There’s two types of traffic on these main drags: thru-traffic and traffic turning in and out of businesses. Traffic in and out of businesses, whether slowing down at entrances every couple hundred feet or making left turns across lanes of oncoming traffic, slows down the thru-traffic. That’s what access management aims to correct. Here are some of the techniques:

• Make neighboring business share entrances to reduce the number of driveways cars are pulling in and out of.

• Get rid of the middle turn lane. Allow right turns only into businesses. Drivers who want to visit a business on the other side of the road can make a U-turn at the next intersection or roundabout. Traffic doesn’t get clogged up by people making left turns across lanes of oncoming traffic and eliminates the need for a left-turn lane.

• Establish primary nodes — roundabouts or intersections — where drivers can get out of the thoroughfare and get on the access road running behind businesses.

• Connect the rear parking lots of businesses with an access road. A car wanting to visit a neighboring business doesn’t have to pull out into the main road only to drive 100 feet and pull back into the next parking lot.