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Here in New England where yes, we do in fact call them rotaries, and I don't think we 'replaced' the word roundabout with rotary gdude (but you know you're my bud! ), we were one of the first states to have them actually.... when they are mulitple lanes deep (I've only seen them be two deep anywhere), the inner circle is where you need to be if you're entering at say 6 and exiting at 9 on the pie chart... and they always run counterclockwise in America... lol... if you're entering at 6 and exiting at 3 or 12, you'd stay in the outer lane... but you'd be amazed at how many out of state drivers who come here to visit Cape Cod have no idea how to navigate a rotary! Makes for some interesting sightseeing for us locals!!! lol
We had a large rotary at the Sagamore Bridge... the bridge you'd have to cross over to get onto Cape Cod if you were driving down from Boston... the traffic tie ups in the summer are legendary and just two years ago, Mitt Romney who was our Govenor, pushed through a new highway design that eliminated that rotary. We now have what is called a 'flyover' onto the bridge... ergo, they removed the rotary and reduced the lanes onto the bridge (just before it) down to one, but you don't have to come to a complete stop anymore and be backed up for miles waiting for people to navigate the rotary.
My hometown of Westborough, Ma, where I spent my childhood has a wonderful rotary that really defines the very center of town... as do many other towns in Mass. The police raise and lower the flag every day at the center of the rotary and there's a WWII memorial there as well. It was an inspiring ritual to watch as a kid.
If that is the case; we are talking about ROUNDABOUTS (based on your post; it sounds like they are the same and your are trying to split hairs. Please, for the purpose of intelligent and usefull conversation, stop. Thanks).
OK. I just wanted to point out that they are different to me and I wasn't sure which one was being referred to because they are called different things in various parts of the country. I didn't mean to distract the post and take away from "intelligent" conversation.
I LOVE ROTARIES. and if you thought dem was splitting hairs you don't even want me to start my rant on "roundabouts". I also hail from the commonwealth of Mass and here there are tooons of rotaries. The first time I heard the term "roundabout" was when they added one in the town where a lot of my family lives (in SE Mass coincidently) and it is the worst placest, sorry excuse for a rotary I have ever seen. Sooo I agree with dem in that when I hear "roundabout" I think of a little cement circle in the road you hardly notice and barely move to get around, usually in a 4-way intersection where something else (4 way stop, letting one road go through) would do much better.
Okay, now that I have expressed my linguistic struggles I will confidently state that whatever you wanna call it those driving circle dohickeys ****ing RULE. They make driving beautiful. Pretty much every town in Mass has a few. We got one in the center and one at "Symme's Corner" which would be reffered to as such. Symme's Corner is actually a mess cuz there is a stop sign if you are leaving the rotary in one particular direction and thusly you may freely pass that exit if entering from the road to the right. Ahhhhhh this is confusing to describe. Buuuuuuuuuut I digress: It seems like a lot of people can't drive in rotaries but that just adds to the glory in my mind. Usually every few months some old man or out-of-towner gets confused and drives the rotary backwards in Winchester center. But I have seen the list of accidents by intersection in my town, and the rotary (which is exxxxaaaactly downtown) is not at the top.
Traffic circles are quite common in New Jersey. The closest one to me is probably the worst one in the state. It's called Tonnele Circle (or, as I like to call it, Circle of Death). Generally, I like traffic circles, but Tonnele is a mess.
in Malta, New York where my brother in law and wife live. To get to their house off the highway, you have to go through 5 rotary's in less than a mile to get there. This pic shows part of it. its honestly the most craziest thing I've ever driving through.
I always figured with the amount of traffic in Atlanta that a roundabout would be a death trap.
The very few in the Atlanta area are small and to my knowledge only single-lane roundabouts. Not the multi-lane versions you see in many cities in Europe. Ours are extremely small in comparison. I live in Cobb County, just West/Northwest of the City, and we currently only have one roundabout which was met with enthusiasm, with a second one planned up the road from the first next year.
In Iowa they're popping up everywhere in the new development/sprawl.
I know my hometown suburb of Coralville has put in 3 more in the past year or two. Des Moines sprawling suburbs also have tons of them going in all over.
I actually like them, it speeds things up a lot more than what use to be there...
At least to the best of my knowledge, roundabouts and rotaries are different. Where I am from (SE Massachusetts), a rotary is larger than a roundabout. Rotaries can have grass or plants on the actual land that forms the rotary island in the middle. Rotaries are usually, although not necessarily, multiple lanes.
