| This information is under consideration for the Illinois state wiki. It should not be considered official guidance. |
Turning Restrictions
The provisions for turning in Illinois are defined in Rules of the Road, in Illinois Compiled Statutes 625 ILCS 5/11. In this wiki section we cover two specific situations: Left turns across medians and U-Turns.
Left Turns across Medians
Left turns across paved non-curbed medians are allowed in Illinois, defined in 625 ILCS 5/11-708 (e).
The Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) defines several types of medians in Bureau of Design and Environment Manual Ch. 34, Cross Section Elements:
- Flush - A median which is adjacent to traffic lanes and on the same plane as the lanes. These are painted on the pavement surface.
- Depressed - The median between opposing traffic lines is slightly below the elevation of the traffic lanes. It is also designed for drainage and storage of plowed snow.
- Raised-Curb - The curb on these medians is greater than two inches in height.
- Traversable - This type of median has a curb two inches in height.
A Two-Way Left Turn Lane (TWLTL) is typically a flush median. IDOT allows a traversable median to be used as a TWLTL in place of a flush median.
U-Turns
In Illinois, U-Turns can be performed unless specifically prohibited by law. Illinois statute defining the limitations on U-Turns is 625 ILCS 5/11-802 and can be reviewed in the Illinois Secretary of State Rules of Road booklet.
When considering enabling a U-Turn on the Waze map in Illinois, do so only if there is a strong potential to provide improved routing and the movement is not prohibited by law. Some possible situations where this could be the case are:
- Residences or business driveways or parking lots are connected to a divided primary street (PS/mH/MH), where doing so would eliminate complex routing to reach the other side of the road.
- At the ends of a single segment at a corner gas station (or similar corner parking lot road usage) to allow add-a-stop or new destination selections to provide an optimal exit route.
Do not enable U-Turns at every intersection on streets or primary streets (PS/mH/MH) even if allowed by law as this may also lead to routes that are challenging to execute.
Before enabling a U-Turn, be sure it is allowable by law. In summary, the conditions that must be met are:
- No traffic control devices posted prohibiting the movement.
- The movement may not be performed on a curve.
- The movement may not be perfomed on a hill or incline.
- A driver must be able to see in all directions on all roadways a at least 500 feet (152.4 meters).