Winnipeg (and Manitoba) U-turns

Map Editors Community Canada Manitoba
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Hey MB/Winnipeg editors,

I just wanted to make a blog post so there is an on-going thread about u-turns within the Winnipeg and the Province. Being in BC, we don’t really have u-turns, and definitely not the open u-turns like MB has.

Where it began:
Back when lane guidance and custom shields where launched to the production apps a couple years ago, I spend quite a bit of time updating key points here in BC, and spreading out to help other major centres jump-start their visual overrides and lane guidance. Being that Winnipeg is our OG partner in Canada, it seemed fitting that some more attention be brought to custom prompts with shields and lane guidance

Within this time, we have also gotten mechanism like the Falcon snapper, lane widths, Project Koi Fish, and other improvements.

Many of these have resulted in new aspects to mapping segments vs. the previous keep it simple, and more reality.

The Findings:
Upon starting in Winnipeg, I started with some of the larger boulevards (like Broadway downtown) and divided it to ensure drivers would be given navigation right to the door/endpoint on the correct side of the boulevard. From there, made some improvements to Main St heading to St. Mary’s… And working around to other major arterial systems across the city.

And then U-turns starting coming up. While I understand the basics in that in Manitoba uturns are allows except where prohibited, most of the undivided segments did not have “all” the possible uturns enabled as laid out in the legislation, and seemed like while doing the other upgrades/improvements, now would be a good time to ensure u-turns are enabled in a useful, mindful matter to aid drivers and getting them good routing on boulevard streets

The no u-turn sign is pretty straight forward, but there is another one that has me baffled , that’s the "This lane must turn left (right, whatever movement the arrow is) regulatory sign.
Its perplexing to me cause typically white-on-black regulatory signs are compulsory.

The Regulations:
I’m going to share BC’s Motor Vehicle regulations just cause I find them easier to view - but these signs are a North American standard.

Using BC’s regulations, the “Lane Use Signs”


Even the Manitoba Handbook mentions these as “This lane of traffic must turn left”
So to me, that entails uturns are not allowed at that intersection.
Found a page of a driving school with similar too

I did reach-out to the US community to see if any had any insight of clarity, and the pointed to a letter stating that the Lane Use signs may not in and of itself prohibit a u-turn and/or that there maybe another ordinances that may/may not prohibit uturns at an intersection.

In our Canada Wazeopedia we also have the following

Examples:

There are many, but a couple I picked out was Waverley St @ Hurst Way - here heading west, you can clearly see the regulatory lane use sign.
St Marys Rd at Bishop Grandin (in progress of renaming) is another example of where Lane use signs are used.

Some arterials like Kenaston Blvd/Rte 90, doesn’t seem like there would be much benefit for enabling allowed u-turns at non-signed intersections, but local knowledge may know better.

Pembina and Portage I believe are probably among the two most impactful arterials where uturns would be expected, but there’s use cases all across Winnipeg.

Discussion:

This is by no means a complete/comprehensive study, but appears there are some variances that would be expected by MB drivers - so being that I couldn’t really find anything definitive for or against the Lane Use Signs in Manitoba regulations, wanted to start a longer archival thread with MB editors (current and future), on how we should have u-turns for Winnipeg/Manitoba intersections as we go through as we go through updating MB to have more visual prompts and lane guidance.

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Personally, I think U-Turns should remain disallowed at intersections, except in cases where:

A) There is specifically a “U-Turns allowed” sign (they used to exist, but are either rare or discontinued at this point), or

B) There is very specific local knowledge that it’s an appropriate and common place to make a U-Turn.

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Thanks for the research. Some of my thoughts:

I agree that local knowledge is best for adding/removing u-turns locally, and users like me are have reported improper routing due to u-turns being improperly enabled/disabled based on user expectation however I think limiting u-turns to only where signage specifies that they are allowed is inconsistent with the MB HTA as u-turns are allowed except where prohibited and therefore would lead to situations where u-turns are overly prohibited contrary to user expectations.

As it relates to regulatory signage, especially the white left turn arrows on blackground signage, I found this article from the Globe & Mail from 2020 relating to provinces where u-turns are legal, https://www.theglobeandmail.com/drive/mobility/article-u-turns-are-legal-where-i-live-but-are-they-safe/, which states that “If you’re at an intersection and have a left-turning light, it’s safe to make a U-turn as long as you turn into the innermost lane.”, which is consistent with my understanding as a Manitoba driver that u-turns are allowed at these intersections, so long as there is not a sign forbidding them and it appears to be the practice at least within Winnipeg to sign these intersectations a such.

As an example, eastbound this segment of Scurfield Blvd has a left turn sign and doesn’t have a sign prohibiting u-turns, and is frequently used for u-turns to access the gas station on the north side of Scurfield Blvd by drivers exiting Whyte Ridge, therefore it seems as though the practice locally is to allow u-turns at intersections with regulatory left-turn signage unless specifically prohibited, which is consistent with the u-turn provisions within the MB HTA.