Roundabouts, or what some would call traffic circles.
I go through 10 at a minimum on my way to or from work if I don’t take the interstate. I’m only about 8 miles from work.
My little suburb is called the roundabout capital of the US and we will have the 100th in by the end of this year. I personally love them, and they have greatly sped up my commute time. I do understand though that not everyone is familiar with them and they can be intimidating at first. There are a few that I know to be careful in because they are by a regional hospital and a lot of out of town people go through them. My son actually got side swiped in one of these by a guy from California who was “just following the GPS” (it was the other guys fault… he went straight from a left only lane).
So, do you have roundabouts in your area, and do you love them or hate them? They are supposed to help with emissions by reducing idle time, and any accidents are supposed to be much less severe (my son’s was under $2000 which is pretty low for an Audi).
The first one I remember was on Hilton Head Island and I kind of freaked out the first time… now I smoothly move through them with hardly a thought. I know they have been common over seas for a long time, but they are just now starting to take hold in the US. I’ve seen a few others on the east coast. Anyone else have experience with them.
I may win for the most mundane post unless someone posts something about 4 way stop signs.
Washingon, DC. I like them. They require you have your head on a swivel, don’t be an asshole and think; three things that many people find hard to do while driving.
However as the locals in DC show we can move a lot of traffic through an intersection pretty quickly if we just work together.
When I was a kid, the only roundabouts in Fort Worth (that I knew of) were the “small” one (Bluebonnet Circle) and the “big” one (believe it or not, the intersection of two major non-grade-separated highways, US-377 and TX-183).
In recent years, however, the city has been adding a lot more of them. The local gum’mit’s been wanting to boost Polytechnic Heights’ (a.k.a. Rosedales’) “comeback” from the days described in the book Left Behind in Rosedale. Part of the Poly “revitalization” program is a complete, modern, “urbanist” redo of East Rosedale Street; the redo of this major arterial involves adding roundabouts at the intersections with Mitchell Boulevard and Ayers Avenue. I like them. Rosedale is a major street-racing thoroughfare here (especially for sportbike douches); these will thwart them (or at least slow them down). Several other arterial-road intersections have gotten them, too.
They have also added smaller roundabouts along Elizabeth Boulevard, a residential street. I feel there should be a lot more of these kind, too, because while street-racing may not be common on these streets, lots of people still fly down them like bats out of hell.
Another bonus is that, as 2gigch1 stated, they make people have to use their noggins more while driving/riding, which is always a good thing, IMO.
Lots of places are putting them in. They’re “traffic calming”; they’re faster than traditional traffic lights. They’re touted as being at least the second greatest thing since sliced bread.
…& then there’s Fucking New Jersey; had 'em for years; actively removing them. :smack:
Of course in FNJ, to turn left, you go right. Grrrr!
I hate roundabouts. I don’t think they are faster, I don’t want to go in a circle to make a left turn, stop putting them in. Luckily all of the proposed ones here have been opposed very vocally, and the county has pretty much given up.
This. They haven’t historically been common in the United States, AFAIK, but they’ve been “discovered” and have been getting more and more popular in the last decade or so. At least in California, I’m seeing them more and more often in newer neighborhood.
Generally, I like them.
Note: “Roundabouts” and “Traffic Circles” seem to have two slightly different meanings. At entrances to traffic circles, typically, there are stop signs or some other traffic control devices. Roundabouts are typically smaller, and cars do not stop before entering unless they have to. It is these roundabouts that are becoming more and more popular.
I think there are also a couple of variants of priority (not absolutely sure if these correlate with roundabout vs circle thoough) - that is:
Traffic in the system has right of way (you give way on entering)
Traffic entering the system has right of way (traffic already going around has to give way)
The latter case sounds to me like the dumbest thing ever, but I believe it’s out there.
there must have been a really good roundabout salesman going through the Midwest in the last few years, roundabouts are popping up all over. (Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa, and Missouri.)
Vacationing in St Martin, I’ve grown to love them. Over the years they’ve replaced nearly every traffic light with roundabouts and it definitely improves traffic flow.
I love the goddamn things. In metro Detroit, every intersection where a roundabout has replaced traffic signals is a LOT faster to get through. Even if you get the occasional milkshake or idiot who has no idea how they work.
Love, love, love them. I worked for a few weeks in France, between the hotel and the worksite there was one traffic light and 18 roundabouts. The rental car was a little Peugeot with a turbo diesel and a stick: Nirvana!
They are putting in a few in my ‘greater’ travel area but none in my regular travles, I like them, because I like to keep moving, and don’t like traffic lights and the stop and go nature of intersections.
There is one intersection in my regular travels that is crying out for a ‘mini-circ’ (my term for those newer, smaller lower speed traffic circles) as the traffic light is very disruptive to traffic flow no matter which direction, just too much irregular traffic flow. The sensor to change the light just makes it worse.
I’ve used a variant of those latter varieties, they are rare and weird road configurations to begin with. The circle is marked with many yield signs and the entering traffic has pictorial signs to keep driving. They, as I’ve seen them are at areas where a high capacity road crosses a very low use road, the idea is not to have the high capacity road stop, just keep driving, the low capacity road yields at everything. Don’t know if I ran across it in it’s total form.
Also a new variant is the outward spiral, where you can not stay in the circle and driver all the way around without changing lanes to move ever inward. You enter a certain lane and follow it through to your exit
I learned to drive in Northern Ohio, not far from Tallmadge Circle (see picture here: Tallmadge, Ohio - Wikipedia) so driving in a circle was not unfamiliar to me. Abu Dhabi, away from the main streets, had lots of traffic circles while I lived there (1999-2003) and they were easy to navigate (just watch out for the cab drivers…).
Only a couple here in Alabama, and people view them with deep suspicion, suspecting they are some Commie plot to destroy the American way of life or something…
Our area was poisoned about roundabouts by the Latham Traffic Circle, built in the 30s. It’s been modified and modernized, but it was difficult to deal with for years, with a high volume of traffic on two lanes. It probably should be torn down and changed to a regular high-volume intersection, but any work of that nature would be too complicated and disruptive.
They have been adding them, and I generally like the idea, especially the one-lane ones.
The street that parallels mine was four lanes with stop lights. Hardly any homes along it. There was a college along some of its length, though, and college officials wanted a more aesthetically pleasing two lane road with traffic circles. This was done over the objections of most people in the neighborhood.
Traffic on my wholly residential street shot up and has continued to be much heavier than it was pre -traffic circles. Far as I can tell most people prefer to avoid them.
Didn’t like them at all in the UK either…they were fast but seemed somehow dangerous.
