I thought that they were getting rid of them in NJ (some of the bigger ones I was familiar with got turned into standard intersections), but an internet check shows that there are still plenty of them.
In Massachusetts they’re called “rotaries”, but they still don’t know how to drive in them, and some are too damned small. In some places tradition lets the driver on the main route going through the circle continue on without yielding. That may be against the law (you’re always supposed to yield to traffic in the rotary, and to stop before entering), but if you drive that way at some of them, you’ll get hit.
Also, too many Massachusetts drivers believe that the rule that car on the right at an intersection has the right of way carries over into rotaries, as well, so that someone entering has the right of way. Accidents ensue.
Washington DC has them and depends on them, but in DC the traffic circles have traffic lights regulating them.
One last question – the OP calls them “roundabouts”, and the poster lives in the US. But are you a transplant? I don’t know anywhere in the US that calls traffic circles “roundabouts”.
Love them. Our downtown had a 5-way intersection that’s been replaced by a roundabout. It’s so much faster than the 5-way stoplight. It’s also really pretty since it’s planted with trees and flowers. It’s decorated for each season/holiday and really a nice addition to the downtown area.
We’ve always called them roundabouts. What do you call them?
I always get nervous when I come to them and then am pleasantly surprised at how well it works once I’m through.
They have added 3 or 4 in my area that I’m aware of. We actually could use one at a 4-way stop in my town but I guess they’re not useful for trucks and there’s a lot of truck traffic.
I live between the aforementioned Tallmadge circle and Fairmount circle in Shaker Heights.
I read somewhere that the increasing popularity of them is because of Federal Funds allocated for their construction. Not sure if that is fact but I will say that here in Maryland, where licenses are handed out for simply having a pulse, folks have no clue and drive into the circle regardless of whether or not another vehicle is in the way.
My city (Muncie, Indiana) has a few of them, including one that’s very near my house. It replaced a traffic light, and I like it much better. With the light, traffic often backed up in huge lines at busy times, as you waited for the light to change. Now, the most you have to wait is a few seconds before you can enter the roundabout and be on your way.
CalMeacham, everyone around here (including the municipal government) uses the word “roundabout.” I don’t know that I’ve ever heard them called “traffic circles.”
CalMeacham, they are rotaries in New England, but every other state I’ve lived in/visited calls them roundabouts.
I’m a fan, personally, but I kind of wish they could all be one laners, even though that wouldn’t work, logistically. People seem to freak out much more in the multiple lane roundabouts. Freaked out drivers = accidents.
Love them. The stimulus package let my town install them all the way down the main drag. Traffic is much smoother and people drive much slower down the hill.
Indiana born and bred. Everyone calls them roundabouts here, even the official city web page that brags about how many we have. Looks like it hasn’t been updated recently, but the artist’s rendition is one of the elevated ones that is walking distance from my house. We watch the local fireworks from the green space in the middle.
Times have definitely changed if “roundabout” has become standard US terminology. It used to be “traffic circles” everywhere except New England, where they are still “rotaries”.
They’ve been springing up lately in southern Maryland. When they’re at the intersection of two-lane roads, I think they work pretty well. When one or both of the roads are four-lane roads, it can get kinda confusing as to who is supposed to go where.
I like 'em but encounter so few. There’s The Circle in Waco and if you want to eat at the Health Camp you’ve got to get on it. The road up to the Broadmoor in Colorado Springs has one at every intersection. But my favorites are strung along the Leeward Highway in Turks & Caicos. You’re driving on the ‘wrong’ side of the road and all the locals are whizzing through, late to who knows what. Good times.
I should explain the one depicted in my link. It is one of the “elevated” roundabouts. The North/South road is a fairly major parkway (4 lanes divided) and the East/West road basically connects residential areas.
The major parkway drops down and goes under the kidney bean shaped roundabout so if you are travelling just on the parkway you never have to slow down at all.
If you are exiting the parkway you take an exit that puts you right at the roundabout. If you are traveling on the East/West road it is just like any other roundabout.
There used to be a stop light at this intersection… There used to be six (IIRC) along this stretch of the parkway. There is still one more that is supposed to be changed next year. If I take this route to get to the interstate these “elevated” roundabouts have cut the time in half. The only backup is at the last intersection with a light.
I live in Northern Virginia, so I’m familiar with the ones in DC. We’ve also gotten some in some of the slightly more rural areas, but a lot of the area is just too densely packed to allow them. Hell, there’s plenty of intersections that really should be overpasses but space won’t allow that either, so we just have traffic.
In general, I like them and they definitely improve traffic flow IF everyone knows how to use them. The problem is, at least around here, so many people have no idea how to drive in them. The ones that have lights, people are generally fine with, but a lot of the ones without them, I see people come to a complete stop before entering, then come to a stop again before leaving. When they do that, it makes them way less efficient. The problem is, at least when I learned to drive, they didn’t actually teach us how to drive in them, I had to learn from my parents or something.
Another part of the issue is that people suck at understanding right-of-way, at least around here. I see tons of people stop at an intersection, even when they don’t have a stop sign, others blow right through yield signs, even when traffic is coming. That’s not necessarily the worst thing, assuming it doesn’t result in a crash, but for a packed round-a-bout, all those little delays can add up as what makes it work is effective maximization of right-of-way.
You would not like Swindon, UK (the truth is no-one does, it is a bleak place and has the World’s absolute worst soccer team), one of its most significant landmarks is the Magic Roundabout. This is a large roundabout surrounded by 5 mini-roundabouts.
I have only one objection to them, but it’s a big one. They are being installed more frequently throughout my metro area, but no where are there any instructions for using them. Being the anal type that I am, I looked them up and read about them on ‘the Google’, so I was prepared. But evidently few others did so. The attitude is mostly - I get to go full speed ahead and the rest of you need to get out of my way. Ergo, the darn things are dangerous, so I usually avoid them.
