Because the right lane has no explicit instructions, she said, many vehicles also turn left, making the merge by the turnpike entrance harrowing.
“I have seen several ‘close encounters’ where out-of-state cars turn left from the left-hand lane and go to get into the right lane to get on the Mass. Pike, only to find a car bearing down on their right, which has unexpectedly [to them anyway] turned left from the right lane. Simply painting arrows and putting up a few signs would alleviate the situation and help tourists trying to navigate Boston roads.’’
A short distance away, eastbound drivers on Storrow Drive looking for the Boston University/Brookline exit face a “dangerous’’ situation, said Barry Miller of Brookline.
“There is a sign well before the exit. Then, as you come off, there is no sign pointing in the direction of the exit,’’ Miller wrote in an e-mail. “The logical way to go - curving off the highway - takes you back onto eastbound Storrow Drive [with no real marking]. You have to guess [or already know], to take an unmarked, sudden, kind-of-sharp right, which leads you to an unmarked street, which takes you to Commonwealth Ave.’’
On a recent visit, a Globe reporter found most drivers in both lanes at the Central Square/Mass. Pike offramp turned left toward the Mass. Pike entrance. The left lane is indeed clearly marked “left turn only’’ and a sign is posted as well. But the right lane is not labeled and as a result, was a free-for-all.
Even with a police officer directing traffic, presumably because of road work on the River Street Bridge, drivers in the right lane blithely turned left, creating a crush of vehicles as they jockeyed for position to either continue onto Cambridge Street or enter the turnpike.
