Roundabout Rant..

[Jim Frye]

Our county has been on a roundabout build craze for the last three years or so. It seems like every intersection that doesn't have a traffic signal is being converted to a roundabout. Now I don't oppose them and do find them easy to navigate, but I've seen intersections with little traffic and four way stops and no accidents converted. I'v seen T intersections converted. Some roundabouts are multi-lane. Not all of them are in high traffic areas. Some are urban, some are so far out in the country, the only traffic are tractors. The other gripe is there is no standard for the center circle. Some have no vegetation, some have vegetation so tall you can't see across the roundabout. Snow plow drivers must hate them. Anyone else see a roundabout craze in your area?

[LCHIEN]

One thing about roundabouts is that they are very energy efficient and nearly maintenance-free and super reliable unlike a traffic light.
They are also very efficient when traffic is low... don't you hate it when there is no one around at an intersection and you wait 3 minutes to get a green light to go straight thru?
If there is adequate room (urban, suburban rural areas the don't cost much to build, putting them in downtown areas is hard without chipping away existing buildings,

Surprisingly in Europe they flow very freely. when everyone knows how to drive in them.

[Condoman44]

The DOT in CT attempted to put 6 new ones in Norwich, CT. The public shot it down. Still waiting on plan B.

[twistsol]

They are popping up everywhere here in Minnesota. I love them driving because they move far more traffic through than a light or 4-way stop for light to moderately heavy traffic. Of course there are still a number of people who can't quite figure them out even though we had them for a decade or more now. I often see people who will stop fully before entering or stop in the roundabout to let someone else enter. In MN, they tend to fill the center with landscaping so you can't see across it and are forced to slow down too much which defeats the purpose.

I don't know if this is statistically accurate or just anecdotal, but it seems we've had more bicycle deaths at roundabouts because people only pay attention entering and then just drive once they're in it. I know I've been cut off a few times and nearly hit in the rural ones.

[nicer20]

I personally like roundabouts for the efficiency reasons mentioned above. But in our city, a few years ago they started building them in the newer sections of the city. And for God Only Knows reasons they also have stop signs at those intersections. Go figure ....

[leehljp]

I was in a suburb of Little Rock AR last month and had to go to a shop that was repairing my daughter's van. 2 miles off Interstate 30. The first mile had 3 roundabouts. 3 roundabouts! The third one was a left turn for me and then 1 mile without a roundabout but one stop sign. I thought that was overkill. 3 roundabouts on the road away from the interstate!

That said, In South Central Missouri, (Springfield and Branson) there are a number of "inside out" or "Inverted interchanges" and I love them! Where there used to be long waits and 1/4 mile backups for turn lanes, there are none now, even in rush hour. It sure looks discombobulated the first time or two but traffic flows much faster through them.

Inside out/Inverted interchanges: (Also technically called "Diverging Diamond Interchanges) At the intersection, right lane moves to the left side; at the end of the interchange, it moves back to the right side; and vice versa. What this does is eliminates the left turn lane backup and ALL traffic flows smoothly - similar to the way a couple of you described roundabouts when it operates like it should.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diverging_diamond_interchange

[Jim Frye]

The state is building diverging diamond interchanges along an interstate beltway around Toledo. They seem to move traffic better, but you have to pay attention to which lane you need to be on while traversing the interchange. Fortunately, the state just passed a law making handheld communication devices illegal while operating the vehicle, so maybe drivers will pay more attention to navigating the new intersection designs.

[cwsmith]

We've only got a few here in the Binghamton and Johnson City area. The largest, I travel every day and I like it. It's been around for most of 50 years now. It's large, about fifty yards across and serves two streets and the south and north feeds to the highway. Easy to use!

About ten or so years ago, the mayor at that time thought it would be a great idea to place a small roundabout right in the middle of the city, at the Courthouse Square where our main commercial street was intersected with two streets slightly off-set from one another at the Courthouse intersections. On the eastern side of the square, heading north you could only turn right, into the east-bound lane of main street, and the other street, heading south and coming directly at the front of the Courthouse you also could only turn right, heading west onto the main street.

