[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Thoughts On Roundabouts (Page 1 of 4)
Posted: 3/8/2008 5:15:48 AM EDT
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After getting home from my first trip to the UK I thought, "We have waaaaay too many stop signs and traffic lights." After getting used to roundabouts over there I really grew to appreciate them. The traffic flows pretty well and you get where you are going. Yesterday while I was sitting for a while at a red light it occurred to me that every day across our country millions of cars sit at traffic lights burning fuel and not going anywhere. Considering that, roundabouts to keep traffic moving would save a lot of gasoline over the course of a year. It would cost a LOT of money to redesign and modify our roads and intersections for this, but it could be worthwhile in several ways. In the process of switching over there wouod be a transition period involving a Darwinian thinning of the herd, but then the roads would be safer after the incompetents are culled. Considering the stop signs and traffic lights we encounter daily, we do waste a good bit of fuel just sitting and idling. Some of the main roads around here are an exercise of crawling to wait and the next light, then creeping with the herd to sit through a few cycles of the next light, ad nauseum. Roundabouts - I like 'em. |
I like that idea  I think the roundabout is damn more effective than stop lights , and intersections. |
I think they're a good idea that would fail here. Not far from my father-in-law's home, there's a roundabout that was put in 2 years ago, not too far from 
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| Nice in theory, but they can be every bit as big a PITA as a stop light. I grew up where there were two that we had to navigate on an almost daily basis. I can't tell you how many times I had to sit and wait ... and wait ... for the idiot at the front of the line to get the perfect opening to go. Other times we had to wait because someone forced their way into the circle and caused an accident. |
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My local community has been adding them in over the last decade. Generally, they are at the larger intersections. I wanna think that I read in the local paper that the Feds have a grant program for roundabouts. This is where our local community got the money to pay for them. Also, the learning curve on them was pretty short. No dead people in the middle of them, and they certainly are more efficient than stop lights. I'm sold on them. |
Yep. All the roundabouts installed here in the last few years are in medium-traffic areas, and were primarily installed for two reasons. The first and primary reason was to slow traffic down on these roads. The secondary reason was minor traffic control, by allowing people at least a chance to get out of the secondary street that they connect at. The success of the second reason is questionable. |
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Good Lord are you fucking NUTS. It has been tried in this country and it failed MISERABLY. NJ traffic circles being a prime example....I learned to drive in them and they were some of the most dangerous places to drive in the entire country until most of them were eliminated in favor of the current jug handle system which works very well. |
That's because those people are fucking retarded. I mean , if you see how people drive on straight roads , imagine the show it would be to watch them try to drive in a round a bout |
My experience with roundabouts in the US is horrible because most people can't use them correctly. I have no reason to believe that this would change because we make more of them. I have yet to see any "Darwinian thinning of the herd" for people who can't even keep in their lane on a straight road. |
| Roundabouts are starting to be put in more and more here in western Colo. The locals bitch and moan about them but I don't have much problem with the things. Other then I don't usually trust most of the redneck hillbillies who barely know how to use a turnsignal. It can make it fun. Plus a couple of them aren't designed quite as smoothly as they could be because of poor design. |
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They put a couple round abouts in my parents neighborhood last year. Since then, every 2 weeks or so the city is out there replacing the wooden posts in the middle of them, as they are continuously being ran over. They also added speed humps everywhere. The poles with the relfectors to either side of them in the shoulders of the street are always getting mowed down too. Funny how the traffic in that neighborhood was fine for years with very little accidents. They start putting in obstacles to make people slow down and its gone to shit. |
| I visited a friend who lived north of Indianapolis last year and they had roundabouts at most of the intersections on the smaller roads. It was akward at first, but after a few times it wasn't a problem. There weren't any accidents or close calls and traffic flowed in and out really smoothly. |
