No left turn onto College off Columbia

The NO LEFT TURN sign at Columbia and College raises strong opinions for residents and visitors to Decatur.

Some think it's necessary for safety (at least during rush hours). Others think it's a trap for revenue generation purposes (note $105 fine). Some feel it's selectively enforced.

Shortly after the sign was put up sometime last year (apparently in response to multiple accidents), happy hour customers at Trackside might see several vehicles pulled over across the street in the course of an hour.

inDECATUR was asked to look at it.

It's actually fairly well marked, with a sign 30 paces ahead of the stop sign and another one across College, clearly visible once someone stops at the stop sign (assuming traffic is not heavy on College). The problem is most people aren't expecting a no left turn sign at the intersection of a street and a highway, especially when traffic is not heavy.

To make it even more obvious, another NO LEFT TURN sign could be bolted just under the stop sign, and/or a sign could be painted on the street just ahead of the crosswalk.

It's a bit of an inconvenience for those who live in the condos on the corner and a few houses down the short street. Nobody else even needs to be going north on the section of Columbia between Commerce and College, unless they are trying to avoid the traffic light at College and Commerce.

What do you think?

The gentleman who asked for this coverage has since said his issue was with the signage at S. Columbia and Commerce, a long block ahead of this. So, a 7/13/09 post deals with that.

Comments

[FM Fats]

That would be South Columbia Drive, actually.

[Dave Kell]

Yes, Sir, and it's also East College Avenue, actually. I was using shorthand.

[Happy Harris]

Thank's David!
Always providing real and pertanat news for the citizenry of Utopia or Decatur if you would

[Carl]

I've never understood how or why this happened. Are there any other intersections in the City where people will be fined for turning left at all hours of the day? For example, turning left onto E Ponce when heading north on Church is forbidden, but is there a fine? People do it frequently since it seems senseless to not be able to turn there.

[Dave Kell]

I'm with you, Carl. The no left turn rule at Church and Ponce is only justfied during rush hours.

I can't think of any others off the top of my head, but there probably are some.

The Decatur Heights Neighborhood requested some rush hour restrictions for turning onto Sycamore Drive from Ponce during rush hours, but it was not granted.