Roundabouts

[MtnMan]

Then there are the "diverging diamond interchanges" that are showing up across the country, and there is still probably less than 100 in the nation.
https://www.divergingdiamond.com/

The one closest to me is at the intersection of I26 and Airport Rd. Lots of traffic for the area is growing insanely, plus the airport is within a quarter mile, and why I find myself there to get to and from Sierra Nevada Brewery.

The backups on Airport Rd and down the exit ramps onto the interstate that required a left turn to get on or off the interstate were a disaster. 4 to 5 light cycles to turn were common. Now I don't think I have failed to get through on a single light cycle.

Still the local news channel typically will run a story every couple of months with people complaining about how they hate it, how it is confusing, and other whining. Well put down you damn phone, pay attention, follow the signs, cause it works. I used to dread and even avoid this intersection because of the gridlock, but now it's a breeze to get through, as long as you are watchful for the clueless that can't stay in their lane.

 

[preCRT]

Not quite.

http://www.virginiadot.org/info/res...odern_Roundabouts_and_Old_Traffic_Circles.pdf

Going to Hell in a hand basket, just like pathetic millennials who can't read analog clocks.
http://www.bostonmagazine.com/news/2017/10/09/massachusetts-eliminating-rotaries/
http://www.fox25boston.com/news/are...-thing-of-the-past-in-massachusetts/634525806

 

[JujuFish]

To avoid it I always take Ximeno (pronounced him-en-o, but locals always say egg-zim-ino).

I hate to break this to you, but if locals call it egg-zim-ino, then that's what it is, for that particular instance of the name.

 

[bradly1101]

Seems like you don't realize that accidents also happen at 4-way intersections. Most accidents happen at intersections, in fact (regardless of type).

I had no idea.

If anything, a simple roundabout minimizes the chance of a head-on collision in an intersection.

All intersections should then be replaced as a matter of civic responsibility.

Edit: "A 2000 study conducted by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety found converting intersections into roundabouts decreased collision-related fatalities by as much as 90 percent. The data also showed the change resulted in a 39 percent decline in crashes overall."

Edit2: I don't think roundabouts are possible on high traffic boulevards like the one in the OP.

 

[Ichinisan]

Then there are the "diverging diamond interchanges" that are showing up across the country, and there is still probably less than 100 in the nation.
https://www.divergingdiamond.com/

The one closest to me is at the intersection of I26 and Airport Rd. Lots of traffic for the area is growing insanely, plus the airport is within a quarter mile, and why I find myself there to get to and from Sierra Nevada Brewery.

The backups on Airport Rd and down the exit ramps onto the interstate that required a left turn to get on or off the interstate were a disaster. 4 to 5 light cycles to turn were common. Now I don't think I have failed to get through on a single light cycle.

Still the local news channel typically will run a story every couple of months with people complaining about how they hate it, how it is confusing, and other whining. Well put down you damn phone, pay attention, follow the signs, cause it works. I used to dread and even avoid this intersection because of the gridlock, but now it's a breeze to get through, as long as you are watchful for the clueless that can't stay in their lane.

That graphic at the top is confusing as hell. Why are there red arrows and blue arrows colliding with each other?

 

[brianmanahan]

australia uses roundabouts instead of 4-way stops, and i loved it

my area in the US has converted a couple 4-ways to roundabouts lately and is planning to convert another one next year. i hope it continues.

 

[Thebobo]

Sorry couldn't resist.

 

[bradly1101]

I hate to break this to you, but if locals call it egg-zim-ino, then that's what it is, for that particular instance of the name.

Yes, the white man reinvents a lot. The restaurant "Egg Heaven" on Ximeno would make less sense otherwise. I lived on Orizaba street here (a dormant, sacred volcano in Mexico) once, but thankfully that moniker is only slightly reinterpreted with a 'z' sound instead of the traditional 's.' I originally thought that the city planners had taken it from a mess of letters tossed out from a handful of Scrabble tiles.

 

[bradly1101]

as long as you are watchful for the clueless that can't stay in their lane.

Our driverless future awaits.

 

[JujuFish]

Yes, the white man reinvents a lot.

Ah, yes, "the white man". Glad to see we're not racist here.

 

[bradly1101]

Ah, yes, "the white man". Glad to see we're not racist here.

I hate my race? I guess sometimes I don't get the hubris.

 

[JujuFish]

I hate my race? I guess sometimes I don't get the hubris.

