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Hard Rockery Turns

Only a few people who live or work near the Rockery have had to learn to perform the following eight "hard turns". If all you've ever done here are the "easy turns", it's easy to radically underestimate the differences between the two categories.

For example, if you've tried to do much head-in parking at the Rockery, then you may only have needed to do simplified versions of these turns. Likewise, if you've attended the occasional off-hours event at Oakes Ames Memorial Hall, then the entire Rockery has probably been transformed into a congested, low-speed parking lot.

Yet it's another thing entirely to try to perform the full maneuvers for the first time during peak hours when oncoming traffic is running at full speed. If you're smart, you're moving slowly, yet all of the through traffic is whizzing along, and doesn't expect to see you doing any of these stunts.


"north curl out"
"north curl in"

"south curl out"
"south curl in"

"zigzag out"
"zigzag in"

"death wish"
"death wish 2"

For additional details on each maneuver, see below.

What they have in common

All of these maneuvers either begin or end in the Oakes Ames Memorial Hall driveway, which empties onto the short stretch of Barrows Street (#4) that connects Main and Lincoln on the northwest side of the Rockery. In practice, traffic crossing the driveway in both directions: moves surprisingly fast. Also, the sightlines here are tightly constrained by the contours of nearby rocky slopes and rock walls. The net effect is that, as described elsewhere, just getting in and out of the Hall driveway safely is harder than it looks, especially during peak hours.

The full maneuvers

The first maneuver is the "north curl out", where you're turning left out of the Memorial Hall driveway onto Barrows and continuing north onto Main. Coming from this direction through the Barrows/Main intersection (#6), you have to get far enough into the intersection to watch for both "merge" traffic on your right and "cross" traffic on your left. To make this left turn safely, you need to pull up way past the striped crosswalk, or you won't be able to see around the parked cars on your right.

Reversing course is the "north curl in", which is actually the only maneuver on this list without an unsafe intersection, since it's all right turns with adequate visibility. Note, however, that it's unclear whether any Library patrons would use this maneuver, since they could just turn into the earlier one-way entrance off Main Street before the Library.

The next maneuver is the "south curl out", where you're turning right out of the Memorial Hall driveway onto Barrows and continuing westbound on Lincoln (#5). The second turn required here is the "nose out" maneuver.

Reversing course is the "south curl in", where you're first turning left off Lincoln in the "race" maneuver, then taking another quick left into the Hall driveway. Note that during peak hours, this could easily result in backups onto Lincoln, since there's only room for one or two cars on that short stretch of Barrows where cars can wait to make the left turn into the driveway.

The most difficult maneuver which can be safely performed here is the "zigzag out". This repeats the difficulty of the "north curl out" above, only you turn right onto Main (#6) instead of left. Of the various routes through the Main/Central/Lincoln intersection (#7), this is probably the toughest direction to navigate safely, given all the acute angles and yet another unsignalled oncoming split.

Reversing course for the "zigzag in" is, comparatively, somewhat easier. Given the rights of way and hill slopes, navigating from Center or Main inwards (#7) is pretty easy. As with the "north curl out", the presence of any cars parked at the Rockery forces you to stop well past the painted crosswalk to be able to see and judge the speed of cars whizzing down Barrows after they've made it through their "race" maneuver. Once traffic coming from both there and from the "split" eases, you can make the tight left turn onto Barrows (#6), and from there things are a lot better.

The final pair of maneuvers are each seriously unsafe, yet people continue to attempt them on a daily basis -- perhaps because they're lost, or perhaps because they're so frustrated by the other maneuvers on this page that they're seeking better alternatives. In any event, it's a mistake each driver only makes once.

The first of these is the "death wish", where you try to take the hard uphill nearly-blind left turn from Barrows eastbound onto Lincoln (#5). This maneuver requires you to cross full-speed westbound traffic that's been accelerating uphill since before they entered the Main/Center/Lincoln intersection. Likewise, you need to merge in with full-speed eastbound traffic on Lincoln that's continued straight instead of doing the "race" maneuver. Frankly, it's amazing that there aren't even more accidents due to this one.

Reversing course is the "death wish 2", where you'd have to take the hard downhill right at the same intersection (#5). Yet without practicing, you can't know just how far right you really need to turn to avoid crossing over into the lane of oncoming uphill traffic. Again, not a mistake most drivers will repeat twice in a lifetime.