A roundabout is smaller than a rotary, single lane, and usually has a cement circle in the center (no plants or landscaping).
not that I am wanting to argue roundabouts( atleast here) have grass/plants on the central island. Our roundabouts have mulitple lanes also. the most I have seen in one roundabout was 4 lanes. 1 lane going
right only.2 going straight with the inside of the two going left or forward and the outside lane going right or forward. and one lane is left only.
Traffic circles are quite common in New Jersey. The closest one to me is probably the worst one in the state. It's called Tonnele Circle (or, as I like to call it, Circle of Death). Generally, I like traffic circles, but Tonnele is a mess.
Wow I would love to try Tonnele Circle!! that looks like a crazy roundabout!!
Quote:
Originally Posted by k.smith904
They make traffic a nightmare, and people don't know how to use them properly, but they sure do look nice.
they are only a nightmare when people dont know how to navigate them
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kali's Grandma
We have them on some of the side roads and they are great! Every once in awhile there's people who doesn't know what "yield" means or thinks only other people have to yield. But those are the same people who don't know what stopsigns or red lights are for either.
I think we need more of them.
Quote:
Originally Posted by CoastalMaine
Here in New England where yes, we do in fact call them rotaries, and I don't think we 'replaced' the word roundabout with rotary gdude (but you know you're my bud! ), we were one of the first states to have them actually.... when they are mulitple lanes deep (I've only seen them be two deep anywhere), the inner circle is where you need to be if you're entering at say 6 and exiting at 9 on the pie chart... and they always run counterclockwise in America... lol... if you're entering at 6 and exiting at 3 or 12, you'd stay in the outer lane... but you'd be amazed at how many out of state drivers who come here to visit Cape Cod have no idea how to navigate a rotary! Makes for some interesting sightseeing for us locals!!! lol
We had a large rotary at the Sagamore Bridge... the bridge you'd have to cross over to get onto Cape Cod if you were driving down from Boston... the traffic tie ups in the summer are legendary and just two years ago, Mitt Romney who was our Govenor, pushed through a new highway design that eliminated that rotary. We now have what is called a 'flyover' onto the bridge... ergo, they removed the rotary and reduced the lanes onto the bridge (just before it) down to one, but you don't have to come to a complete stop anymore and be backed up for miles waiting for people to navigate the rotary.
My hometown of Westborough, Ma, where I spent my childhood has a wonderful rotary that really defines the very center of town... as do many other towns in Mass. The police raise and lower the flag every day at the center of the rotary and there's a WWII memorial there as well. It was an inspiring ritual to watch as a kid.
In the UK (where I think they were invented - not sure, don't flame me) they are only known as roundabouts no matter what the size or vegetation . There is one just outside Oxford so big, it has a road running thro the middle of it! Mostly they are quite useful BUT if they are in a major traffic zone they can be an absolute nightmare because of the rule that the person ON the roundabout has right of way, which means those waiting to get onto the roundabout can often sit there for what feels like hours, just trying to get their turn. Sometimes people get so frustrated they just drive on and "queue" for a spot to merge and get around which then totally blocks traffic in all directions. We had one in my hometown that got turned into a 4-way traffic light because the jams got so bad during rush hour.
In Colorado they're a bit of a disaster because nobody here knows how to drive on them properly. I've seen and experienced so many near-misses because people stop at the wrong time, drift into the other lane, change lanes arbitrarily while going around, don't yield or just stop dead when they see another car approaching, don't signal . . . argh, don't get me started .
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), we were one of the first states to have them actually.... when they are mulitple lanes deep (I've only seen them be two deep anywhere), the inner circle is where you need to be if you're entering at say 6 and exiting at 9 on the pie chart... and they always run counterclockwise in America... lol... if you're entering at 6 and exiting at 3 or 12, you'd stay in the outer lane... but you'd be amazed at how many out of state drivers who come here to visit Cape Cod have no idea how to navigate a rotary! Makes for some interesting sightseeing for us locals!!! lol
. There is one just outside Oxford so big, it has a road running thro the middle of it! Mostly they are quite useful BUT if they are in a major traffic zone they can be an absolute nightmare because of the rule that the person ON the roundabout has right of way, which means those waiting to get onto the roundabout can often sit there for what feels like hours, just trying to get their turn. Sometimes people get so frustrated they just drive on and "queue" for a spot to merge and get around which then totally blocks traffic in all directions. We had one in my hometown that got turned into a 4-way traffic light because the jams got so bad during rush hour.
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