Highway 12 woes

[Dawg-gone-dawgs]

The highway 12 project in Starkville is a disaster. So last night I was headed westbound to Taco Bell. I try to turn in at the entrance and see that there is a barrier there. The place to cross is immediately past the entrance. The car in front of me(also trying to get to Taco Bell) turns and tries to perform a mini u-turn to go into Taco Bell. OF course there is not enough room to make the turn so he has to reverse INTO east bound traffic to complete the turn and I have to do the same when it is my turn. So the east bound traffic had to come to a complete stop to allow this to happen. Whoever designed for this project is an idiot.

[DawgHouseUnited]

What was the reasoning behind this project? Because it really seems like a monumentally bad idea.

[Dawg-gone-dawgs]

What was the reasoning behind this project? Because it really seems like a monumentally bad idea.

I think it was to make it "safer" by taking out the suicide lanes but they failed miserably. It has caused more frustration and will lead to more wrecks IMO.

[jbjones]

What was the reasoning behind this project? Because it really seems like a monumentally bad idea.

It was explained to me that hwy 12 is one of the most dangerous in the state (in terms of wrecks). Mostly from folks turning left and crossing traffic. This was supposedly going to address that.

This is how it was described to me by a Rotary member. I just work here in Starkville, and I hardly ever go down 12 so I'm kind of indifferent about the whole mess.

[starkvegasdawg]

It was explained to me that hwy 12 is one of the most dangerous in the state (in terms of wrecks). Mostly from folks turning left and crossing traffic. This was supposedly going to address that.

This is how it was described to me by a Rotary member. I just work here in Starkville, and I hardly ever go down 12 so I'm kind of indifferent about the whole mess.

That?s what they say but I don?t buy it. I?ve lived in Starkville the last 10 years and 99.999% of the wrecks I see on 12 are rear ends. This project is a complete cluster. I haven?t found one person that thinks it?s a good idea. I drive a 4 door ram 2500 and to say it has a large turn radius is putting it mildly. If I ever attempt a U turn I?ll be in the same predicament. It has seriously crossed my mind just jumping those stupid barricades they have up. They?re angled and not too tall.

[RTO Dawg]

I graduated in 97 with better roads. Absolutely zero leadership in the city of Starkville.

[Dawg-gone-dawgs]

It has seriously crossed my mind just jumping those stupid barricades they have up. They?re angled and not too tall.

If I had a big truck I would do this for sure.

[Dawgbite]

Its not just Starkville, its everywhere. Somebody has decided that it is too dangerous to make left turns and cross oncoming traffic. Now it is safer to make a u turn and then you will always turn right and never cross on coming traffic. Drive down Beach Blvd in Orange Beach, you cant even turn left at traffic light s onto intersecting roads, you must go past to a designated uturn lane and return to turn right. They are even starting to do this at interchanges on Hwy 45 south of Meridian. Its the future boys.

[chainedup_Dawg]

The highway 12 project in Starkville is a disaster. So last night I was headed westbound to Taco Bell. I try to turn in at the entrance and see that there is a barrier there. The place to cross is immediately past the entrance. The car in front of me(also trying to get to Taco Bell) turns and tries to perform a mini u-turn to go into Taco Bell. OF course there is not enough room to make the turn so he has to reverse INTO east bound traffic to complete the turn and I have to do the same when it is my turn. So the east bound traffic had to come to a complete stop to allow this to happen. Whoever designed for this project is an idiot.

I feel your pain, I drive a 4 door truck with too wide a turning radius. Was at lunch the other day going to Taco Bell and had to pull into the parking lot next door to Taco Bell (NAPA?) then pull back out into traffic and turn into Taco Bell.....17n ridiculous

[jeremyrbrown]

Yellowjacket Dr and Gillespie St are your friends. Use them to get past your destination, then cut back.