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They work, until traffic flow increases, then they become extremly dangerous....here is a glimpse of what happened in NJ.... http://www.bh-ba.com/cardiff_traffic.html By Christopher Dwyer, P.E. Project Manager Marlton, New Jersey New Jersey is one of the most populated states in the nation and also boats the most paved roads of highway per area than any other state. In fact, there are over 33,000 linear miles of local, county and state roads. Therefore, it is no wonder that New Jersey holds its place in contributions to the national transportation scene. In 1925, a very innovative concept was introduced - the country's first traffic circle, built in Pennsauken. The principal of the traffic circle (or "rotary") is that it allows for greater volumes of traffic to pass through an intersection of two or more highways without having to stop. Following the success of the first traffic circle in Pennsauken, (or the "Airport Circle" as it would later be called) the construction of other circles sprang up around the country. A total of 67 traffic circles were eventually built throughout New Jersey, with most of the construction taking place in the 1920's and 1930's. However, with increases in vehicle speeds and traffic volumes, the efficiency and safety of traffic circles declined to the point where the state transportation department decided to start eliminating them. One recent such circle falling victim is the Cardiff Circle in Egg Harbor Township in Atlantic County located just outside of Atlantic City. At the request of the New Jersey Department of Transportation (DOT), Buchart-Horn began the final scope development for the replacement of the Cardiff Circle in 1998. Presently, the engineering staff in the Marlton office is completing final design. Cardiff Circle was constructed in 1932 as part of the extension of Black Horse Pike (known as Harding Highway at that time) into Atlantic County. The circle provides for free traffic flow movement between Route US 40 and 322 (Black Horse Pike), Atlantic County Route 563 (Tilton Road) and Atlantic County Route 608 (Washington Avenue). Traffic volumes have increased significantly since that time at this circle. Just prior to Buchart-Horn's project work, traffic volumes through the circle had reached over 34,000 vehicles per day. This ever increasing traffic volume and approach speeds to the circle had combined to make it inadequate for traffic operation and safety. Vehicles travel at high speeds on the arterial approach roadways and then attempt to merge and weave through cross traffic from the other approaches in a short weaving section with a small curvature radius. This condition results in serious traffic operation problems and high accident rates at the circle. Accident analysis indicated that over a prior four year period there were a reported 322 accidents with one fatality. In fact, the circle was rated as having the highest number of accidents in Atlantic County. Also, during peak hours traffic develops lengthy lines of vehicles on all radial legs of the circle. Weekends during the summer months are also troublesome for travelers because Route 40/322 is a key shore resort route. The Department of Transportation generally uses two methods for eliminating traffic circles. The first and more common approach is to cut through the center of the circle and install a traffic light. The other less common method is to grade separate the roadways. The solution to the Cardiff Circle resembles the first pattern as can be seen in the graphic. Proposed improvements include replacing Cardiff Circle with a jughandle (another New Jersey trademark) controlled by a traffic signal, construction of a new connector road between Route 40/322 and Tilton Road (County Road 563) west of the Cardiff Circle and construction of two new traffic signals at the end of the new connector road. Drainage and the condition of the pavement will also be improved. This project cuts through the heart of growing Egg Harbor Township. Two large malls, several strip malls and other sole businesses and retail operations front the four highways as well as the circle itself. There are two large cemeteries abutting Route 40/322 just west of the circle. DOT and its Project Manager Edward Pennell, P.E., have undertaken an exhaustive community involvement program in order to be sensitive to the concerns of all local residents, officials and the business community. One of the goals of the project since the outset has been to lessen right-of-way takings and business displacements. This minimization has been accomplished. The largest piece of new roadway construction, the connector road, will be situated in a privately owned, vacant area of land. As a result, the jughandle fits snuggly in the middle of the existing circle on state-owned right-of-way land. The project is anticipated to enhance traffic operations through this area while reducing conflict points resulting from merging and turning traffic. Installation of the traffic signals along with other proposed safety measures (proper elevation, wider lanes, raised pavement markings, improved skid-resistant pavement and improved signing) will restore the safety of the intersection to preferred levels. To date, DOT has replaced/reconstructed 30 of the traffic circles on the state highway system including other south Jersey rotaries known as the Racetrack, Ellisburg, Marlton and Medford circles. With the elimination of the Cardiff Circle, the remaining 37 circles in the state will be reduced by one by the year 2001 at an estimated construction cost of $4 million. |
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I HATE them: seem Euro-faggy to me. I'm sorry, I LIKE siting at the red light on a warm summer evening, watching the girls go by. They've been putting a few in around here too. Folks STOP when they get confused! That really helps the flow. Had an old famer in a grain truck lock up and I could see him mouth WTH! I DO like to go round and round, blowing the horn and flashing the lights until everytone is piled up and pinned to the outside doors.WHEEEEEEEEE! |
