re: yesterday's "left lane" thread, in case you're curious about the road

[bertha katzenengel]

Just for the curious.

Here's the thread

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=105x3373593

The road I was on is Crain Highway/Route 301 in Prince George's County, Maryland. Here are satellite images. This is a four-lane divided highway. Two lanes of traffic run in each direction. For the most part, the left and right turns off the highway go to housing developments or individual driveways. There are very few "major intersections." The one where I turn left (third image) isn't even that major, except that a lot of rush hour traffic uses it as an alternate route.

This is where 301 splits off the other main route in the area, Branch Ave./Route 5.


This image is zoomed far out. The distance between the start (top) and end (bottom) in this image is about eight miles.


And this is where the famous left turn is. Traffic continuing north is headed -- at speeds that betray utter disregard for human life -- to pick up Pennsylvania Ave./Route 4 -- the interchange I avoid by taking this shortcut. (I also save about 4 miles.)