The highway 12 project in Starkville is a disaster. So last night I was headed westbound to Taco Bell. I try to turn in at the entrance and see that there is a barrier there. The place to cross is immediately past the entrance. The car in front of me(also trying to get to Taco Bell) turns and tries to perform a mini u-turn to go into Taco Bell. OF course there is not enough room to make the turn so he has to reverse INTO east bound traffic to complete the turn and I have to do the same when it is my turn. So the east bound traffic had to come to a complete stop to allow this to happen. Whoever designed for this project is an idiot.

[Dawg-gone-dawgs]

Yellowjacket Dr and Gillespie St are your friends. Use them to get past your destination, then cut back.

Yep I am going to avoid 12 as much as possible now. Thanks

[Dawg-gone-dawgs]

I feel your pain, I drive a 4 door truck with too wide a turning radius. Was at lunch the other day going to Taco Bell and had to pull into the parking lot next door to Taco Bell (NAPA?) then pull back out into traffic and turn into Taco Bell.....17n ridiculous

yep!

[Hasu Dackds]

So are there any turn lanes at all? Typically you should be routed to the next light or designated U-turns, with turning lanes.

A break in the barrier with no turn lane certainly seems dangerous.

[#660000]

Yellowjacket Dr and Gillespie St are your friends. Use them to get past your destination, then cut back.

This, exactly.

[Hasu Dackds]

It's called the Michigan Left.

At this point, pick your poison. It's either super heavy traffic due to turns and lights all over the place, or this. No engineer can design their way out of sheer number of vehicles, unless it's more lanes, which isn't feasible 80% of the time.

[jbjones]

That?s what they say but I don?t buy it. I?ve lived in Starkville the last 10 years and 99.999% of the wrecks I see on 12 are rear ends.This project is a complete cluster. I haven?t found one person that thinks it?s a good idea. I drive a 4 door ram 2500 and to say it has a large turn radius is putting it mildly. If I ever attempt a U turn I?ll be in the same predicament. It has seriously crossed my mind just jumping those stupid barricades they have up. They?re angled and not too tall.

I don't disagree with you at all. Matter of fact, one of my buddies that lives in Starkville told me he did just that, leaving some liquor store on 12...drove his Explorer right over those "curbs".

[parabrave]

Its not just Starkville, its everywhere. Somebody has decided that it is too dangerous to make left turns and cross oncoming traffic. Now it is safer to make a u turn and then you will always turn right and never cross on coming traffic. Drive down Beach Blvd in Orange Beach, you cant even turn left at traffic light s onto intersecting roads, you must go past to a designated uturn lane and return to turn right. They are even starting to do this at interchanges on Hwy 45 south of Meridian. Its the future boys.
Same with Canal Street in New Orleans. Just like traffic circles and smaller cars we are trying to go to an European like traffic system.

[dawgwhisperer]

people still take hwy 12 instead of taking roads 1 block off of hwy 12? huh, y'all must be new to starkville......

[KB21]

I have the same issue with having a big, four door truck with a wide turning radius. For instance, just to get to zaxby's, I have to turn onto Airport Road and cut through the gas station there because if I try a U Turn at that intersection, I will end up on the corner median.

The turn lanes are too small as well to be able to make a U Turn at them.

[WinningIsRelentless]

This design is being put in everywhere. Just better get use to it.

[BrunswickDawg]

I graduated in 97 with better roads. Absolutely zero leadership in the city of Starkville.

Starkville may not have a dog in the fight - if it?s like GA, it would be MDOT dictating how the work is done since it?s a State highway.

[Bothrops]

This sounds almost as bad as the Hwy 25/Lakeland Dr. widening project. If your driving eastbound when raining, and at night, and have to turn left, you might run off into something. Or, at least destroy you tires and rims.

[ScreenCaptureThis]

This was not a sole-MDOT project. This was a combined effort between MDOT, the City of Starkville, and the Greater Starkville Development Partnership.

[starkvegasdawg]

This was not a sole-MDOT project. This was a combined effort between MDOT, the City of Starkville, and the Greater Starkville Development Partnership.

