How not to build a traffic circle/roundabout/godforsaken irritating POS

[EyeMWing]

http://pic.armedcats.net/e/ey/eyemwing/2010/04/03/wtfuck.jpg

Seriously? How is that supposed to improve anything?

They did it THREE TIMES on the same road.

 

[Cobol74]

Na Magic Roundabout - best pointless roundabout in the world!

 

[the Interceptor]

Got it wrong the first time around ... that IS idiotic. The only advantage I see is that they didn't close down the Main Street for ages to build a roundabout. But since what they did is not going to help anything, that's not of much help.

 

[Pedrocas]

This one's near my house:

 

[Spectre]

There's two of them near my place that are particularly miserable. One is in Richardson - it's a traffic circle on a street that never gets used and has no point. Someone decided to spend the extra money for a traffic circle for no apparent reason.

http://tinyurl.com/y85ea9o

The other one is in Addison; they thoroughly screwed up the construction and planning. The inside lane is paved with brick and the circle is reverse banked (at best - it's inconsistently graded) - which means that every time it rains, someone takes the inside lane, then goes skidding off into the nearby buildings or traffic.

http://www.addisontexas.net/what_to_do/Attractions/blueprints.asp

http://tinyurl.com/ydc8tv9

 

[EyeMWing]

This one's near my house:

At least it connects roads. Mine, uh, doesn't.

 

[thedguy]

Wait, Spectre, are you saying the Great state of Texas got something wrong?


Might I suggest checking out the traffic circles we've been using here in Orange county going on 120 years now. Works quite well bringing to major streets together.

 

[NecroJoe]

I know, right? Traffic circles are hard! Dur hur...



I have to laugh, because I see people get confused by this all the time...and it's not even a real traffic circle...it's just an island in the middle of a 4-way stop intersection...and yet, people try to go around the left side when turning left, etc. Idiots.

 

[Spectre]

Wait, Spectre, are you saying the Great state of Texas got something wrong?

Those aren't state-designed roads, they were done by the local cities. Who sometimes get stupid ideas, and when they have too many taxpayer dollars to play with, decide to put up useless or dangerous traffic circles in the name of beautification and art.

Might I suggest checking out the traffic circles we've been using here in Orange county going on 120 years now. Works quite well bringing to major streets together.

Yes, and as I recall from when I lived there, that's a regular accident point.

I know, right? Traffic circles are hard! Dur hur...

View attachment 3301

I have to laugh, because I see people get confused by this all the time...and it's not even a real traffic circle...it's just an island in the middle of a 4-way stop intersection...and yet, people try to go around the left side when turning left, etc. Idiots.

What idiot thought that was a good idea?

 

[KaJuN]

At least your roundabouts aren't homicidal deathtraps like a few roads back home. Here's an example:

http://pic.armedcats.net/k/ka/kajun/2010/04/03/instadeath.JPG

Country Road 25A (the yellow part) is a two-lane road with a 55mph speed limit. If you're going north on it and want to continue onto Troy-Sidney road there's just a yield sign. That does a lot of good when the corner is completely blind in the summer due to the cornfield to the southeast of the intersection. You have to basically be in the oncoming lane just to see if anything is coming at you the other way. You haven't known fear until you've experienced this. Needless to say there are a few crosses in the grass near a few of these intersections.

 

[NecroJoe]

What idiot thought that was a good idea?

All of them.

It's Berkeley.

To be fair, they are all over and the theory is that it cuts down on people speeding through neighborhoods. I'd rather have these than speedbumps or pilons blocking random paths.

 

[CrzRsn]

Be happy you don't have this near your house.

http://pic.armedcats.net/c/cr/crazyrussian540/2010/04/03/Capture.PNG
http://pic.armedcats.net/c/cr/crazyrussian540/2010/04/03/Capture2.PNG
http://pic.armedcats.net/c/cr/crazyrussian540/2010/04/03/Capture3.PNG
http://pic.armedcats.net/c/cr/crazyrussian540/2010/04/03/Capture4.PNG
http://pic.armedcats.net/c/cr/crazyrussian540/2010/04/03/Capture5.PNG
http://pic.armedcats.net/c/cr/crazyrussian540/2010/04/03/Capture6.PNG


It's essentially a free-for-all. No stop signs, no traffic lights - the only signs there they have are "keep right of median", but those do little good.


Also, near my school we have this marvel of brilliant thinking.

http://pic.armedcats.net/c/cr/crazyrussian540/2010/04/03/Capture7.PNG

The main road (Forbes Ave) is the road the veers off to the right. If you follow it, you don't need to stop. Straight ahead is the driveway to a gold course, if you want to go up there you DO need to stop. So they hung up a stop sign saying "Stop - Except Right Turn". Most people who aren't from around here get confused and think that its actually for a real right turn (not just following Forbes), so they stop. Others stop if they want to follow Forbes, but fly though to the golf course. Overall its a terrible idea.

 

[narf]

Roundabouts work well in Denmark, especially in low-traffic areas. One in L?beck, Germany fails miserably because there are zebra crossings at two of the roads, resulting in cars yielding to pedestrians all the time when existing the roundabout, effectively bringing the entire city to a standstill... http://maps.google.de/?ll=53.866153,10.675262&spn=0.001447,0.004128&t=k&z=19

 

[Cobol74]

CrazyRussian540

Did you guys employ the bloke from Swindon? Seems to have a similar idea behind it.

 

[Cobol74]

Links multiple roads together all in one huge "Fuck Off" circle. Magic roundabout is in Swindon - used to use it everyday,

 

[EyeMWing]

http://pic.armedcats.net/e/ey/eyemwing/2010/04/03/wtfuck.jpg

A bit of excess information, just in case it's not totally clear. The main road (Main St) intersects two access roads to the Bypass. Both of these intersections are omnidirectional stop lights. Therefore traffic entering or exiting the bypass MUST pass through BOTH a traffic circle AND a stoplight - and traffic continuing on Main St. must pass through TWO stop lights. A traffic circle at the actual intersection of the bypass and Main St. OR a single stop light at the intersection would both be superior configurations in terms of traffic flow.

 

[Cobol74]

OK I admit it - a totally pointless exercise in Roundaboutship ness.

 

[thedguy]

Those aren't state-designed roads, they were done by the local cities. Who sometimes get stupid ideas, and when they have too many taxpayer dollars to play with, decide to put up useless or dangerous traffic circles in the name of beautification and art.




Yes, and as I recall from when I lived there, that's a regular accident point.



What idiot thought that was a good idea?

So wait, when did you live in Orange? You lived in Huntington Beach and (according to you) the Ghetto in LA. The Orange traffic circle has only had rare occasions of morons driving the inside lane backwards or generally not being able to figure it out. Due to the large amount of traffic that goes through it in a given day, the only time anyone can not go through it properly is late at night... it is after all a tourist area.

 

[Spectre]

HB is in Orange County too, you know. I did have a subscription to the OCR and they have/had a report of accidents in the police blotter section.

 

[MadCat360]

Here's the one that separates me from civilization:

http://img94.imageshack.**/img94/7458/roundaboutw.jpg


Oak Grove road, the gray side, connects to a high school. It used to be a 3-way stop (with that little jink as well, the north side of Oak Grove is split into one-ways) and traffic was a nightmare. It's still messy, but at least cars can actually move now.