After months of road work and construction, a new traffic pattern in Charleston has finally taken effect.
The West Virginia Department of Transportation has been working on the new R-cuts or restricted U-turns for months. South Hills resident Darla Spencer said her commute home took longer than usual.
"It used to be so easy to get say from Kroger to where I live on Autumn Road going down Lucado," Spencer said. "Now they've got lights down there. I just don't understand the purpose of it. It's only about five minutes to my house, but it did make it a little more complicated, a little more difficult."
West Virginia DOT area engineer Ryan Canfield said R-cuts are common in other states.
"North Carolina, Virginia, South Carolina and Michigan use these quite often," Canfield said. "This will be the first one in the state of West Virginia, and hopefully if it works out it'll help in other areas."
Drivers from Oakwood Road are forced to turn right. They can then use the R-cut at Hickory Road to go left. The second R-cut between Lawndale Lane and Lucado Road will let drivers turn around and go the other direction.
"What we hope that it does is it keeps traffic flowing and helps cut down people's time sitting at the light," Canfield said. "The studies were showing people currently sit there for three minute cycle time. We're hoping to cut that down to one minute."
Drivers may notice uneven or patchy pavement through the area, and still a lot of traffic cones. Canfield said construction isn't over.
"There is more work that needs to be done," Canfield said. "Just because the R-cuts are open, doesn't mean that our work is done. Actually from the Oakwood intersection where it goes from concrete to asphalt, we have a microsurface overlay that's going to take care of all the patchwork look all down this direction."
Canfield said they hope to be finished with construction by the beginning of October.