Posted on 10/22/2012 7:52:22 PM PDT by logic101.net
Stop the roundabouts
The vast majority of us hate roundabouts. Unfortunately, the state Department of Transportation loves them, as do their close friends, the road builders. Why the road builders love them is simple - they can charge us 10 times more to put them in.
Sadly, the DOT prefers to make its friends happy rather than the taxpayers. They now have taken to trying to hide their plans from us by referring to them as "broad, looping, free-flowing."
Often we will be told that they work so well in Europe. However, Europe's idea of a big truck is about the size of a U-haul van. Our big trucks have 53-foot trailers and need the entire roundabout to get around them, creating a dangerous situation.
(Excerpt) Read more at jsonline.com ...
I have started a facebook page as a clearing house for info on new roundabouts and how to kill them:
http://www.facebook.com/RoundaoubtResistance
At this point I just want to concentrate on WI. Once we get this figured out here I'll be happy to open it up nationally. Or if someone in another state wants to take up the cause there I'll be happy to share as much info as I can.
I hate them.
I hate stop lights so I love em.
I want more.
They are putting them in in Michigan. I hate them, they are confusing and dangerous. The newest one near me is going on an expressway overpass. What a disaster that will be! Why not just put in traffic lights?
I’m sorry, but your project is wrongheaded.
We have lots of roundabouts here in Kansas, and they work exactly as intended: traffic can flow smoothly through heavily traveled intersections without backing up as at traffic lights. In areas with heavy pedestrian traffic traffic lights are superior to the combination of roundabouts and pedestrian-right-of-way crossings, but in areas where it’s basically all vehicles, roundabouts are much better than traffic lights, any combination of stop-signs, or uncontrolled grade intersections.
Round-abouts keep traffic moving. I like them.
They are not dangerous. Fact is data shows they are safer then semaphore controlled intersections.
We call them circles.
“Look kids, Big Ben, Parliment!” - Clark W. Griswold European Vacation
“Look kids, Big Ben, Parliament!” - Clark W. Griswold European Vacation
We took a drive through the midwest this summer. Richfield MN has circles in the city, but they are miniscule and everybody has to slow way down to get around. It's not a horrible deal if they are used instead of bumps to slow cars, but it snarls traffic during the rush.
It was in western MN, heading toward SD, that I found the real puzzle. Driving down a 2 lane highway, we came to a traffic circle that required the semi-trailers to slow to about 15 mph in order to be sure they could get through without running their wheels up over one curb or the other. This was on a sunny summer day. I'd be interested to see how well that works in the ice and snow of winter.
When a traffic circle works for smooth flow, it has to be big enough to not give carnival ride type G forces when you go around it at traffic speeds. The traffic circle near me has a median of about 100x200 feet. You can go around this at 35 mph without a worry, and that was maybe the general traffic speed when the road was built.
But the tiny traffic circles I saw in MN have nothing to do with smooth flow of traffic, and should have no place on heavily traveled roads.
I hope Kansas did it better.
We had a terrible intersection where 2 major roads meet before crossing a bridge. It was always a 10-15 minute wait to get through the intersection. Now a 2 lane roundabout has replaced the old intersection and traffic moves at ~20mph but never has to stop. It’s a breeze getting through the area now.
I hope we get a lot more roundabouts here. The ones that people hate must be poorly designed.
Obviously they are not the solution to every situation. It is equally silly to say they are NEVER the best solution.
http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/7566296/
http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/07/25/2218567/crash-prone-roundabout-in-raleigh.html
They are great for people who know how to drive...
Unfortunately, there are too many idiots out there...
The story claims the circular was built for economic development. EVERY SINGLE thing local governments do now days they claim is for economic development.
My idiotic plan is an economic development tool. So if you oppose my plan then you oppose economic development.
You need a lot of skill to merge into a 12 lane freeway too. You can’t design roads for the least common denominator.
Lewie Anderson has a funny bit about driving with his mom.
Mom: “I think I’ll pop onto the freeway.”
Lewie: “Oh my god no.”
Lewie: “So she start down the on ramp. 10mph 20 30 40 50 40 30 10 stopped. People are honking. I rolled down the window -Comemon it’s my mom!!!”
You need a lot of skill to merge into a 12 lane freeway too. You can’t design roads for the least common denominator.
Lewie Anderson has a funny bit about driving with his mom.
Mom: “I think I’ll pop onto the freeway.”
Lewie: “Oh my god no.”
Lewie: “So she start down the on ramp. 10mph 20 30 40 50 40 30 10 stopped. People are honking. I rolled down the window -Comemon it’s my mom!!!”
I noted that the circles as built in NJ worked until traffic got too high. I also noted that the traffic circles in MN seemed to have been designed to imped traffic, rather than smooth it.
The deciding factor seems to be whether the State Highway Department can be trusted to build them in areas with little enough traffic and/or big enough loops to make them really free flowing. Maybe in Kansas they can. But in MN they can't, and WI is similarly progressive and anti-automobile.
You might still be in Kansas, but many of us aren't in such conservative states.
Yep, the collisions that do occur tend to be cars heading in the same direction - not a T-bone like when a light is run, hence much safer.
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