They should all be staked to a fire ant hill and have car batteries hooked up to their nipples.

[Johnson85]

This design is being put in everywhere. Just better get use to it.

It's a great design. IF the road is wide enough for cars to make the uturn. I haven't seen what you're talking about, but I assume it's the same setup as on the busy roads in New Orleans?

Of course the other problem is you have to have drivers that understand it. Judging by how long it was before I saw someone in Starkville properly use the round about at blackjack, I'd say people will have t figured out in 2050ish.

[IMissJack]

How about take the money spent on this and fix the existing cracks and potholes? What is needed most on 12 the last time I was there is street lights.

[MabenMaroon]

I make an average of 30+ trips a week utilizing all or a portion of Hwy12 and I like the setup. It is reducing the number of overly aggressive driving moves, it is actually improving the flow of traffic and you don't have to be constantly on guard or looking out for idiots who are using the turning lane as a fifth lane and making selfish (and dangerous) left hand turns across oncoming traffic. Plan your routes better, utilize the traffic lights for turns (both left and right) and you will find the traffic flows well. Haven't had to wait more than one light change to proceed through an intersection during either am or pm rush hours since implementation, where I used to get hung up at multiple intersections and have to wait up to 3 or 4 light changes during high volume traffic periods. As for Taco Bell, do as mentioned previously, utilize Gillespie, Yellow Jacket, Lynn Lane, Eckford, etc. It truly doesn't add much time, is safer and less stressful. Give it a chance.

[RocketDawg]

I graduated in 97 with better roads. Absolutely zero leadership in the city of Starkville.

Isn't it most likely the state, not the city, that's in charge of the "improvements"?

[Homedawg]

This was not a sole-MDOT project. This was a combined effort between MDOT, the City of Starkville, and the Greater Starkville Development Partnership.

The partnership plan didn't pass the vote. This is dot It was happening no matter the vote on partnership plan which as I said failed.

[Hasu Dackds]

Lot of uninformed in this thread, and apparently a lot of drivers that don't drive on crowded urban streets very much. Most of you sound like those doctors from Columbus who complain about a student dropping his nachos in his baseball seats that he never occupied.

[starkvegasdawg]

Lot of uninformed in this thread, and apparently a lot of drivers that don't drive on crowded urban streets very much. Most of you sound like those doctors from Columbus who complain about a student dropping his nachos in his baseball seats that he never occupied.

You?re right. I don?t drive on a lot of crowded urban streets. If I wanted to do that I?d live in a big city. I like the slower pace of a small town. But the obscenity they?ve done on hwy 12 has not helped anything. Traffic will still back up for a half mile at a redlight. All they?ve done is make it where I have to go way out of my way just so I can go to a business that happens to be ok the opposite side of the highway I?m on. And making u turns in some of those intersections is inherently dangerous. The main one is the intersection of 12 and Stark Rd. You have drivers coming onto 12 from the small entrance ramps and they?re looking back to see if anything is coming from their left. Nobody is thinking about a driver making a u turn from the opposite direction.

[#660000]

You have drivers coming onto 12 from the small entrance ramps and they?re looking back to see if anything is coming from their left. Nobody is thinking about a driver making a u turn from the opposite direction.

It is the driver making the u-turn that must yield to the driver making a right turn.

http://funeasyenglish.com/graphics/drive/regulatory/slow/driving-united-states-america-street-road-freeway-highway-thruway-expressway-traffic-rules-regulations-signs-regulatory-r10-16-u-turn-yield-to-right-turn.jpg

[starkvegasdawg]

It is the driver making the u-turn that must yield to the driver making a right turn.

http://funeasyenglish.com/graphics/drive/regulatory/slow/driving-united-states-america-street-road-freeway-highway-thruway-expressway-traffic-rules-regulations-signs-regulatory-r10-16-u-turn-yield-to-right-turn.jpg

That?s true but I give it two months before there?s a wreck from someone not yielding.

