They’re as Jersey as diners, the boardwalk and Springsteen.

But one lawmaker wants to do the unthinkable and ban new jughandles from being built on roads and highways in the Garden State.

"They just do not function," state Sen. James W. Holzapfel (R-Ocean), a member of the Senate Transportation Committee, said today during a committee hearing.

During the hearing, politicians on the left and right discussed the traffic controls that make you turn right to go left.

Then the committee released the bill to the full Senate, the first time the legislation has advanced in a decade-long crusade for Holzapfel, who quipped, "It’s been kind of stuck in a jughandle like this for 10 years."

Holzapfel contends the usefulness of the jughandle — the so-called "Jersey Left" — has passed more than a half-century after it was introduced. Instead of condemning more property to build more jughandles, he would rather see a lane added to allow drivers to make a left or U-turn – without having to go through the same intersection twice.

Senate Bill No. 207 would "prohibit the planning, designing or construction of any additional jughandles on the public roads or highways in the state.

The prohibition applies to roads or highways under the jurisdiction of the state, counties, municipalities ... the New Jersey Turnpike Authority and the South Jersey Transportation Authority."

State Sen. Donald Norcross (D-Camden) agreed with Holzapfel that the jughandles were causing traffic backups and should be done away with in the future where possible, but said state Department of Transportation engineers might find them the best options for some intersections.

"I’m just not comfortable taking this out of their arsenal of tools," Norcross said.

He agreed that left turns can work well on heavily traveled roads like Route 1 in Florida, but noted, "Florida has something that we don’t — and that’s a lot more land. And typically we’re trying to retrofit, and that’s why, unfortunately, jughandles come in."

Still, Norcross agreed to move the bill without recommendation, pending a discussion between Holzapfel and the DOT.

Steve Carrellas, New Jersey representative of the National Motorists Association driving rights group, said jughandles, with good use of signs, can be effective.

"They may seemingly be unique to New Jersey," he said. "But they seem to work most of the time."

For out-of-staters or those with older GPS systems, the jughandle can be a frustrating experience.

"If I had a dollar for every time I saw someone come up to an intersection that has Pennsy plates or they have Virginia plates, or whatever, and they still stop at that major intersection and try and make a left without even going into the jughandle — because they don’t know what it is," Holzapfel said.

In addition, the jughandles on today’s busier roads lead to gridlock, he said.

"God forbid you’re behind an 18-wheeler who has to go into gears," Holzapfel said. "It may take you four or five changes of the light to get out of the intersection.

"My wife, she sees an 18-wheeler going into the jughandle, she’ll go down to the next intersection."

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