I live in the US now, but originally from Ireland. My least favourite part of US road infrastructure is the 4 way stop. They are just not good compared to a roundabout. Half the time the only way you can tell it’s an all way stop is by looking for the back of the stop signs on the perpendicular road.
With a roundabout, you only have to look in one direction, and if it’s clear, you don’t even have to stop.
I fail to see how this helps over more traditional designs. Not to mention tight roundabouts always have horrible curbs that trucks have to smash into to try and jump over to make the turns, and they are never gentle bumps, they are always tire and curb damaging trash, especially for heavy loads which are primarily the vehicles that need to jump the curbs.
All the roundabouts around me I wish they would just get rid of, I can navigate them just fine, but they are way too small, over congested, and dangerous because the 5 seconds you have to read the signs as you approach to know whats going on is too much for anyone non-local which makes them unpredictable and nervous drivers.
Apparently I'm sticking my neck out here, but it really doesn't seem that hard. Overhead, I can intuit the path I would take, and if I imagine it first-person, it seems even more obvious.
It's frustrating riding with certain other American drivers in other countries. I've met numerous folks now that seem upset that they have to actually pay attention to their driving and the traffic. Meanwhile I'm horrified that they're apparently just ... completely on auto-pilot in the US.
I'm ok with most roundabouts. However, there is one near me that everyone complains about. There are 3 of them right in a row, but even that isn't the main issue. There is one with 5 places to turn out, which is relatively small and confusing. If you get it wrong it dumps you out on the expressway and it's an almost 9 mile trip to get back to where you originally wanted to go with no other option than to drive the 9 miles. I have yet to talk to a single person who hasn't made this mistake at least once. A little "oops" road to connect the expressway on-ramp with the road people intended to take would go along way and save hundreds, if not thousands, of wasted miles each year. Many people avoid the area completely because they don't want to deal with it.
No, you're definitely not the only one who likes them. Some folks complain about them when they first go in, but they tend to figure it out.
WSDOT has been encouraging them for a few years now, and my town has several new roundabouts as a result -- and lots of other cities across the state are using them. They've made navigating those intersections way easier, reduced traffic "waiting times", and generally improved safety versus a lighted intersection. I'm glad they're continuing to find ways to make them work.
It seemed when I was growing up in NJ, the state DOT was taking out the giant roundabouts that they were famous for, and now in Washington, they're having a huge resurgence.
I'll take a traditional cross with traffic signals or stop signs on all sides, it's simple and effective.
Roundabouts are a waste of space, disrupt traffic, and take more brain processing than I care to afford if I can help it. This particular example isn't even round.
I vastly prefer roundabouts, with a single exception. If traffic is heavy and dominated by the same entry and exit points, it can be hard to get a turn if you're coming from the side. Our nearest roundabout is this way.
I once saw a roundabout with stop signs. I assume it was an attempt to address this situation.
In the UK, you get roundabouts with traffic lights at the entrances, sometimes only operational at peak times, and off most of the time. Works well
How is a roundabout more disruptive than a 4 way junction with stop signs.
In terms of brain processing, you get used to it and it becomes second nature. It is a skill.
Agreed, with the condition that there is only one lane.
Ones with multiple layers stress me out, there are more ways to screw up and more demands on your defensive-driving attention.
We have back-to-back round-a-bouts in Chattanooga (153 / Lake Resort / Access) which have two loops (concentric inner & outer round-a-bouts)... that can be quite confusing for anybody unfamiliar with the local pattern.
Keep in mind that a lot of these traffic devices look way more confusing from above than they actually look while on the ground. From above you can see the whole device at once, and trying to trace a path through it can feel overwhelming, but when you're actually going through it your view is usually restricted in ways that limit your perceived choices at any point in time.
I'd say just the opposite. Indeed, in the UK it's normal for the signs leading up to a roundabout to include an overhead map view, since that's often the easiest way to understand what you need to do to get where you want to.
Never underestimate how confused people can get with the unfamiliar. I live a couple of blocks from a fairly standard roundabout and see people trying to exit the roundabout through an entrance to the roundabout or try to go clockwise in the roundabout (this is in Canada) several times a year. This happens even though the design of the roundabout, the road markings, and the signage make it perfectly clear how you are supposed to go through it.
