"Dee D. Flint" wrote in message igy.com...

We also have a problem that sometimes mandates driving regularly in the
leftmost lane in some areas.

Ahh, Dee, ya beat me to it.

We have a lot of left side freeway exits.
Sometimes traffic is heavy enough that you'd better get into that left lane
at least 5 miles before you get to the exit or you will never be able to get
over to it.

Same here in EPA. In fact we have both lefthand off-ramps and on-ramps
to major divided highways. Usually you need to get over as soon as the
first advance sign shows up (usually 2 miles out).

btw, there's a way to tell from the advance sign whether it's a left-
or right-hand offramp.....

For example, if you're going west out of Philly on the Schuylkill
Expressway (I-76) and you want to go south on the Blue Route (I-476),
it's a left-hand exit and you are warned 2 miles out.

You better hit the ramp at no more than about 35 because it's sharp
and of rapidly decreasing radius. And it comes up fast.

Someone in the left lane approaching that exit cannot move over
because they won't get back in time.

On top of that, many of the divided highways (like most of I-76 east
of Valley Forge) around here are only 4 lanes (2 each direction) and
if everyone stayed to the right there'd be no end of delays. And there
would be lots of accidents and delays at on-ramps.

So we tend to use all lanes. Slower folks *usually* stay to the right,
but not always, because there may be a reason for them to be on the
left.

One reason our roads are like this is the terrain.

73 de Jim, N2EY