You think that statement is not racist? Language mispronunciations happen all the time. It's how language evolves. It happens particularly so when you introduce someone to a language they are not fluent in. It has nothing to do with race, yet you brought race into the picture. So yes, that is quite definitely racist.

 

[bradly1101]

You think that statement is not racist? Language mispronunciations happen all the time. It's how language evolves. It happens particularly so when you introduce someone to a language they are not fluent in.

I had no idea.

It has nothing to do with race, yet you brought race into the picture. So yes, that is quite definitely racist.

I was pointing out that only the pronunciationally uninformed and uncaring folks that populated this former Spanish place (through a brutal war) were white, and indeed using a racial term implies racism.

Why do we correctly say Bate-hov-en instead of Beet-hov-en? Or Mo-ts-art instead of Mo-zz-art?

 

[JujuFish]

Why do we correctly say Bate-hov-en instead of Beet-hov-en?

Why do we incorrectly pronounce nearly every Latin saying there is? And it's funny you mention Beethoven because I bet a majority of Americans mispronounce his first name. So...your point?

 

[bradly1101]

Why do we incorrectly pronounce nearly every Latin saying there is? And it's funny you mention Beethoven because I bet a majority of Americans mispronounce his first name. So...your point?

Sorry, there is none, never was, just an observation.

Roundabouts are interesting solutions, and I can't wait to see our future of all sorts of inventions to solve traffic problems, I doubt I'll be around though, I'm making room for bolder ideas.

 

[MtnMan]

That graphic at the top is confusing as hell. Why are there red arrows and blue arrows colliding with each other?

Where the red and blue arrows meet is the top of the on ramp to the interstate, no different than almost every on ramp entrance in the country.

 

[bradly1101]

Going to Hell in a hand basket, just like pathetic millennials who can't read analog clocks.
http://www.bostonmagazine.com/news/2017/10/09/massachusetts-eliminating-rotaries/
http://www.fox25boston.com/news/are...-thing-of-the-past-in-massachusetts/634525806

I guess my thread title is inaccurate, I should have said "Rotaries." Interesting stuff.

 

[Fenixgoon]

Mythbusters did a segment on roundabouts vs 4-way stops and concluded that roundabouts were better for moving more cars through the intersection safely in less time. And traffic safety studies show that the crashes in roundabouts are less severe than somebody blowing through a stop sign because the crashes are more of a glancing blow. So properly done, they probably are better. But familiarity is a big help. We don't see traffic circles much, if at all, in a lot of the country and like anything else you get better with practice. If drivers only hit one a year then yeah, it's going to look like a clusterfuck. But that's more on user error and less on the road itself.

the only disadvantage that i can think of for a traffic circle is that if one direction develops a majority of the flow of cars, it becomes impossible for other directions to proceed because they have to yield to traffic in the circle. so a 4-way stop is less efficient (fewer cars per unit time) but can be more "fair" to the other directions of traffic in certain situations.

 

[bradly1101]

That graphic at the top is confusing as hell. Why are there red arrows and blue arrows colliding with each other?

Of course it's patented.

 

[bradly1101]

Sorry couldn't resist.

Great song. It is the thread background music for me now.

 

[bradly1101]

australia uses roundabouts instead of 4-way stops, and i loved it

my area in the US has converted a couple 4-ways to roundabouts lately and is planning to convert another one next year. i hope it continues.

They seem to work better for lower traffic situations. My inaccurately titled OP was more about the higher speed, difficult to navigate, multi-(unmarked) lane "Rotary," locally called a Traffic Circle.

 

[bradly1101]

Massachusetts is converting their rotaries to roundabouts. It's hard to imagine in high-traffic, multi-lane situations, but I guess it's working (above).

 

[urvile]

australia uses roundabouts instead of 4-way stops, and i loved it

my area in the US has converted a couple 4-ways to roundabouts lately and is planning to convert another one next year. i hope it continues.

Yes we do. One of the advantages of roundabouts is they force drivers to slow down. Also you don't have to maintain them. One of the things people are taught when they learn to drive is how to navigate them correctly.

 

[bradly1101]

Yes we do. One of the advantages of roundabouts is they force drivers to slow down. Also you don't have to maintain them. One of the things people are taught when they learn to drive is how to navigate them correctly.

And they work when the power goes out.

 

[bradly1101]

Sorry about the thread confusion. I now know that roundabouts are not the same thing as rotaries or traffic circles at least in the U.S. I've seen foreign news reports calling a big one in Europe (London I think) a roundabout, we'd call it by those other names here. The adventures on the road ahead are mostly unavoidable.