This is true. I have no problem navigating them myself. They are used on SC back roads near Charleston. The vast majority of drivers are idiots so it will never work. |
| They put a couple over by my MIL place a while back. It took about a week for the signs to be flattened and skid marks to show up right over the top of the roundabout. Then there's the drivers down here that have no idea of the proper right of way etiqutte when entering one... |
The County is putting one on a section of HWY where 5 roads cross and right in front of a very popular Bar that sits only 10' off of the road. That HWY in the summer time is the main route into town and the Beaches from the College town 50 Miles west of here. It's gonna be carnage I tell you!!!!!  S-28 |
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After getting mixed up in DC while the mexican protesters caused streets to be closed , getting lost, drivng a fullsize pu, little girl in carseat too long, wife trying to read a map, many traffic laws bent and or broken, I think they SUCK. Found the Holiday Inn, though |
Round-abouts are proof of the theory that movement is progress, even when that movement does not take you in the direction that you want to go. They put a huge one in not too far from me, you take your life in your own hands when you enter it. It is like something straight out of Bartertown, Two cars enter, One car leaves. Lane changing and merging are not a specialties in this area so I am sure they will work out great for the towing companies and body shops. |
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There are a few roundabouts, AKA traffic circles or rotaries back home. Simple concept, and when used at the right intersection, a good concept. Some work, some don't. Navigating one was actually part of the driver's license test when I took it. Traffic circles in Italy are another matter. The cars ON the traffic circle yield to incoming traffic. Giant clusterfuck. |
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Roundabouts/traffic circles suck. My town is starting to put them in subdivisions to prevent large streets from becoming drag strips. Problem is they never bothered to ask us at the fire department what we thought about them. Like the fact that our tower ladder and tanker have a hard time negotiating the circles because of the long wheelbase. They also didn't bother to think that if we enter he circle with the apparatus and someone pulls to the right and stops, we can't pass them and thus we are fucked. While we are at it....towns that put speed bumps/ speed humps in are stupid too. Always nice when you are going to a pin-in or a fire and you can only go 25mph so you don't tear up the rigs. |
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I call them a acronym here TADs Traffic Angering Devices They Suck! But hey someone got a Pay for Performance Bonus out of that Bright idea. some of the ones around here are in a area where Emergency equipment goes to train pure Genius when a Ladder truck needs to go through a TAD and takes out the Vegatation that Tax payers provided(as the Tillman tries to negotiate a already difficult task) runs over everything in it's tail dragging venture Than the ones that are like Hunks of sidewalk made into a puzzle,do you Honestly think that someone Late at Night can see this confusing Rat maze and especially in a Dimly lit(if any light) area? TADs,I don't care for them and with the mindset of Morons behind the wheel(yes theres a few and they are Breeders) at what point do they just Glide through a Red Light because there in a Roundabout intersection,,,,,it's already happening in Blissful Ignorance |
They are called rotarys around here,and they work great if everyone knows the rules. |
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Roundabouts have some big faults, even if people learn to use them. They cause a continuous, unbroken flow of traffic. So anyone on a side street or driveway that is trying to cross or turn into the street never gets a break in the traffic to do so. Also what are you going to do so pedestrians can cross? Again there is no break in the flow of cars so there is never a safe time to cross. These type of traffic controls could work on a limited access highway (think cloverleafs) but nowhere else. |
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My experiences from NJ and other parts of the country is that they are full of fail. People don't know whether to yield or jump right in them. People in them don't know that either. So people just stop or fly through and it causes all kinds of havoc. Also, putting stop signs in them or on the entrance screws them up too. |
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Roundsabouts work really well if people understand what the rules are and how to use them. Roundabouts are a traffic jam and disaster waiting to happen if people do not understand what the rules are and how to use them. They work really well in the U.K. Over here, they don't seem to work at all - primarily because (through no fault of their own), people do not really know how to use them, and the idiots that are building them do not really understand how to contruct them properly (and don't educate the drivers in how to use them properly). |