Реверсивные полосы движения

Lane in which traffic may travel in either direction

A reversible lane (or tidal flow) is a managed lane in which traffic may travel in either direction, depending on certain conditions. Typically, it is meant to improve traffic flow during rush hours, by having overhead traffic lights and lighted street signs notifying drivers which lanes are open or closed to driving or turning. Reversible lanes are also commonly found in tunnels and on bridges, and on the surrounding roadways – even where the lanes are not regularly reversed to handle normal changes in traffic flow. The presence of lane controls allows authorities to close or reverse lanes when unusual circumstances (such as construction or a traffic mishap) require use of fewer or more lanes to maintain orderly flow of traffic.

Some more recent implementations of reversible lanes use a movable barrier to establish a physical separation between allowed and disallowed lanes of travel. In some systems, a concrete barrier is moved during low traffic periods to switch a central lane from one side of the road to another; some examples are the five lane San Diego Coronado Bay Bridge in San Diego, California, the seven lane Alex Fraser Bridge on the Fraser River in Vancouver and the eight lane Auckland Harbour Bridge across the Waitemata Harbour in Auckland, New Zealand. Other systems use retractable cones or bollards which are built into the road, or retractable fences which can divert traffic from a reversible ramp. The two center lanes of the six lane Golden Gate Bridge are reversible; they are southbound during morning rush hour and northbound at evening rush hour. Prior to the installation of a movable median barrier in January 2015, they were demarcated by vertical yellow markers placed manually in sockets in the roadway. Many urban freeways have entirely separate carriageways (and connecting ramps) to hold reversible lanes (the reversible lanes in such a configuration are often referred to as "express lanes"). Generally, traffic flows in one direction or another in such a configuration (or not at all); the carriageways are not "split" into two lane roadways during non rush periods. Typically, this sort of express lane will have fewer interchanges than the primary lanes, and many such roadways only provide onramps for inbound traffic, and offramps for outbound traffic.

Historically, the term "suicide lane" has also referred to a lane in the center of a highway meant for passing in both directions. Neither direction has the right of way, and both directions are permitted to use the lane for passing. In a similar layout, three lanes are striped with two in one direction and one in the other, but traffic in the direction with one lane is allowed to cross the centerline to pass. Passing lanes should not be confused with turning lanes. While they look similar, passing lanes are for highway overtaking, while turning lanes typically are used to stop and turn into a parking lot from a street. 2+1 roads have replaced some of these, mainly in Europe.

Another type of center two way lane is a "two way left turn lane" (TWLT) or "center left turn lane", or (for countries that drive on the right) "center turn lane" or "median turn lane", a single lane in the center of the road into which traffic from both directions pulls to make a left turn. This lane is also sometimes called a "suicide lane" for their notorious fatality rates, especially in the United States in settings with high traffic speeds (45 mph), and on roads with five or more lanes (typically two or three lanes in each travel direction with one center turn lane). However, some studies have found that converting high speed four lane streets into three lane streets (one lane of traffic in each direction with a center turn lane) and lowering speed limits can result in improved safety, despite the use of a center turn lane, as traffic collisions occur at far lower speeds. These roads are very common in suburban areas and less common in rural areas, though they are frequent around developed areas near Interstate Highway bypasses in the United States. Many were divided highways before the median was demolished or otherwise replaced by the turn lane. Many four lane streets with a center double yellow line are being phased out in favor of 3 or five lane streets with center turn lanes because the center lane allows for less disruption of traffic flow. For routes with moderate traffic, other movements involve downgrading four lane undivided streets to three lane streets with a turn only center lane. This center lane can be used by emergency vehicles like police cars, ambulance, and fire trucks to avoid traffic traveling in either direction. Drivers are not allowed to use the center lane of such a highway for passing slow moving vehicles, except when funding or space constraints dictate use of it as a rush hour "travel lane" when traffic is largely asymmetric between a central business district and its suburbs. U. S. Route 13 near the Greenville, North Carolina, city limits is a rare instance of a posted warning sign that states "do not pass in center lane".

Connecticut Avenue in Washington, D. C.
Chain Bridge in Washington, D. C. A barrier transfer machine is used to move the concrete barrier. Johnston Street, Melbourne. Five lanes total, with the centre lane reversible. Queen's Road, Melbourne. Five lanes total, with the centre lane reversible. Tasman Bridge, Hobart. Five lanes total, with center lane reversible. Morning peak, three west, two east. Other times, two west, three east.

East BroadWay between Front Street and Crow Lane, main routes in to Hamilton (three lanes total, one reversible).

Avenida Radial Leste in São Paulo has about ten lanes total (five in each direction) in most sections (but it varies slightly in others), and on weekdays it has one lane (sometimes two lanes, depending on traffic conditions) reversed during the rush hour (in the morning and in the evening) to reduce traffic congestion. In the morning, the eastbound lanes are reversed to the west (downtown), and in the evening, the westbound lanes are reversed to the east (suburb).

State Route 102 near Kraljevica leading southbound to the Krk Bridge used to have a three lane passing lane combination, blind curves, and a steep grade. It was later changed to a passing lane combination that makes the northbound traffic dominant. Motorway A6 used to have 2+1 setup at section between exit 6 Oštrovica and exit 7 Kikovica in period between its opening in 1972 and 2008, when it was upgraded to full motorway standard. Road had two lanes in direction east, and one lane in direction west, but along almost whole route overtaking was allowed in direction west so middle lane was used by both directions.

