Yep a whole lot safer too.
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Theoretically, if there was a turn lane, by the time you drove up to a light and turned back, the traffic would have cleared out enough for that guy at the turn lane to have gone on and turned, and arrived at his destination faster than you (since you'd have to wait for a green arrow which would stop oncoming traffic). Your point doesn't make sense.
That's kind of the point of the medians in this project - to actually prevent these turns from even being an option.
THIS happens every damn place they try this. It's sold as a safety upgrade but it leads to more frustration, more road rage, and more accidents. People try to dart in front of traffic at the u-turns and this leads to fender benders. It's a colossal f-up time and time again in towns across the nation.
M