Have you ever noticed that right-to-left turns are much more difficult than left-to-rights?
That is, if you’re crossing some large ugly six-lane traffic sewer to get from one lovely back road to another, it seems much easier to me if you have to go LTR instead of RTL.
Although I’ve never seen it written down anywhere and I couldn’t find anything with a quick Google search, this seems to be a very common phenomenon in day-to-day riding. That’s especially true in South Bend, where neighborhood streets rarely line up (South Bend Ave and Edison Rd are notable examples).
So what that mean for you? When planning a route by map, you should try to substitute LTRs for RTLs as much as possible, even if it means slightly more mileage.
Here’s are five LTR-for-RTL substitutions in our area:
1. Woodlake to Crestwood instead of Rockne to Crestwood (across Edison)
2. Georgiana to Howard instead of Burns to Howard (across South Bend Ave)
3. Nadine to Winterberry instead of Twyckenham to Winterberry (across Cleveland)
4. Walnut to Diamond instead of Diamond to Diamond (across LWW)
5. Lawrence to Wall instead of Grove to Wall (across Logan)
There are of course many other infamous RTLs which simply cannot be avoided, but with a little luck and forethought some can be gotten around.
Have you noticed this LTR vs RTL phenomenon? What are your worst RTLs? What are your favorite substitutions?
