# Are Roundabouts Becoming More Common in USA? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 21, 2016, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-roundabouts-becoming-more-common-in-usa/760462 "2016-07-21T02:34:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2016, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-roundabouts-becoming-more-common-in-usa/760462/21 "2016-07-21T13:12:35Z")
There have been quite a few built in central and southern Wisconsin, and I love 'em. Speeds up the traffic flow, reduces accidents. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2016, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-roundabouts-becoming-more-common-in-usa/760462/22 "2016-07-21T13:14:21Z")
Our city posted standard drawings (a public works thing) for traffic circles and roundabouts in 2003. There isn’t a big push to install them, but a new one is usually installed every year or two. If they keep being installed here and there, and none of them are taken out, then they’re “becoming more common.” Another new trend is Bicycle Boulevards. One of the recommendations for a bike boulevard is removing stops along the route. That can be done by shifting stop signs to the cross streets or by installing traffic circles. I say traffic circles because they’re used on lower traffic, lower speed streets, and that’s the kind of street required for a BB. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2016, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-roundabouts-becoming-more-common-in-usa/760462/23 "2016-07-21T13:20:27Z")
> [@](#): > > Quoth **The Vorlon** : > > My bet would be that insurance companies are paying for them to be installed. “Traffic Calming” my big encounter suited ass. Try surcharge generating money machines. If you see a backup, most times there is a rotary ahead, probably with an accident in it. So it’s your hypothesis that the insurance companies are engaging in a conspiracy to pay for a lot of money, so as to increase the opportunities for them to pay even more money? Ingenious! ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2016, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-roundabouts-becoming-more-common-in-usa/760462/24 "2016-07-21T13:27:13Z")
I have a small one on my morning commute. I like it. It never takes more than a few moments for me to get into it versus how it would be if the same traffic flow had a 4-way stop or traffic light. Granted, this is a single lane affair, not one of those “European Vacation” trapped for hours deals. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2016, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-roundabouts-becoming-more-common-in-usa/760462/25 "2016-07-21T13:29:42Z")
> [@Spud](#): > > Sorry… missed the edit window, but I know people here like cites: Is your quote referring to Carmel, Indiana? When I saw the title of this thread, that was the first place that came to mind. They are everywhere in Carmel and it was the first place that I really recognized that roundabouts are an up-and-coming thing ---
**Author:** ![Spud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spud/32/347_2.png) [@Spud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spud)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2016, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-roundabouts-becoming-more-common-in-usa/760462/26 "2016-07-21T13:39:18Z")
> [@Sir\_T-Cups](#): > > Is your quote referring to Carmel, Indiana? Yes… If I don’t take 465 to my work I go through 11 on my commute. If I do take 465 I still take one and go under 3 more. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2016, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-roundabouts-becoming-more-common-in-usa/760462/27 "2016-07-21T13:55:54Z")
A town near us put some in a couple years ago. It would have been okay if they hadn’t re-aligned the road to that you end up doing some serious zig-zagging. :o The real problem is the idiot drivers here don’t even understand how a 4 way stop works. Never mind something new like a roundabout. Thankfully, these new ones are very lightly traveled. OTOH, there’s one at a place we vacation at that’s a real nightmare due to people just flat out not understanding the right-of-way rules. The real weird thing is that they’ve put criss-cross patterns over the freeway bridges. You drive on the left to cross the bridge, changing over before and after. This means traffic can only flow in one direction at a time. I have no idea why anyone thought this was going to work. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2016, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-roundabouts-becoming-more-common-in-usa/760462/28 "2016-07-21T14:20:44Z")
We are getting more in Colorado. I think my County has three. Problem is to replace an existing intersection with them takes up quite a bit more room. ---
**Author:** ![Spud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spud/32/347_2.png) [@Spud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spud)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2016, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-roundabouts-becoming-more-common-in-usa/760462/29 "2016-07-21T15:50:09Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > Problem is to replace an existing intersection with them takes up quite a bit more room. Yeah, that is the downside. In the long run though they are cheaper to build and maintain than a stop light (maintain probably being the key word). Also, I never have to worry about a huge traffic snarl because the roundabout is out unlike a stop light. ---
**Author:** ![RadicalPi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/radicalpi/32/9806_2.png) [@RadicalPi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RadicalPi)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2016, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-roundabouts-becoming-more-common-in-usa/760462/30 "2016-07-21T17:56:49Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > Probably not. A