Originally Posted by noisebeam
That was my first reaction. Then I studied the arial photo (and read the OP a bit more carefully) and noted that the right turn lane is a thru lane too.
Al
No, it's right only, though you may not be able to tell.
But the key is it's very long, and traffic can be moving very fast.
This is a situation where someone driving a piece of slow moving construction equipment might also use the right turn only lane, at least for a while, to allow faster through traffic to pass.
I don't make a habit of it, but I recognize that traveling in an unoccupied right only lane, and once in a very rare while even never leaving it despite the fact that I'm going straight, is sometimes the most prudent thing to do. Why be in the way if you can safely and reasonably use a right only lane to be out of the way? Again, remember, I'm going around 10 mph and they're going 50+...
Note that this is a place where while I rarely use the right only lane to go straight, I've never seen another cyclist leave it to go straight.