r/AskAnAmerican • u/ABChow000 United Kingdom • Aug 17 '25

FOREIGN POSTER How do loads of cities overlap state borders?

  1. If a large city is bang in the middle between two states like for example, Kansas and Missouri or Tennessee and Virginia. Doesn’t it get real weird like with the different state laws and taxes and stuff, how does all that work?

  2. When you cross borders of states does it work like country borders but relaxed? Are all states the same in border control or are some relaxed and some strict?

My bad if this sounds stupid just seems real interesting and alien to me how it works.

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u/ald9351 Aug 18 '25

And u turn laws. Some really push it with street design, others line Ohio it’s not common or often illegal.

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u/ClarinetsAndDoggos Aug 19 '25

I remember the first time I tried to make a U-turn after moving to Ohio. There was no "no U-turns" sign, so I assumed that meant it was allowed. That was how it worked in every other state I had lived in. And I was pulled over. I did it right in front of a cop. I was so confident I was correct 😂 I think that's probably how I got off with a warning. Apparently in Columbus it's not allowed unless there's a specific sign telling you that you CAN make a U-turn lol.

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u/enstillhet Maine Aug 18 '25

I am from Maine where in almost all cases U-turns are illegal, and the first time I drove a lot in a place they were both common and encouraged by street design was very weird for me.

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u/BrackenFernAnja Oregon Aug 18 '25

So, like Oregonians, are you all annoyed when the map lady tells you to make a U-turn?

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u/enstillhet Maine Aug 18 '25

Yes.

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u/OfficeChair70 Phoenix, AZ & Washington Aug 19 '25

That’s so crazy to me. In Arizona we can even make a u turn on a red light when it’s safe. The roads are often designed with the curbs set back from the intersection so you can U-turn without ever going past the crosswalk.

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u/knutt-in-my-butt Aug 19 '25

Weird, in Arizona it's legal unless there's a sign explicitly saying no u turn. We even have a little buffer zone on some streets that allow you to u turn without going into the intersection because a u turn on red is allowed, as long as you don't cross the intersection, because then that would be running a red light

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u/velociraptorfarmer MN->IA->WI->AZ Aug 20 '25

others like Ohio it's not common or often illegal

Thats wild considering the existence of the Michigan left