this may also lead to routes that are challenging to execute.

Before enabling a U-Turn, be sure it is allowable by law. In summary, the conditions that must be met are:

• No traffic control devices posted prohibiting the movement.
• The movement may not be performed on a curve.
• The movement may not be perfomed on a hill or incline.
• A driver must be able to see in all directions on all roadways a at least 500 feet (152.4 meters).