lot of cities are experimentally creating a few, but mostly without convincing evidence that they make anything better. The evidence for them, as a whole, is fairly convincing. While there are some issues with roundabouts, especially new roundabouts (it takes a year or so for people to get used to them) and multilane roundabouts (these seem to increase lane incursions for some reason), they do have some fairly impressive stats: a 37% decrease in collisions, including a 75% decrease in collisions that cause injuries, a 90% decrease in collisions that cause someone to die, and a 40% decrease in collisions that involve pedestrians. They also avoid things like drivers trying to beat the light. They reduce driver error because you only have to look one way before deciding to go. They also increase throughput, which means that a smaller roundabout can handle a larger amount of traffic (this is where significant cost savings come in). Finally, they decrease wait times (which is linked to throughput). While not a panacea, roundabouts are often a good idea, which is why they are being put in more often than in the past, even though people hate them. > [@ftg](#): > > The real weird thing is that they’ve put criss-cross patterns over the freeway bridges. You drive on the left to cross the bridge, changing over before and after. This means traffic can only flow in one direction at a time. I have no idea why anyone thought this was going to work. This is called a diverging-diamond interchange. The criss-cross is arranged in such a way that no one has to turn across traffic (like you usually do in a left turn). This greatly improves throughput and reduces collision rates when most traffic is turning on to or off of the highway. This comes at a cost to through traffic, though. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2016, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-roundabouts-becoming-more-common-in-usa/760462/31 "2016-07-21T18:09:49Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > There have been quite a few built in central and southern Wisconsin, and I love 'em. In my hometown of Green Bay, they’ve gone from zero roundabouts 10 years ago or so, to literally dozens today. The issues that I note, when I go back there to visit, are: - A lot of drivers are still clueless as to how to properly use them. Many treat entering a roundabout as a four-way stop sign (“I stop, I wait for a second, then I go”), when it actually works like a yield sign: you must wait until traffic is clear to your left…and if it’s a steady stream of cars, you need to keep waiting. - The bigger ones are two lanes wide, which confuses people even more. - They’ve gone totally overboard on building them, in some cases. The state is rebuilding US 41 along the west side of Green Bay (I think it’s actually now labeled Interstate 41), and they completely rebuilt a major interchange (with Shawano Avenue) using roundabouts. If you’re traveling along the surface street through that interchange, you have to navigate three or four roundabouts, in rapid succession. Maybe it does make traffic flow better than a series of stoplights through that same area would, but it _feels_ awkward. ---
**Author:** ![GaryM](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garym/32/241_2.png) [@GaryM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaryM)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2016, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-roundabouts-becoming-more-common-in-usa/760462/32 "2016-07-21T18:25:47Z")
How about Swindon’s Magic Circle? [https://goo.gl/images/GN59yG](https://goo.gl/images/GN59yG) ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2016, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-roundabouts-becoming-more-common-in-usa/760462/33 "2016-07-21T18:39:58Z")
There’s one a few miles from where I live at what used to be a flashing-red-light intersection. It’s taken some people a while to get the hang of it, but for the most part, it’s great. I think it’s lessened the occurrences of accidents because everyone approaching from all directions will slow down. So you don’t have the speed demons zooming up over the rise on folks who just turned on to the main road and are still accelerating. There are also at least 2 on Rt 2 between Annapolis and Rt 4 - one has been there for years and another was added within the last 10 years. We haven’t been to Annapolis in some time, but when I used to go there regularly, I never had any problems with them. And when the state built the MD 5 bypass around Hughesville, they put 2 in, one on either side of 5 along 231. They certainly keep traffic moving better than when we used to have to drive into Hughesville and deal with the light at the intersection. All in all, I like 'em. ---
**Author:** ![Spud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spud/32/347_2.png) [@Spud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spud)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2016, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-roundabouts-becoming-more-common-in-usa/760462/34 "2016-07-21T20:11:17Z")
My city has been building these since the late 90’s so most people from around here are very comfortable with them. They do not however stop idiots from being idiots… my son got hit from someone deciding to go left in a lane that was only allowed to go straight. It was clearly marked, but he was “following his GPS.” (again, damage was very minor compared to a full side on collision) Nor do they stop Assholes from being assholes… I can’t count the number of times that someone decides they have time to get into the roundabout at the last second in front of the car coming and the car already there has to brake quickly. As far as a learning curve… it really isn’t any harder than a traffic light… is there someone coming from the left? If so wait… if not proceed. As far as the two lane ones, if you want to turn right or go straight you can use the right lane… if you want to go straight or left you can use the left lane. Even better… just look at the signs. It ain’t rocket science. ---