Frankly, it was never a problem as the intersecting streets were not directly opposite each other and all of us who entered downtown knew fully well how to navigate through that downtown insection.

Then they squeezed in this little roundabout! They couldn't expand the road area, because on those corners was a Courthouse, a bank, eight-story department store, and a ten-story insurance company. All these buildings well over a hundred year old landmarks.

Now trucks couldn't navigate the small circle without hitting the sidewalks or just over running the circle's curbstones, fencing, etc. The curbing and curves coming into the circle are uneven and look like a amaturish job.

First week there were a couple of accidents and since that time there have been countless occurances when vehicles damaged the area by missing the circle or just plain driving over it.

The final roundabouts, we got last year, just north of town where a once straight through drive with two intersections about a mile apart are now roundabouts with highway entry exit points added. You now drive north, on a four lane, pass through a normal three-way intersection and then immediately are thrown into a sharp right turn and from the 2-lane entry, narrow down to a single lane and a choice of turning left onto the small circle or flinging off to the right to enter the highway entry ramp. If you turn left to continue your journey north, a quarter mile and you hit the second circle where once again the road narrows and there's a split to either continue north or turn south onto the highway again.

From the other direction it's almost as bad, going through a quick set of curves both to the left and the right and watching traffic coming in from three different directions as it tries to merge into the two roundabouts. Having two lanes quickly reduce to one in the roundabout is sort of nuts when the traffic is heavy.

This roundabout may be faster, but with significant risks. With the old intersect the lights were short and the risks a heckuva lot less. And just think, we got all this for several million dollars and about five years of construction, which isn't over!

[Jim Frye]

The City of Toledo is installing a roundabout in a residential area on a rather weird intersection of Ottawa River Road and 108th street. The main street is on a curve with a side street entering at an acute angle. Both streets are two lane, but there is a high traffic flow most of the day. We used to live near this intersection on Edgemont Rd. and can attest to the volume. There is no traffic light here with just a stop sign for the side street. If you open the surface view on the link below, you can see things more clearly. There is no public owned land here, so the city must have bought or taken land to build this one.

https://goo.gl/maps/Zr7yE5qTVgNHgvWJA

[capncarl]

Roundabouts are a real problem if you are traveling in an area where you have never been. I really love being surprised on the 4 lane roads with a roundabout and discover that I am in the wrong lane… and some local driver comes zipping past honking his horn and frailing his arms around like he designed this boondoggle! I don’t think I can recall ever seeing signage on a roundabout that a non-local could understand.
The first roundabout in my area was in one of our neighboring counties, they wanted to test it out so they installed in way out in the country where there was only 4-5 pickup trucks, 50 tractors pulling all matter of equipment and dozens of semi’s hauling farm materials a day. It was a dainty little thing that was hard to get around with a tractor with large plows. It was mysteriously bulldozed into a pile on the side of the road one night.
One of my favorite rants is the state re-signing all the no passing lines on the road. The rule is no passing when the solid yellow line is on the right of the center line, been that way since the first paved road. Now they are installing signs on both sides of the road at the start and end of EVERY yellow line. Pass with care or no passing. On our slightly hilly, crooked and winding roads there might be 20 sets of signs in a mile. It’s not a big deal, but you would be surprised how fast it gets on your nerves. I’m waiting for the farmers to clip off the signs with their wide tractors.

[billwmeyer]

There is one near me that is so small that the semis have to run over the curb. There was plenty of roon, they just made it amall.

[capncarl]

Why would you think that they would install a speed change sign within shouting distance of the next speed sign? I’ve noticed several of these signs within 50 feet of the next speed limit sign, and it seems that there is a bunch of low hanging bushes hiding a small dirt driveway, just right for a police cruiser to hide and catch unsuspecting drivers! It’s like they put these signs like this on purpose knowing no one will slow down from 55 to 35 in that distance!

