The Ludington DQ Left Turn

[XLFD]

With the advent of warmer weather in the spring, it is inevitable that the local Dairy Queen (DQ) out on Old 31 will open and find itself deluged with business, even in the midst of a 'global pandemic'.   Be advised, however, that your craving for a peanut buster parfait may put you in harm's way if you're not careful-- and not due to the coronavirus or your allergies.  

The local DQ benefits from being visible from the highly travelled US 10 and just about a city block away from the intersection, but this nearness also presents a traffic problem which you may notice when you travel that way, and this problem persists for that half of the year when the DQ is open for business.  The problem arises from those who turn south onto Old 31 from the intersection and those approaching the intersection heading north on Old 31, and the fairly unique five lane configuration of that highway, as seen below as the crow observes:

The popular drive-thru feature of the DQ is in the lower right corner, with vehicles entering at the top of their parking lot, you can see the directional arrows.  You can see similar arrows on the highway to the north, with one right turn lane and two left turn lanes.  Typically we see the middle lane of a five lane highway allow for left turns either way, and that is what Old 31 has further south. 

The problem arises by those who are not wary of where that center lane purpose transitions-- this would be especially rough in winter when highway paint might not be visible.  Fortunately for traffic safety, the DQ is closed then, but here's what you see on the ground.  See if you can use your knowledge to figure out what you should do if you were wanting to take a left turn into the DQ.  Would you, starting at 'X', either:

a) enter the middle lane, wait for an opening in traffic across the two lanes, then turn or

b) keep in the left lane, wait for traffic to clear, then turn 

If you said 'b', you are correct and are a bit less likely to be hit head-on by somebody legally heading into the leftmost left turn lane.  The pavement markings follow the Federal MUTCC guidelines, and accordingly, where the yellow line ends for the northbound traffic (where the red arrow points to in the pic below) is where the center lane becomes a third lane for those vehicles headed north. 

The rightmost highway pictured below shows this and indicates that and properly denotes the difference between a center lane having two-way left turns and one with one-way dedication. 

You may see visitors, and even some locals that don't get out that much get confused here, and it should be noted that the double lines are there at the point of turning to make sure you do not enter the next lane to go left into the drive-thru.  After you pass the DQ, those double lines disappear and you can enter the center lane to turn and park south of the DQ, which is why you may also get confused if you vary your DQ habits:

 

Always exercise caution either way, stay to the left of the double line if you are left turning to get a six pack of Dilly bars, anticipate somebody not knowing the rules as good as you (and trust me, these exist) unlawfully entering the middle lane when you are northbound on Old 31 to avoid an accident.  

[Willy]

Good reminders X. However unless the wicked witch of the Capital building does not come back to reality and common sense, Ludington will have dried up by the time summer rolls around. I forgot, common sense does not apply, she's a radical Leftist.