**Author:** ![Fool\_in\_the\_Rain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8491ac/32.png) [@Fool\_in\_the\_Rain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fool_in_the_Rain)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2016, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-roundabouts-becoming-more-common-in-usa/760462/35 "2016-07-21T20:43:08Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > There’s one proposed to be used near me to ease the traffic for the on and off ramps on 295. They say there’s not enough room to make a cloverleaf, right now it’s difficult to make left turns onto and off the ramps for a brief period during the morning and evening rushes. It’s going to cost a fortune and cause accidents. They could put in traffic lights but that would be too easy and wouldn’t create huge traffic jams. I agree, traffic lights on Diamond Hill would make a ton more sense. Also they propose to install a roundabout in Albion where the beacon used to be (and the town wants back after the RIDOT took away). The Fire Chief there is not on board, he doesn’t think the trucks will fit through such a small roundabout. I’m not sure I agree that roundabouts are the best fix for every situation that are being proposed - and the DOT seems to be falling in love with the stupid things. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2016, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-roundabouts-becoming-more-common-in-usa/760462/36 "2016-07-21T21:04:16Z")
> [@Spud](#): > > As far as a learning curve… it really isn’t any harder than a traffic light… is there someone coming from the left? If so wait… if not proceed. As far as the two lane ones, if you want to turn right or go straight you can use the right lane… if you want to go straight or left you can use the left lane. Even better… just look at the signs. I was in a two-lane rotary (as roundabouts are called here); it being two in the morning, I didn’t bother to move to the inside lane. Maybe I should have. Someone came up behind me, moved to the inside lane, then tried to take the next exit (probably thinking that I would be taking it to) onto a four-lane road. I was trying to stay in the rotary. To avoid her, I wound up taking that exit, but in the left lane. She stopped in the rotary, backed up, and pulled up next to me at the next light to yell at me. I’ve always kinda wondered who fucked up. Is a car in the outside lane of a rotary obligated to take the next turn, and someone in the inside lane free to cut across both lanes and take it too? ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2016, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-roundabouts-becoming-more-common-in-usa/760462/37 "2016-07-21T21:30:49Z")
They’re building a lot of them around here. They added one on my morning commute and I love it: instead of having to make a left turn across two lanes of traffic, I just go into the circle. I wish try could put one near my house, but there’s not enough room. ---
**Author:** ![Spud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spud/32/347_2.png) [@Spud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spud)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2016, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-roundabouts-becoming-more-common-in-usa/760462/38 "2016-07-21T23:02:58Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > I’ve always kinda wondered who fucked up. Is a car in the outside lane of a rotary obligated to take the next turn, and someone in the inside lane free to cut across both lanes and take it too? I’m not sure I followed your description, but here is a good illustration: [http://www.noaca.org/modules/showimage.aspx?imageid=185](http://www.noaca.org/modules/showimage.aspx?imageid=185) As it shows on the left without a roundabout, if you are in the right lane you don’t make a left turn… if you are in the left lane you don’t make a right turn. Either of you can go straight. It is exactly the same in a roundabout. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2016, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-roundabouts-becoming-more-common-in-usa/760462/39 "2016-07-21T23:13:38Z")
> [@Spud](#): > > I’m not sure I followed your description, but here is a good illustration: > > [http://www.noaca.org/modules/showimage.aspx?imageid=185](http://www.noaca.org/modules/showimage.aspx?imageid=185) The illustration on the right doesn’t really reflect the local rotary situation. It’s not always four roads coming together at right angles. I know of rotaries around here where it’s five roads coming together. And they’re a lot bigger than the picture. By the time you see a car you don’t always know what road they’ve entered the rotary from. It often makes no sense to talk about left turns, straight ahead, or leaving on the same lane you entered. With that in mind, look at the picture again. I was the blue arrow and wanted to continue around the rotary. She was the red arrow and wanted to exit. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2016, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-roundabouts-becoming-more-common-in-usa/760462/40 "2016-07-21T23:44:30Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > …it actually works like a yield sign: you must wait until traffic is clear to your left…and if it’s a steady stream of cars, you need to keep waiting. This is why the wait-time effect is not as positive as traffic engineers usually maintain. Average wait times may indeed be reduced, but the maximum potential wait goes way up. There’s a circle I know of that effectively becomes a closed road for drivers from one side during morning rush; to me this is far worse than the conventional T it replaced. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-roundabouts-becoming-more-common-in-usa/760462.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-roundabouts-becoming-more-common-in-usa/760462.md?page=3)