Topic: Rise of Roundabouts in the USA

[sailor723]

They used a roundabout where the traffic from the new border crossing in Calais/St Stephen connects with the main road south into Maine.(Would have otherwise been a "T" intersection).... Seems to work really well the 2 or 3 times I've been through it.

[triuman]

We have one roundabout in a more remote part of town, with another one coming online. Can't wait to see the activities at these areas. I'm used to them after living in England for some time, I went to our original roundabout in town a month or two back and just went around and around like a nut case....

[davidy]

I have a couple of issues with the local drivers:

1. A good number don't know how to MERGE....they stop and wait for an opening and backing the traffic in the meantime.   
2. Roundabouts are still new. Only one in town at one end of a two lane bridge. Glad that it's only a one lane roundabout....expandable to two lanes in the future. Originally, it was going to be two laner right away. My boss and I were joking that we were going to get a couple of lawn chairs and get a nice viewing location of the two lane roundabout....and all the "accidents" that were going to happen opening day.

Dave

[tenpenny]

In Charlottetown PEI, they have some 2 lane roundabouts on the bypass around the 'city'; they're now trying to teach drivers that you should never drive in the lane beside a tractor trailer, and teaching truck drivers that they should straddle the two lanes.

That really simplifies things, doesn't it?  I can see the value in roundabouts, and have no issue with them, but when you have to teach people to do things that would normally be illegal (straddling the lanes), that suggests a design problem.

[dkaz]

You mean the Lynden-Bellingham highway? I think I generally like them but the entrance into the roundabouts are weird... really tight.

Edmonton has numerous two lane roundabouts around the city, they generally work, but my first time in one I had no idea what I was doing. lol, but I quickly read up on them after the first time and learned you're supposed to yield to all traffic into the circle, enter the circle at the same time as the car next to you, and then if you're in the right you can go straight or turn right, if you go left you can go straight or turn left, there is one roundabout around Bonnie Doon which has 5 points of exit though my dad used to drive through a lot but I haven't really, Edmontonians are pretty seasoned with these things though.

[Shnak]

In Charlottetown PEI, they have some 2 lane roundabouts on the bypass around the 'city'; they're now trying to teach drivers that you should never drive in the lane beside a tractor trailer, and teaching truck drivers that they should straddle the two lanes.

That really simplifies things, doesn't it?  I can see the value in roundabouts, and have no issue with them, but when you have to teach people to do things that would normally be illegal (straddling the lanes), that suggests a design problem.

How is that any different than a tractor trailer making a wide right turn? Does that mean that roads not being wide enough for a tractor trailer to make a right turn is a 'design problem'?

[CanuckS2K]

I absolutely LOVE roundabouts.  To me, they simply make sense and keep the traffic moving.  I wish we had more of them here and WAY less traffic lights.  It's one of the reasons why I enjoy driving in Europe so much.

[Ex-airbalancer]

Since I do not come across main roundabouts, my main concern is  about people across the street
Does it get back up once someone is crossing?

[Shnak]

Since I do not come across main roundabouts, my main concern is  about people across the street
Does it get back up once someone is crossing?

Well around here, they put the pedestrian crossings just outside of the roundabouts meaning that most of the times, some cars are still able to make their way through them. But sure, sometimes, the whole thing is blocked for like 45 seconds. Good thing it doesn't happen often... I do 4 roundabounds in succession every morning and I rarely have to do more than slow down to 30-40kph. There's a lot more traffic in the afternoon and there's usually a line-up of like 30-40 cars in each lane to enter the main roundabout, but I'm usually through it within 3-4 minutes. A lot quicker than a set of lights would be.

[wing]

Shnak, I don't think those four roundabouts are roundabouts.  I only did them twice (once in each direction) it was 8pm it was more like a race track as cars were zooming through at 80km easily haha

[Shnak]

Shnak, I don't think those four roundabouts are roundabouts.  I only did them twice (once in each direction) it was 8pm it was more like a race track as cars were zooming through at 80km easily haha

If those aren't roundabouts, what are they?

And the only way you'll be doing 80kph in them is if you're not staying in your lane. There's a reason why you're supposed to slow down to 25kph in them.

[wing]

They are racetracks is what I was saying haha.

People were not in their lane, they would enter on the far right, zip through the middle and exit on the right, bing bang boom, flat out!  I was like WTF just happened here?

[Shnak]

They are racetracks is what I was saying haha.

People were not in their lane, they would enter on the far right, zip through the middle and exit on the right, bing bang boom, flat out!  I was like WTF just happened here?

