Show us your home city's Roundabouts

[diablo_del_bano 3]

We don't have any, but there is one in Jackson:

The road goes to the airport from I-20. There are no stoplights, and people are pretty good about merging on it.

[Bizzeh 0]

something i found on google..... i`m from the dreaded milton keynes, more roundabouts than you can shake a stick at, plus the whole place is on a grid system.  Interesting viewing on google earth!!  Well over 1000 of them in the nearish area.

One question for the americans among us, how on earth does a rotary work if you give way to the traffic coming onto it??  doesn`t that just all jam up?!?! (encountered such a thing on a family holiday to vermont, most confusing!!)

[RippleInSanity 0]

I don't understand the benefit of so many lanes. If you get on the inside lane it'd seem you'd have a hard time crossing over 4 lanes of traffic to get off the roundabout.

[oroen 0]

One question for the americans among us, how on earth does a rotary work if you give way to the traffic coming onto it??  doesn`t that just all jam up?!quote>

This is precisely why so many older-designed traffic circles are being removed, especially in New Jersey, which seemed to really enjoy building those things in the first half of the century. New Jersey circles are the worst. It's not that you necessarily yield to entering traffic; instead, there is typically a set through-traffic which has priority, and other traffic yields to it. One of the worst is this infamous one in Flemington:

US-202 always has right of way, regardless of whether it's entering or exiting. It probably made sense back when it was constructed, when traffic volumes were light (think of yielding onto a freeway or something), but today this does indeed cause massive backups.

There are other older-style circular intersections in the US as well, but typically in the northeast. The large traffic circles in cities like Washington, DC (Dupont Circle, Thomas Circle, e.g.), and New York (Columbus Circle, e.g.) are generally signalized (so no yield laws, you just follow the traffic lights), multi-lane intersections of numerous roads, similar to many large European traffic circles (Etoile and Nation in Paris, e.g.). New England, especially Massachusetts, uses the term "rotary," and these are similar in style and usage to many European roundabout, especially British ones; traffic yields to the circle.

The term "roundabout" as used in the US and Canada is officially called a "modern roundabout." While other nations typically use the word to describe all circular intersections, there is a very set definition of what a roundabout is in the US. Of course entering traffic always yields, but also speeds are much slower (usually 15 mph for single-lane), entering traffic is deflected into the circle via a splitter island to further reduce speeds. Single-lane roundabouts are good for about 20,000 vehicles per day, and two- and three-lane roundabouts can accomodate slightly higher speeds and traffic volumes. As for the large vehicles comment from earlier, roundabouts have a raised apron in the middle that generally allows even 18-wheelers to navigate them by rising up onto it.

Here are some pictures from a recent roadtrip to Maryland, which has been one of the leaders in roundabout construction in the US. Here's some approach signage:

Here's one near the planned community of Maple Lawn, which you can see in the background on the right. Note that you're driving pretty much straight into the central island and are then deflected near the crosswalk, which is typically one car-length from the yield point. This lowers speeds so people don't just fly through without regard for other traffic:

A closeup of roundabout geometrics. We have to be told in no uncertain terms to yield to the circle, since we're not really used to these newfangled things. They've really only become popular among state DOT's in the past five years or so, and there are still many states that have yet to install their first one. Also, note the apron around the center island for larger vehicles; you can actually see the tire tracks from vehicles going over it:

This one is on Maryland's Eastern Shore. If you squint, you can see a blue European-like arrow mounted on top of the black-and-yellow chevron on the central island. No idea what that business is about:

Holy crap, I have taken a lot of road pictures....

[buddybud 63]

one of the only true roundabouts in ottawa, though not very exciting

[jacqulina 162]

nice roundabouts

[croxis 150]

Yah, well ours has a pumpkin on her head during Halloween!

I couldn't find any pictures of the whole thing however   It is in the movie Mr Holland's Opus however!

[amerone 0]

original suburban roundabout in Champs sur Marne (77, France), in one of the newtowns of paris

[GingerBlokey 30]

Tada! My town is about 90k so they're not that big

[Fischbob 9]

My hometown of Saint John doesn't have any roundabouts.

Moncton has a rather large one though:

If you can't see this image, click here.

It's almost 400m in diameter. The road heading west carries traffic along Moncton's ring highway, Wheeler Bvld (Highway 15). The northeast road takes Highway 15 toward Moncton's airport and the Trans-Canada Highway. The south branch goes to the beginning of both Main Street and Champlain Street, which connect with the downtowns of Moncton and Dieppe respectively. The giant sea of parking lots and the like on the right is Champlain Place, New Brunswick's largest mall (on the bottom); and Crystal Palace, New Brunswick's largest (and only, I think) indoor amusement park (on the top, with that skylight in the roof).

There are about 117,000 people living within a 15km radius of Moncton.

[adpbns777 0]

I know of only two traffic circles on Long Island (there could be more, but I've never heard of them).  They are fairly large (in size) for the U.S. at least.  One is at Jones Beach State Park (the large parking lots in the north of the picture are for Jones Beach Ampitheater).  The other one is out east in Riverhead.  I remember my Driver's Ed teacher taking us out to the one in Jone's Beach and the girl driving had the car stopped inside the traffic circle for like 5 minutes before the driver's ed teacher asked what she was doing.  She was too scared to merge and didn't really understand the concept.