Then there is the less obvious stuff that happens multiple times per hour, like entering in the wrong lane given the desired exit (even though it is marked), vehicles inside the roundabout yielding to vehicles entering the roundabout (even though there is signage), or vehicles entering the roundabout failing to yield to vehicles inside of it (same signage).
As for non-standard roundabouts, those can confuse just about anyone since people often don't realize that it is a roundabout.
Australian who lived in Washington state for 4.5 years. Very happy to see those kind of changes. Much better and safer than 4-way stop intersections and I hope American drivers will figure out eventually how to use them
Aside from one old lady that I saw doing laps a few years ago after our nearby roundabout first opened, it seems like most people figure it out pretty quickly. But they're too comfortable with it, and most people blast through without even hitting the brakes. That brings its own problems.
I'm glad they're excited, but I hope I never encounter this.
It may be unusual there, but in the UK we have loads. Some are smaller than this: the minimum roundabout is just a paint circle. They aren't a problem
Most people here actually prefer roundabouts to traffic lights because you keep moving (although this is partly selection bias- traffic lights are deployed at junctions where a roundabout would fail to evenly arbitrate the different flows )
You may feel less enthusiastic about it once you watch the linked video. I wouldn’t exactly call it a roundabout. That’s only what’s at the center of it.
Ok fair enough, that extra bit does make it slightly more complicated. Having said that though, I would not be fazed by this, and I don't think many UK drivers would be - because we already deal with many that have more parts. When I was learning to drive, I found a particular triple roundabout quite painful but no longer have any difficulty.
There are two skills you need to pick up to deal with any roundabout system. The first is judgement of how distant other vehicles need to be before you can enter. As a learner I used to irritate the drivers behind me by being far too cautious; on a busy roundabout you can't expect an enormous gap, so you need to know what length of gap the other drivers will expect you to take advantage of. This you can only learn from experience.
The other is to plan your route, because you need to choose your entry lane based on where you want to go. These days your navigation app will probably tell you the best entry lane.
I would recommend some yield signs; the dashed line on the ground is easy to miss.
Seattle Department of Transportation and Washington State DOT have honestly gotten way too creative. It's like every city, every locale, and sometimes every street has a new collection of obstacles and rules to circumnavigate.
Roundabouts are great, but they should probably be round. In this case, it seems that it'd be easy to navigate if the two roads were brought into a single, simple roundabout intersection like you see at any other location.
The article explains why they made the decision not to do a traditional dog-bone interchange with two circular roundabouts. Namely, there were right of way limitations and a need to incorporate heavy farm trucks making a left turn. So, they ended up with basically 1.5 roundabouts which represents a simplification over the dog bone.
It is intentional. The idea is to force drivers to reduce speed, and the mechanism is because it isn't familiar to the drivers. The claim is it forces them to be thoughtful.
Whether or not it works or is a good idea is not something on which I'm opining.
US here. There seems to be an obsession at the moment with adding roundabouts in my area. They don’t always fit where they are put. Some of them have a stop sign in the roundabout?
When asked why, the answer is reducing “points of conflict”, which is a static variable. There aren’t actually studies being done before or after to see if makes the flow of traffic better.
They are also adding them in walkable areas with the express intent of “traffic never stopping” which doesn’t go well with pedestrians crossing the street.
I think we can find better ways to spend money… including the salaries of the people dreaming up bizarre applications for these things.
> Some of them have a stop sign in the roundabout?
Traffic gets much heavier and we'll need stop signs at our roundabout near my house. During rush hour it has predominantly one flow of traffic and nobody slows down below 30-35 mph so getting into the roundabout can be difficult. A stop sign would defeat some of the point of a roundabout but it may become necessary to enforce safety.
In the UK a lot of roundabouts have traffic signals for this purpose that only turn on during busy times.
We are getting similar one here [0]. Whenever you get there you try to get out asap. It’s a nightmare.
At first glance I’m confused how to navigate it- a flowchart would be nice. Or just a video of traffic using it.
There’s a link in the article but here it is with a time code for the start of the simulation.
I think this is what it’s supposed to be like
About half way in to the article is a link to a youtube video.
The article has a video