[Jim Frye]

Small suburb here had a speed trap going into town. The state had a 55 mph sign about 100 yards from the town limits. The town had a 35 mph sign at the line just as you came out of a curve with no advance warning of the speed change. If you were going 55, there was no way you could hit 35 when you got to the second sign. Of course the town cop would set up his radar there. Sometimes he would target drivers while he was moving in the opposite direction. I got nailed there by him moving and took it to Mayor's court rather than paying the citation. I had done my homework and learned the town didn't have the kind of radar that would work with the radar moving. The officer's vehicle had to be stationary, plus I questioned when was the last time the radar unit had been calibrated. Mayor/Judge tossed the ticket.

[Black walnut]

That is a poorly trained LEO!

[leehljp]

Our county has just over 10,000 residents; our town has about 1800. In MS, there are laws that prevent sheriffs departments and towns from having radar if the populations is below a certain amount. Our county and town do not meet that so we do not have radar - EXCEPT the MS State Highway Patrol. They can.

That said, I often see both sheriff's dept cars pulling people over on the highway through town and on both ends. I have had friends in other towns complain about our town. I couldn't figure that out so I asked a town policeman who is a member of our church how they do that. Here is the answer: "Hank, we don't issue speeding tickets, we issue "Careless driving" tickets and just mark on the side in notation "speeding". AND Here is why we do that. When we and the sheriff's dept are driving through town (4 lane) and driving the speed limit (45 mph) and someone passes us, and not just inching forward faster, but speeding, and knowing we are police or sheriff's dept, they deserve a ticket!" HE also said they (the speeders) usually keep their highway speed of 65 through town. Both ends of town have a half mile of 55 posted, and then 45 - well posted signs, no obstructions or curves. BTW, the next town south of our town is 35 miles. 31 of those miles are pure straight. NO curves or hills. FLAT MS delta farm land; and many just get used to driving 70, knowing that the MS Highway patrol do not stop people for doing 70 on a 65 MPH road. Then they do not think of slowing down through the 2 miles of straight road through town. But some will pass anyone doing 45 or even 50. If they pass a town policeman or sheriffs dept car at a speed of more than an estimate of 55 or so, they will get a ticket for "Careless Driving."

[capncarl]

Our city’s, counties and even the state police have started a new and devious way to harvest more money for their coffers. A lot of them are painting their cruisers a dark color and the lettering is slightly darker. Unless you are directly beside the cruiser you can’t read the signage. All windows are blacked out and the light bars are molded in a way to be concealed. There are no cameras (most departments have forward and rear facing cameras with the capabilities of reading car tags and doing a search for warrants and bulletins) For several years one of our nearby towns, was on the top of US speeding ticket revenue list ($1.24 mill ). They moved the city limits so they have a mile of 65 mph divided 4 lane highway in their jurisdiction. With a town population of less than 500 and a very large police force I’ve seen 4 city police cars at one time at a traffic stop and imagine there are a lot more than that. They have been in the news many times and have been convicted of drug charges.

I’m not one to gripe about the police doing their job, there are more than enough bad guys to go around. But I am a firm believer that when a government agency hides from you they are doing so to generate more revenue from the public.

[leehljp]

Our county's sheriff's department has two pickups that are not marked, kinda dark greenish-brown and have a full set of "behind the grill blue lights" and rear blue lights that "are not really visible unless ON". I don't see them often except during school starting and ending times and occasionally during drug busts. They do pull people over for "reckless" (speeding) driving. I have to say that our police/sheriff force and officers are, for all practical purposes, doing what they are expected to do and not known locally for being excessive. (Only for those that go full speed through the two miles of town. We have a rather large sheriff department since our county has 6 Casinos catering to the Memphis crowd. It is this group (Casinos) that influence the law enforcement in conjunction with the county supervisors who are fairly level headed. They do not want "unwanted" bad news. Bad for their business, but they do not stop the officers for going after drug busts.

[Inthor]

The presence of six casinos catering to the Memphis crowd in your county seems to have an influence on the law enforcement strategies. This is likely because the casinos, along with the level-headed county supervisors, want to avoid negative publicity that could harm their business.