[p4p3rc1ip 2]

Big ones:

End-of-motorway ones:

This roundabout (at the bottom) was replaced with traffic signals, which are the latest craze in Britain. You can see the alignment of the old one:

Ones in the middle of motorways:

[p4p3rc1ip 2]

Big ones:

End-of-motorway ones:

This roundabout (at the bottom) was replaced with traffic signals, which are the latest craze in Britain. You can see the alignment of the old one:

Ones in the middle of motorways:

[p4p3rc1ip 2]

Big ones:

End-of-motorway ones:

This roundabout (at the bottom) was replaced with traffic signals, which are the latest craze in Britain. You can see the alignment of the old one:

Ones in the middle of motorways:

[Horus_Kol 118]

It used to be in the middle of: http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=51.505003,-0.026543&spn=0.003012,0.010815&t=k&om=1

confused the hell out of me the first time i drove towards it...

[tharris 1]

where i live (around london) there are a hell of a lot of rounderboust its rare not to have a big one in eyes veiw(same for busses-especcially my favourite busses that work like freight trains- bendi busses- also ricshaws and so on also i tend to see alot of systems where a rounderbout makes two bridges over a highway where its on terrain there are ramps on and of the highway and on either ends there are whatever dual carrigeway / singal lane either side road coming off the big rounderbout- but its not always like that sometimes sometimes it acts like that but with a cloverleaf design as you come of the motorway its like going up two way traffic road wich is asking for trouble cos it always looks like its the lane for using the inner part of the rounerbout

[paperboy15 4]

Horus_Kol

Huh? What is that!?! That is confusing the hell out of me!

[Dark_Jedi06 13]

Originally posted by: oroen

One question for the americans among us, how on earth does a rotary work if you give way to the traffic coming onto it??  doesn`t that just all jam up?!quote>

This is precisely why so many older-designed traffic circles are being removed, especially in New Jersey, which seemed to really enjoy building those things in the first half of the century. New Jersey circles are the worst. It's not that you necessarily yield to entering traffic; instead, there is typically a set through-traffic which has priority, and other traffic yields to it. One of the worst is this infamous one in Flemington:

quote>

Dude, I drive through that circle pretty much everyday! It's a pain getting out of Dunkin' Donuts and onto the circle during the morning rush. I'm so glad to see my hometown being mentioned as infamous.

[p4p3rc1ip 2]

Huh? What is that!?! That is confusing the hell out of me!quote>

The Traffic Light Sculpture? There's two in London IIRC.

[marryescher 0]

Yikes! I thought that one, The Majic Roundabout was scary. Just imagine putting the traffic light sculpture in it, and put it in the U.S.. There would be a 50 car pile up.

[p4p3rc1ip 2]

I remember seeing this sign and thinking "what the hell do I do here?":

Here's what the actual junction looks like:

...and put it in the U.S...quote>

LOL!

[callagrafx 3]

we went there in April...see page 1

[p4p3rc1ip 2]

Oh OK then, pretend mine's the one in Hemel

[Horus_Kol 118]

M4 Junction 11

This is a popular style of motorway/highway junction in the UK... this one is traffic light controlled...

[p4p3rc1ip 2]

Yeah, they're at over half our junctions. Shame they'd be too hard to add to SC4.

[Horus_Kol 118]

might give it a go when i get RH... darn that pesky postal service...

[1dera3 29]

This is the best my area has to show:

Small wonders. Thery're two of about ten in the neighborhood. (For some reason, my town is against four-way stop signs... But what do you want from them? They have 3 traffic lights in a row that are all pedestrian crossings and go 30 ft from busy intersections without lights. )

[dsl4c 0]

Here's a Google Earth Shot of a Roundabout in Portland, Oregon at NE 39th AVE and NE Glisan St.

[Royal 5]

In my hometown in Germany are 7 roundabouts.

Here are some pics from Google Map :

http://maps.google.de/maps?f=q&hl=de&q=waldniel&ie=UTF8&z=18&ll=51.21267,6.264036&spn=0.002409,0.006781&t=k&om=1

http://maps.google.de/maps?f=q&hl=de&q=waldniel&ie=UTF8&om=1&z=18&ll=51.211148,6.268494&spn=0.00241,0.006781&t=k&iwloc=A (in this picture a junction with traffic lights, but now its a roundabout)

http://maps.google.de/maps?f=q&hl=de&q=waldniel&ie=UTF8&om=1&z=18&ll=51.214277,6.27336&spn=0.002409,0.006781&t=k&iwloc=A

http://maps.google.de/maps?f=q&hl=de&q=waldniel&ie=UTF8&om=1&z=18&ll=51.215812,6.270484&spn=0.002409,0.006781&t=k&iwloc=A

Google Maps isn't up to date, so there are not the newest roundabouts.

Greetz,

royal

[DENJCA29 0]

Wow, I'm surprised that more of you don't know the difference between modern roundabouts and old school traffic circles. As oroen mentioned before, in America there is a distinct naming difference and even in the rest of the world, call it whatever you want, there is a difference between the two. The east coast has many older traffic circles that were dangerous and needed traffic lights to make them safe, but modern roundabouts don't need traffic lights, traffic lights are dangerous. Here is an example of a modern roundabout:

The one that was pictured about 3 times above, where most recently dark jedi commented about it being hard to get out of Dunkin' Donuts, is NOT a modern roundabout. Those are dangerous and have low traffic volumes in camparison to modern roundabouts. Milton Kenyes in England is known for having many modern roundabouts and although (as someone mentioned before) you never get above 30mph, you get through that city a heck of a lot faster than you do in any place in Orange County, California. Here, we have a big time hurry up and wait system. Roads through towns are 50mph and if you don't race like crazy to make the light, you need to jam on your breaks and wait for about 1-2 minutes before you can move again. Your average speed driving around here is definitely less than 30, probably less than 20. And they are much prettier, here's an example of a before and after pic, the modern roundabout intersection in this case actually allows MORE traffic volume and it's much safer.

Ashville, NC