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They are popping up all over our cities and towns now. I haven't noticed a difference really, other than getting to drive around in a semi-circle. Why do engineering teams love them so much?
There are a couple of new roundabouts (within the last 5-10 years) near me. I live in a seasonal tourist area (summer/winter).
The roundabouts handle traffic without requiring a complete stop in most cases when traffic is light.
Other than handling traffic without the need for well-timed traffic lights, I don't know why they are suddenly in fashion.
Back when I was a kid they worked hard on eliminating traffic circles and replacing them with synchronized traffic lights. I guess synchronized traffic signals were a new toy for road engineers back then.
There are a couple of new roundabouts (within the last 5-10 years) near me. I live in a seasonal tourist area (summer/winter).
The roundabouts handle traffic without requiring a complete stop in most cases when traffic is light.
Other than handling traffic without the need for well-timed traffic lights, I don't know why they are suddenly in fashion.
Back when I was a kid they worked hard on eliminating traffic circles and replacing them with synchronized traffic lights. I guess synchronized traffic signals were a new toy for road engineers back then.
It's just like every field, the more data you have, the more you're able to refine what uses are best for what situations (do you have a lot of space or are constrained, what's the demand for cars/pedestrians/cyclists, what is best from a safety perspective, what is the budget of the project etc....)
There are a couple of new roundabouts (within the last 5-10 years) near me. I live in a seasonal tourist area (summer/winter).
The roundabouts handle traffic without requiring a complete stop in most cases when traffic is light.
Other than handling traffic without the need for well-timed traffic lights, I don't know why they are suddenly in fashion.
Back when I was a kid they worked hard on eliminating traffic circles and replacing them with synchronized traffic lights. I guess synchronized traffic signals were a new toy for road engineers back then.
The main issue with synchronized traffic lights is they favor traffic flow along one flow direction at the expense of other flow directions. This can be useful in certain applications, such as if there's a predictable pattern of higher traffic volume toward a central employment node in the morning and away from the node in the evening. Roundabouts have roughly the opposite effect in that they give equal priority to each axis entering the intersection, assuming each axis is the same number of lanes.
They are popping up all over our cities and towns now. I haven't noticed a difference really, other than getting to drive around in a semi-circle. Why do engineering teams love them so much?
My grievances with roundabouts are:
- They work until they don't. During high congestion periods, the benefits of this design begin to break down, as the glorieta is not a traffic CONTROL device, because it NEVER gives right of way to incoming traffic. Never. They sit at a YIELD sign and assume ALL risk when entering the intersection.
- The double lane roundabouts are a hair better, but not by much. The outer "lane", or lane segments to be specific, gives a protected pathway for traffic making an immediate right (in countries where traffic keeps right) but does nothing for drivers who are taking the 2nd turn, 3rd turn, etc.
The rotaries with two lanes in the circle also add lots of lane-changing accidents to the mix, while making traffic engineers think they've somehow magically increased the capacity of the intersection.
Give me a proper overpass with service roads and stop lights, a proper overpass with cloverleaf, or a proper intersection with stop lights, left turn lanes, right turn only lanes, etc., any time. You put a serious load on a rotary and it just balls up till no one's moving in any direction. See, again, West Concord, Mass.
Thought I was the only one who liked them. I like that I can keep going - not have to stop and sit there for a few minutes at a traffic light. The one in Hyannis is the best! 3 lanes wide with no lines and 5 exits. Love watching tourists who have no idea what to do in that one.
Don't worry, when you get used to them, and can judge the speed of cars coming round, you don't need to stop often. They work great, just as long as some twit doesn't get the idea of adding traffic lights too.
Thought I was the only one who liked them. I like that I can keep going - not have to stop and sit there for a few minutes at a traffic light. The one in Hyannis is the best! 3 lanes wide with no lines and 5 exits. Love watching tourists who have no idea what to do in that one.
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