Roundabouts coming to Sarasota (Clearwater, Venice: how much, safe, moving)

[d4g4m]

If a roundabout is designed properly and LARGE enough, they tend to work. The problem with the so called 'roundabouts in Sarasota is that they are poorly designed and too small. When all they do is take an existing intersection, remove the traffic light and install a circle, it doesn't work. A prime example is the new circle on Honore at Richardson. The circles are small because the County doesn't want to get involved with eminent domain to purchase land to make the intersection bigger. Somebody in the Traffic Dept must have vacationed in France and thought 'we can do that in Sarasota' not realizing that they have roundabouts built before there was electricity. Has any one driven on Old Bradenton Road? Those circles are a joke and totally unneccessary.
Someone in the Traffic Dept has the Commissioners bamboozled that Sarasota should be littered with miniature traffic circles. And no, they are not roundabouts.
There are a few on the new and 'improved' section of Bee Ridge Rd east of Mauna Loa Bl. One of the circles is from a dead end street.
$8 million to be spent on the N. Trail at 10th St just to remove a traffic light and install a circle.
Our tax dollars at work.
Remember, this all started with intersection 'improvements' at Jacaranda Bl & Venice Ave. That disaster cost $3.2 million. An intersection that had only a few crashes a year and now a few crashes a week. To enter the circle, you have to wait longer than when there was a traffic light. The SHT article said that 'roundabouts reduce crashes by 35%' Really? Must be bureaucrat stats, it isn't real life stats.

[OptimusPrime69]

Round abouts work just fine in Europe and Australia. IDK why there would be any resistance here in FL. Perhaps old people don't deal well with any type of small change. God forbid they have to like look where they're going when going through a round about. I am all for them because I can avoid stopping unnecessarily when no cars are present. The more round abouts, the better IMO.

[olderandwiser456]

Originally Posted by d4g4m

If a roundabout is designed properly and LARGE enough, they tend to work. The problem with the so called 'roundabouts in Sarasota is that they are poorly designed and too small. When all they do is take an existing intersection, remove the traffic light and install a circle, it doesn't work. A prime example is the new circle on Honore at Richardson. The circles are small because the County doesn't want to get involved with eminent domain to purchase land to make the intersection bigger. Somebody in the Traffic Dept must have vacationed in France and thought 'we can do that in Sarasota' not realizing that they have roundabouts built before there was electricity. Has any one driven on Old Bradenton Road? Those circles are a joke and totally unneccessary.
Someone in the Traffic Dept has the Commissioners bamboozled that Sarasota should be littered with miniature traffic circles. And no, they are not roundabouts.
There are a few on the new and 'improved' section of Bee Ridge Rd east of Mauna Loa Bl. One of the circles is from a dead end street.
$8 million to be spent on the N. Trail at 10th St just to remove a traffic light and install a circle.
Our tax dollars at work.
Remember, this all started with intersection 'improvements' at Jacaranda Bl & Venice Ave. That disaster cost $3.2 million. An intersection that had only a few crashes a year and now a few crashes a week. To enter the circle, you have to wait longer than when there was a traffic light. The SHT article said that 'roundabouts reduce crashes by 35%' Really? Must be bureaucrat stats, it isn't real life stats.

Yeah, we have the same problem here, someone in the Traffic Dept must have lived in Europe or went to a fancy seminar that touted roundabouts. They are putting them in places that are causing more backups than before they were added, such as the entrance and exit to freeways. Terrible idea. Cars are backed up on exit ramps and on the roads leading to the freeway because they can't get into the circles! Far worse than the traffic lights, which actually cycled through red and green, allowing cars to enter or exit a freeway! And I especially love it when they put in two circles next to each other with confusing diagrams of which lane for which road. Hahaha It's a joke trying to decipher a complicated diagram while driving!

