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Is the British roundabout conquering the US?
BBC News ^ | 30th June 2011 | Tom Geoghegan

Posted on 07/01/2011 9:59:00 AM PDT by the scotsman

'A roundabout revolution is slowly sweeping the US. The land of the car, where the stop sign and traffic light have ruled for decades, has started to embrace the free-flowing British circular.

A few moments after entering Carmel, it's clear why the city has been described as the Milton Keynes of the US.

As the sat-nav loudly and regularly points out, there's often a roundabout up ahead.

But unlike in the English town famous for them, driving into this pretty city on the outskirts of Indianapolis also involves passing several more under construction.

The city is at the forefront of a dizzying expansion, across several American states, of the circular traffic intersection redesigned in 1960s Britain and then exported globally. About 3,000 have been built in the US in the last 20 years.'

(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; US: Indiana; United Kingdom
KEYWORDS: circle; european; europeon; sustainable; yourapeon
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1 posted on 07/01/2011 9:59:04 AM PDT by the scotsman
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To: the scotsman

We’ve been trying to get rid of the Concord Rotary for decades. My Tom-tom calls it a rotary, but Tom-Tom’s U.S. office about a quarter mile from the Concord Rotary. What do they call it outside of Massachusetts? In the UK, it’s a “roundabout”. What is it in Iowa?


2 posted on 07/01/2011 10:01:56 AM PDT by Lonesome in Massachussets (Somewhere in Kenya a village is missing its idiot)
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To: the scotsman

We’ve been trying to get rid of the Concord Rotary for decades. My Tom-tom calls it a rotary, but Tom-Tom’s U.S. office about a quarter mile from the Concord Rotary. What do they call it outside of Massachusetts? In the UK, it’s a “roundabout”. What is it in Iowa?


3 posted on 07/01/2011 10:01:56 AM PDT by Lonesome in Massachussets (Somewhere in Kenya a village is missing its idiot)
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To: the scotsman

We’ve been trying to get rid of the Concord Rotary for decades. My Tom-tom calls it a rotary, but Tom-Tom’s U.S. office about a quarter mile from the Concord Rotary. What do they call it outside of Massachusetts? In the UK, it’s a “roundabout”. What is it in Iowa?


4 posted on 07/01/2011 10:01:56 AM PDT by Lonesome in Massachussets (Somewhere in Kenya a village is missing its idiot)
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To: the scotsman

Roundabouts are a great way to keep traffice flowing. We go to the UK every year or so, and I’m now accustomed to driving them, but I don’t see them catching on in the US. They require a certain amount discipline and skill that most American drivers lack.


5 posted on 07/01/2011 10:02:09 AM PDT by clintonh8r (Member Emeritus of Vitriolics Anonymous.)
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To: the scotsman

The traffic circle they are talking about in Carmel has been a boon for local repair shops also.


6 posted on 07/01/2011 10:03:08 AM PDT by Abathar (Proudly posting without reading the article carefully since 2004)
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To: the scotsman
They used to have them all over the place in Jersey in the 1950s and early ‘60s. We called them “circles”. The state got rid of them in the ‘70s and ‘80s because they were “too dangerous”. Now they're coming back. I guess its a case of back to the future.
7 posted on 07/01/2011 10:04:24 AM PDT by chimera
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To: Lonesome in Massachussets

In Minnesota, I call it a Clusterf***.

Leftists here call them “Calming Circles”.


8 posted on 07/01/2011 10:04:59 AM PDT by WOBBLY BOB ( "I don't want the majority if we don't stand for something"- Jim Demint)
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To: clintonh8r
We've got a couple around here, with one at a fairly large intersection where multiple lanes have to blend into the narrower roundabout....fraught with danger, because it really confuses drivers.

Shortly after it was installed the first incident was a Sheriff's car plowing right through it.

9 posted on 07/01/2011 10:05:05 AM PDT by ErnBatavia (It's not the Obama Administration....it's the "Obama Regime".)
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To: clintonh8r

A simple one-lane traffic circle (roundable, rotary, whatever) is easy and an efficient way to manage traffic as long as people know how to yield. But when you get into some of the big urban circles, then it breaks down. I lived outside DC for a couple years and tried to navigate a few of theirs like Dupont Circle...noooo, thank you. Absolutely terrifying.