Yeah okay, I didn't understand what you meant at first.

Trust me, they're not racetracks when there's traffic... But even when there's a ton of traffic, they're still a lot better than traditional traffic lights.

[The Mighty Duck]

That really simplifies things, doesn't it?  I can see the value in roundabouts, and have no issue with them, but when you have to teach people to do things that would normally be illegal (straddling the lanes), that suggests a design problem.

Hardly. Roads are designed with cars in mind, not tractor trailers. Designing every roadway in Canada to meet the needs of tractor trailers, which represent only a small fraction of overall traffic on a lot of roads, would be insane.

[tenpenny]

That really simplifies things, doesn't it?  I can see the value in roundabouts, and have no issue with them, but when you have to teach people to do things that would normally be illegal (straddling the lanes), that suggests a design problem.

Hardly. Roads are designed with cars in mind, not tractor trailers. Designing every roadway in Canada to meet the needs of tractor trailers, which represent only a small fraction of overall traffic on a lot of roads, would be insane.

Roads are designed with cars in mind, not tractor trailers?  Roads that are designed as truck routes are not designed for trucks? Is that what you're saying?

[Schmengie]

That really simplifies things, doesn't it?  I can see the value in roundabouts, and have no issue with them, but when you have to teach people to do things that would normally be illegal (straddling the lanes), that suggests a design problem.

Hardly. Roads are designed with cars in mind, not tractor trailers. Designing every roadway in Canada to meet the needs of tractor trailers, which represent only a small fraction of overall traffic on a lot of roads, would be insane.

 A moving van can't make it through one of our little mini-roundabouts without going up the curb on one side or the other. Both of them are on major thru-roads in this town and are often impossible to avoid for delivery vehicles big or small.

Road planning? WTF is that?? 

Here's the newest one, on Pleasant Valley Rd. just a few blocks from my place. (Courtesy of Google Earth Streetview). It actually looks bigger in this pic than it really is. 

[The Mighty Duck]

Roads are designed with cars in mind, not tractor trailers?  Roads that are designed as truck routes are not designed for trucks? Is that what you're saying?

If that's what I was saying, don't you think I would have said that.

Roads are designed primarily for cars. Trucks take wide right turns, but we don't design every intersection to be overlarge to accomodate them. You design the road to handle the needs of the average vehicle. That's why we have truck routes. Because not all roads are designed to handle truck traffic.

[Sir Osis of Liver]

I loved the rotary between Moncton and Dieppe. When it first opened a long time ago, late at night we used to have fun.

[HeliDriver]

A moving van can't make it through one of our little mini-roundabouts without going up the curb on one side or the other. Both of them are on major thru-roads in this town and are often impossible to avoid for delivery vehicles big or small.

Road planning? WTF is that?? 

Here's the newest one, on Pleasant Valley Rd. just a few blocks from my place. (Courtesy of Google Earth Streetview). It actually looks bigger in this pic than it really is. 

It looks to me like that inside curb is designed to be high enough to discourage cars from cutting the corner, yet low enough for a tractor trailer or large van to put a wheel over without issue. I know that's how they designed the one here.

Any idea what the planners have in mind for the middle of that roundabout? The geniuses around here decided to build ours up with a bunch of huge rocks and some trees - very pretty, but now you can't see (and plan ahead for) oncoming traffic entering the roundabout.

[Schmengie]

A moving van can't make it through one of our little mini-roundabouts without going up the curb on one side or the other. Both of them are on major thru-roads in this town and are often impossible to avoid for delivery vehicles big or small.

Road planning? WTF is that?? 

Here's the newest one, on Pleasant Valley Rd. just a few blocks from my place. (Courtesy of Google Earth Streetview). It actually looks bigger in this pic than it really is. 

It looks to me like that inside curb is designed to be high enough to discourage cars from cutting the corner, yet low enough for a tractor trailer or large van to put a wheel over without issue. I know that's how they designed the one here.

Any idea what the planners have in mind for the middle of that roundabout? The geniuses around here decided to build ours up with a bunch of huge rocks and some trees - very pretty, but now you can't see (and plan ahead for) oncoming traffic entering the roundabout.

That's what I thought, but you can't even see the inside curb if there's a couple of inches of snow on the ground. I went through that roundabout today and that inside curb might just as well not have been there, so what's the point?

This is our little downtown roundabout, with only three entries/exits. They put a memorial cairn or something in the middle along with some shrubs. It's been very effective against short-cut-takers. (The cairn, not the shrubs )