ST. LOUIS – In a little more than a week, MoDOT will open a new type of left turn along Route 141 in Valley Park.
Called a ThrU Turn, drivers do not make a direct left turn. Instead, they drive through the intersection to a signalized U-turn location, make a U-turn, backtrack along the highway and make a right turn onto the side street.
MoDOT is set to open two ThrU Turns in Valley Park, one at Route 141 and Vance Road, and one at Route 141 and Marshall Road on June 8. The new turns are the first of their kind in Missouri. The new turns should reduce time waiting at a signal during peak traffic periods and improve the flow of traffic.
Drivers wanting to turn left at Forest Avenue and Meramec Station Road will also use the new ThrU Turns. According to Federal Highway studies, this type of intersection reduces crashes by nearly 40 percent, making it much safer
“Traffic is very congested in Valley Park, especially during rush periods. Part of that is due to traffic turning left from Route 141 onto Vance Road. With the railroad bridge between Vance and Marshall, we cannot lengthen the left turn lanes onto Vance or Marshall. During morning and evening rush, those drivers quickly fill up the available left turn space and then block the lanes for drivers who want to go through. These new turns should help reduce that backup,” said Karen Yeomans, MoDOT St. Louis area engineer for the southwest portion of St. Louis County.
Overall construction continues through summer 2018. Yeomans cautions that on-going construction and drivers learning to use the new ThrU Turns will mean that the overall benefits for the turns may not be observed until next summer.
“As drivers are heading into this for the first few times, we encourage them to slow down and pay attention to the signs that will guide them through the new intersections We will continue to monitor these new turns through the project, but ask drivers to be patient through the remaining construction, ” Yeomans said.
Information on reaching Vance Road, Forest Avenue, Marshall Road and Meramec Station Road, as well as a video on driving through the ThrU Turns is available at www.tinyurl.com/ThrUTurns
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