The intersection here near Costco had fewer than a dozen accidents a year before the roundabout; now after the roundabout was installed, there were 150+ accidents last year. No, drivers do not understand what yield means, no matter how large they make the sign. Aggressive drivers barrel through, cutting off cars in the circle, and large trucks take up multiple lanes. I agree with the poster above who suggested parking an ambulance and cop car near the roundabouts to save time with tickets and transport to hospitals!

[wondermint2]

The roundabouts are part of Sarasota's "solution" for the infracture stress that all of the population growth here is causing. Along with the roundabouts the so-called "solution" includes encouraging people to walk and bicycle more instead of driving (good luck with that!), and providing shuttle services downtown. Also I recall reading about cameras installed at certain intersections to monitor traffic flow (that information goes back to a centralized "command center" - so the length of red lights can be adjusted according to traffic conditions). For the most part, the "higher-ups" prefer these methods as opposed to widening the streets. Widening the streets is very expensive and can cause other problems. I don't have all of the answers but it sure looks like people are going to continue to flock to Sarasota (primarily for the warm weather and beaches) - so IMO I don't see the situation improving any time soon. There's new development going on all the time here. Sarasota has a lot to offer but if you're looking for some kind of laid back "Old-Florida" paradise - that vanished from Sarasota many years ago. Maybe in parts of Englewood you can still find that laid back Old Florida kind of vibe.

[SouthSota14]

Originally Posted by llrivero

I agree with gypsychic on this one. I prefer a round a bout to a stop light. I mastered the art of round a bout's living in Europe. However, people in Europe are raised with those on the roads.. so to them it is second nature. Here... not so much. One of the biggest differences of the round a bouts in Europe v. here......... the circles here are small and tight... and that keeps the traffic from flowing the way it is supposed to. So, you do see lots of accidents. I hope they become a mainstay in some of the intersections that could really benefit from the traffic flowing continually. You know.... those areas where you are the ONLY one sitting at the traffic light.... in any direction! LOL

You'd like The Boston area or most of MA then. They call roundabouts "rotary" on a regular basis or "rotaries". They do help traffic go smoother I'd say overall.

[d4g4m]

If roundabouts are the panacea of flowing traffic, let's try one on I-75 at Fruitville Rd. Remove the overpass and just install one big circle. Let's see how that would work after spending about $25 million to do it. Stop all the improvements at I-75/University and install one huge circle. Let's see how that would work to fix the mess of a huge development with only one road in and out AND poor planning of allowing huge massive shopping centers at the same location.
A poster referred to 'old Florida' paradise. The paradise ended with the opening of I-75

[snatale1]

Originally Posted by SouthSota14

I made a video of myself driving up Honore on all the roundabouts.. Enjoy:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8VRtn0uYdY&t=1s

Thank god somebody else knows what a rotary is! There's a difference ya know!

Roundabout / Traffic circle is simply a circle in the middle of a 4 way intersection.
A Rotary usually have 4/5/6 ins/outs and the ability to drive straight though.

[Avalon08]

They got rid of all the "traffic circles" in Jersey because they were a nightmare, and now they are here! I literally get stressed when approaching one. For example, in Bradenton going south on 75th St. you encounter a roundabout that either goes off to 53rd or El Conquistador Parkway. As you're approaching from 75th, both lanes go into the circle and then branch off into El Conquistador or 53rd. The problem is, if you're in the outer lane of the circle intending to continue around it and go west on 53rd, you may have an inner circle car cut across in front as they're going to El Conquistador. Hard to explain, but there have been accidents.

[MeisterShekel]

Good ole SRQ wants to install a circle at University and US 41 - big dummies

[MattMN]

I'm a big fan of roundabouts, especially at an intersection that would otherwise have a four-way stop sign. It really helps traffic flow more smoothly - the main goal is to reduce congestion, and they help with that.

Many people worry other drivers that don't know how to navigate them. But given their increased popularity across the country, I think people will learn soon enough.

Is a roundabout the answer for every intersection? Of course not, especially larger ones where you really need multiple turn lanes and signals. But where you have one-lane four-way stops sign, a roundabout is a great improvement. Two-lane versions get a little trickier, I admit.