This Is The Most Confusing Driving Lane In Kalamazoo

With all of the construction that’s happening in downtown Kalamazoo, there are about to be a lot of confused drivers on West Michigan Ave and E. Kalamazoo Ave. once it’s all said and done. But there is one stretch of road in particular that is without a doubt the most confusing lane in Kalamazoo.

It’s a shock to me that there aren’t more accidents caused in this area, considering how many people drive this every day. The lane in question is underneath the bridge on Riverview Dr as it heads towards Downtown Kalamazoo. Here's why...

Get our free mobile app

Where The Switch Takes Place

Firstly, the road only has two lanes headed downtown. One is a left turn only which leads to E. Michigan Ave. and one continues straight, but when you continue straight,  the one lane turns into three lanes under the bridge. One of which is a left turn only, which leads you to turn onto Mills St. and the other is an additional left lane that continues straight.

The Confusion

The problem with this is there is no clear indication when you are supposed to merge into the new lane, nor is there a solid lane to let drivers in the left-only lane know to stay left. All there is is a faded left arrow, but the lane stays open going straight. In theory, it looks like you could just drive straight with no problem, and on multiple occasions, I have actually seen people who were supposed to turn left just carry straight forward almost causing an accident.

This happened to me and I almost got rear-ended because it's much more logical to cause an accident than to delay your trip by a minute and safely turn around after making a driving error, clearly.

In my opinion, there needs to be some clear indication with some lines in the road about when to merge because the whole area is confusing and is begging to cause an accident.