[Lord McBuckethead]

That?s what they say but I don?t buy it. I?ve lived in Starkville the last 10 years and 99.999% of the wrecks I see on 12 are rear ends. This project is a complete cluster. I haven?t found one person that thinks it?s a good idea. I drive a 4 door ram 2500 and to say it has a large turn radius is putting it mildly. If I ever attempt a U turn I?ll be in the same predicament. It has seriously crossed my mind just jumping those stupid barricades they have up. They?re angled and not too tall.

Bingo. I see more wrecks daily on Goodman Rd than 12 has in a year while making turns.

Also, in Starkville I cannot drop my kid off at school without seeing someone run a red light due to texting. Happens at least 3 times a week.

[gravedigger]

The highway 12 project in Starkville is a disaster. So last night I was headed westbound to Taco Bell. I try to turn in at the entrance and see that there is a barrier there. The place to cross is immediately past the entrance. The car in front of me(also trying to get to Taco Bell) turns and tries to perform a mini u-turn to go into Taco Bell. OF course there is not enough room to make the turn so he has to reverse INTO east bound traffic to complete the turn and I have to do the same when it is my turn. So the east bound traffic had to come to a complete stop to allow this to happen. Whoever designed for this project is an idiot.

No. The reason for the project is to prevent just that. If it r didnt teach you to NOT do that next time, the project isnt the failure. The project is to promote the east/west flow of traffic that is negatively affected BY people trying to cross over turn. Invonvenient? sure. But when you multiply the number of cars that attempt to do what you did, THAT is what makes the rest of HWY 12 gridlocked. Turn right into a business. the alternative is getting every business to participate in an easement to widen hwy 12 which, if you truely hate taxes, is not an option.

[Mimi's Babies]

This was not a sole-MDOT project. This was a combined effort between MDOT, the City of Starkville, and the Greater Starkville Development Partnership.

With the damn flower pots in the middle of the road that they now have to WATER.... jeez... another reason not to shop Starkville.... I just wish Kroger was on the MSU end of town.

[Maroon Wizardry]

I lived in starkville for 10 years... it took me all of 10 days to figure out how to navigate the "big city" and part of that was avoiding Hwy 12 because of idiots. Clearly I was successful because I managed to make it out alive, graduate, and have the power to come back and visit. Hell i've even thought about moving back all this excitement about Hwy 12 being a clusterF*** has me excited. Maybe all of you will stop driving on it and i can get the whole road to myself... just like the good ole days when no one else new the cut through roads.

[Hasu Dackds]

Yeah, they did this on 280 in Birmingham. I sat in on the study where they explained all the time that the stop lights and turns were taking away from the actual highway.

[Hasu Dackds]

Another thing some of you need to think about is that Starkville has seen unprecedented growth and it isn't the same small town you think it is or was. Guess you'll just have to adapt.

[BoomBoom]

No. The reason for the project is to prevent just that. If it r didnt teach you to NOT do that next time, the project isnt the failure. The project is to promote the east/west flow of traffic that is negatively affected BY people trying to cross over turn. Invonvenient? sure. But when you multiply the number of cars that attempt to do what you did, THAT is what makes the rest of HWY 12 gridlocked. Turn right into a business. the alternative is getting every business to participate in an easement to widen hwy 12 which, if you truely hate taxes, is not an option.

exactly. it's amazing how many sheep will sit in the turn lane waiting forever for an opening to turn rather than go to the light and come back.

[Commercecomet24]

exactly. it's amazing how many sheep will sit in the turn lane waiting forever for an opening to turn rather than go to the light and come back.

Yep a whole lot safer too.

[Hasu Dackds]

exactly. it's amazing how many sheep will sit in the turn lane waiting forever for an opening to turn rather than go to the light and come back.
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.

[Joe Schmedlap]

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
I think it was to make it "safer" by taking out the suicide lanes but they failed miserably. It has caused more frustration and will lead to more wrecks IMO.