HANCOCK COUNTY — The Hancock County Commissioners say they don’t support a J-turn intersection at U.S. 40 and County Road 600E, but the state plans to keep the project on schedule.
Last week, the commissioners asked Gary Pool, the county engineer, to let Indiana Department of Transportation officials know that they don’t approve of the project. Commissioner Brad Armstrong said no commissioner has heard any positive feedback from constituents on the J-turn.
The proposal lays out the U.S. 40 and County Road 600E crossing as a “J-turn,” also called a “Michigan left.” The design, similar to that at 96th Street and Allisonville Road in Fishers, reduces vehicle crashes, engineers say, but it adds a level of inconvenience and a learning curve for drivers.
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An INDOT engineer approached the commissioners in late August about the project. The state maintains U.S. 40, but the transportation department wanted to first ask for the county’s support.
A J-turn prevents vehicles from crossing all four lanes of a highway at once. Instead, drivers from an intersecting road, such as 600E, would have to turn right, merge into a “safe lane” and then make a U-turn before merging back onto the highway. Drivers traveling along a four-lane highway, like U.S. 40, who intend to turn left at an intersecting road can still make a left-turn from a protected median area, yielding to oncoming vehicles, according to INDOT.
Mallory Duncan, an INDOT spokeswoman, told the Daily Reporter in an email that the J-turn is still scheduled, but “no final decision has been made.” The project is slated for construction in 2024.
Armstrong said he’s concerned how a J-turn would affect semitrailer traffic in the area. Many truck travel on 600E between Greenfield and Morristown in the fall transporting their harvests to the Bunge facility. Armstrong also said J-turn intersections aren’t well established in the state. Indiana has implemented a few J-turns since 2015, including ones in Spencer, Newton and Knox counties, according to INDOT’s website.
“I’m kind of hesitant of anything new and out of the normal, that we want to be the first ones to do that at that intersection because it can be treacherous,” Armstrong said. “I don’t know if it would improve safety.”
Engineers say J-turns lessen the chances of high-impact crashes. From 2015-2017, there were 13 crashes at U.S. 40 and 600E; 11 were left-turn crashes from vehicles turning onto U.S. 40. Three of those caused injuries or death, Duncan said. Statistics also show the number of crashes at an intersection is cut in half where J-turns are installed, according to INDOT.
Armstrong said many constituents reached out to the three commissioners since late August, and each person opposed the J-turn. But in the end, Armstrong said he understands the intersection is INDOT’s jurisdiction since it lies along a state highway. He hopes they will listen to the people who live nearby.
“I think that makes it pretty cut and dry to do our job and tell the state, no, those who we spoke with are not in favor of this,” Armstrong said. “I’m looking at it through the prisms of a county commissioner. (INDOT is) probably looking through it at a different set of eyes.”