I grew up in a small town in Virginia with no stoplights...but one traffic circle smack in the center of town. It worked great. They did add a stoplight around 1990, but it was to a different intersection. The traffic circle is still there last I heard.

}:-)4


10 posted on 07/01/2011 10:05:05 AM PDT by Moose4 ("By all that you hold dear on this good Earth, I bid you stand, Men of the West!")
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To: the scotsman
After spending several months driving with round points (French label) on overseas assignments I noticed that I had far less stress, got places quickly without sitting behind interminable lights, and occasionally had fun by going round the point once or twice while making up my mind about which way to go!

Way better solution than traffic lights in most, but not all, cases.

Truckee, California is now mostly roundabouts and it works very well, and no one misses the lights.

11 posted on 07/01/2011 10:05:15 AM PDT by Regulator (Watch Out! Americans are on the March! America Forever, Mexico Never!)
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To: the scotsman
Agenda 21 City Planners love them.

Anywhere you see one popping up, you can bet Agenda 21 is rearing its ugly head.

12 posted on 07/01/2011 10:05:56 AM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum ("A society of sheep must in time beget a government of wolves." - Bertrand de Jouvenel des Ursins)
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To: the scotsman

I hate them...totally.....


13 posted on 07/01/2011 10:06:21 AM PDT by cherry
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To: the scotsman
We're getting one here in Western PA.

They are all the rage!

14 posted on 07/01/2011 10:07:33 AM PDT by Glenn (iamtheresistance.org)
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To: the scotsman

These are a great source of traffic accidents and dangerous as heck.

They may be cheap but they’re not effective at traffic control, or safety.


15 posted on 07/01/2011 10:09:07 AM PDT by jimt
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To: the scotsman

70s rock earworm bump.


16 posted on 07/01/2011 10:09:10 AM PDT by Hunton Peck (See my FR homepage for a list of businesses that support WI Gov. Scott Walker)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Tthey claim it encourages “sustainabilty”, “livability”,”walkability” and all the other favortite leftard code words.

Some city managers just got back from their taxpayer-funded junket abroad and decided “let’s play Europe”.


17 posted on 07/01/2011 10:10:19 AM PDT by WOBBLY BOB ( "I don't want the majority if we don't stand for something"- Jim Demint)
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To: the scotsman
Oh please. The roundabout has been a standard on New England roads since roads were built. They can still be found in Pennsylvania as well, especially in older towns like Gettysburg.

If the traffic is too heavy, they are NOT free flowing. They are more like a fuster cluck which can better be regulated with a traffic light.

They work just fine in places were the space and the traffic flow (such as what would normally go through a four-way stop) is appropriate.

Recently, I attended my daughter's college graduation in Idaho. They had a roundabout to separate traffic between those headed for campus and those headed downtown. It seemed to work just fine and the locals, who do not have the experience driving roundabouts that we do here in the northeast, seemed to have no trouble figuring it out.

Personally, I wouldn't mind seeing a few more of them around here. We have roads which have got to be really confusing to outsiders-- left turns or, in most cases, right turns can keep going; those going straight have to stop, three way stops at four point intersections (one direction keeps going) and other stuff that makes me wonder who designed these roads in PA.

18 posted on 07/01/2011 10:10:48 AM PDT by Vigilanteman (Obama: Fake black man. Fake Messiah. Fake American. How many fakes can you fit in one Zer0?)
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To: the scotsman

I HATE these things! Liberals love them because their so European and “calming”. They are sprouting like dandelions in Wisconsin. In fact, in one community they literally have three of these round abouts all in a row, one right after the other! It’s insane! Hate ‘em.


19 posted on 07/01/2011 10:11:02 AM PDT by Obadiah (If you don't believe you can win, there is no point in getting out of bed at the end of the day.)
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To: cherry

I have driven round points in France. The rules can differ as to who yields to whom depending on the roundpoint. On the Arc de Triomphe in Paris roundpoint the traffic on the circle yields to the traffic entering the circle. Most smaller ones require the oncoming to yield to the traffic already there. And no lanes on the Arc de Triomphe....8 lanes with no lanes markings. Lots of horns...


20 posted on 07/01/2011 10:11:28 AM PDT by shankbear (Al-Qaeda grew while Monica blew)
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