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That road I posted does have a lot of traffic. A couple auto plants and a lot of residents. I'm pretty sure that there was 8 lanes of traffic before it was put in.
DC has one (Dupont Circle) and it has traffic lights -- creating terrible traffic jams. I've seen them out in the exurbs and they seem to work, but the key is to not then put traffic lights in them. They are very attractive and its nice b/c it gives you an extra park where there was none. Towns can use them as places to put monuments or welcome signs.
Quote:
Originally Posted by PITTSTON2SARASOTA
I live in a metropolitan area of approximately 600,000 people; this figure almost doubles during tourist season.
The city of Sarasota wants to take out the traffic lights at most of our major intersections; replacing them with traffic roundabouts. Bureaucrats claim that this will expediate traffic flow and increase safety. Also, they claim it will be more bicycle and pedestrian friendly and safer and easier to cross at these intersections.
I know roundabouts work in Europe but I don't think they will work here; in fact I think the idea will make the intersections worse and is a waste of millions of dollars.
Anyone have an opinion of how roundabouts work in your city? Do they ease traffic congestion? In Sarasota, I can see some person going in circles for hours....LOL.
I think you just have to get used to them. The time I used it, was at night and it was about a year after a significant brain injury I acquired from a car accident, so that probably made a big difference.
I do remember yelling "what the hell is this sh*t?", when I drove up to it.
Thank God someone was in the car with me to help me navigate through it.
I hope that people can navigate them; glad you made it through. Wilkes-Barre, Pa. has one that works but it is much smaller than those proposed for Sarasota.
DC has one (Dupont Circle) and it has traffic lights -- creating terrible traffic jams. I've seen them out in the exurbs and they seem to work, but the key is to not then put traffic lights in them. They are very attractive and its nice b/c it gives you an extra park where there was none. Towns can use them as places to put monuments or welcome signs.
Your roundabout sounds nice; and in Europe they can be beautiful. I just am not convinced it is best, especially for perestrians and bicyclists. Drivers' attitudes will need to change; they would have to yield for people to cross; since traffic, theoritically never stops.
You gotta remember, much of the northeast (especially Boston and NYC) have had high population density for 100+ years. Plus, these areas were/are the wealthiest parts of the US so had a significant car-owning population all the way back to the 1920s. Much of the road infrastructure dates all the way back to this era. For the Boston area, at least, it still works fairly well, although road volumes are significantly higher.
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