Reversible lanes are frequently used in hilly sections of highways with heavy truck traffic. Most of them were built during the 1980s and 1990s.

A12/A47 road in Lowestoft on the approaches to the Bascule Bridge. As 4 lanes merge into 3 on the approaches to the bridge for both sides, the middle lane is open northbound in the morning until 11:30AM and open southbound after 11:30AM. All lanes are closed temporarily when the bridge is raised by way of red X's and orange flashing lights. A38 road across the Tamar Bridge and through the Saltash Tunnel in Saltash. The middle lane is reversible, allowing for control of traffic flows in holiday periods and during rush hour. A470 North Road in Cardiff, A section of around 1 mile long between the Maindy Road Junction and College Avenue where the road drops from a dual two lane to a three lane section. One lane is always dedicated to Northbound (out of town) traffic, and one lane to Southbound (city centre bound traffic) with the centre lane reversing depending on the time of day – i. e. in the morning 2 lanes into the city, 1 lane out, in the evening 2 lanes out of the city, 1 lane in. A1434 in Lincoln (Canwick Road) has a short three lane section of tidal flow. A38(M) Aston Expressway in Birmingham has 7 lanes, 3 of which are flexible according to rush hour traffic flow direction/time of day.

The A38(M) motorway (also known as the Aston Expressway) in Birmingham, England. The road connects the city centre with Spaghetti Junction on the M6. It is a 2 mile, 7 lane section of motorway with no central reservation, and a lower than usual speed limit of 50 mph. Constructed in 1971, it was the United Kingdom's first contraflow road. Overhead lane control signals allow for 4 lanes in and 2 out in the morning rush hour, reversed in the evening, and 3 lanes each way at all other times. One dividing lane is closed to traffic at all times, and motorcycles are permanently prohibited from using the central, red surfaced lane (with a fixed sign) owing to its use as an off camber drain. The lane control signals can be set to allow travel in either direction for any lane in exceptional circumstances, which has been used for single lane, reduced speed running in each direction (or 2+1 with no divider) during road work, allowing the expressway to remain largely open even during major repairs. However, the 7 lane section splits at both ends to fully divided sets of 4x2 lane slip roads, with the central red lane ending in a barrier, so full use of this flexibility is uncommon and occasional overnight closure is required. U. S. Route 78 in Snellville, Georgia, United States, has 6 lanes in total. This occurs from the limited access portion through Stone Mountain Park to Georgia State Route 124 (Scenic Highway) for several miles. The middle two lanes were reversible (usually occurring during rush hour) with a varying lane always reserved as a center turn lane; hence 3 lanes were used for one direction of travel and 2 for the other. However, due to rising traffic volumes during peak hours that made traffic flows equivalent, the reversible lane system was removed in 2009. The Caldecott Tunnel between Oakland, California and Contra Costa County, previously had three separate bores, with the middle bore switching direction twice daily for rush hour traffic. A fourth tunnel bore opened in November 2013 to westbound traffic. Two bores are now permanently used by westbound traffic, and the other two by eastbound traffic, with no reversible lanes. The Elbe Tunnel near Hamburg, Germany, is part of the Bundesautobahn A7 and has four separate bores, of which two can be switched to allow travel either in each direction or unidirectionally.

The Anchieta/Imigrantes highway system in Brazil contains the world's longest fully reversible road (The Imigrantes variant at a length of 58.5 km). It comprises a total of ten lanes distributed over four separate roadways (3+3+2+2), each of which can be reversed. Traffic flow is unidirectional on up to three roadways at a time, in different combinations, depending on demand. Since this highway system is the only quick route from São Paulo to the beach, the majority of the traffic on Fridays and Sundays are cars on weekend trips, creating highly asymmetrical demand. In Washington, D. C., the Rock Creek and Potomac Parkway between the Lincoln Memorial and Calvert St. is converted from two lanes in each direction to one way southbound in the morning and one way northbound in the evening rush hour Monday through Friday, excluding federal holidays. The P Street exit, usually unavailable northbound, is an allowed left exit in the evening. South of Virginia Avenue, two lanes are closed during rush hours to facilitate the merge to or from Virginia Avenue. There are no overhead markings, but police barricades block wrong way entrances to the roadway.

The Southern Expressway in Adelaide, South Australia, was the world's longest exclusively one way reversible road. It opened in 1997 and eventually traversed though the city's southern suburbs, until its duplication to carry two way traffic completed in 2014. It changed direction to carry peak hour traffic to the city centre in the morning and away from the city in the evening. On weekends, the directions were reversed.

Motorway M7 in Hungary from 1972 until the completion of the second carriageway in 1975. The existing carriageway between Törökbálint and Zamárdi normally operated with one lane in each direction, but carried traffic towards Budapest only on Sunday afternoons. Alfords Point Bridge in Australia from 1973 till bridge duplication in 2008. The center lane was reversible. After 2008, a 300 metre reversible center lane still remained on Alfords Point Road over Henry Lawson Drive, approximately 500 meters north of this duplicated bridge.

In shopping centres and metro stations there may be an odd number of escalators, with one or more escalators running in different directions in different time of a day.