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Roads: Roundabouts

Ajax has been starting to use roundabouts on a few streets such as Pickering Beach Road. I drive through one of the two on that street every day, and it generally works well enough, other than the occasional person in a truck who simply decides to drive *over* the raised central circle.
 
Roundabouts are great! They sure beat stop signs or gasp traffic lights at every intersection. Particularly in these new types of subdivisions where intersections seem to pop up like rabbits. Amusingly there was some resistance in W York Region to Roundabouts as residents feared that they would be a hazard and also dangerous for trucks (plows) and busses to drive through.
 
I realized on my way back from Conestoga Mall in Waterloo today what my biggest problem with roundabouts are. If you're standing up on a bus, the centrifugal force of a roundabout (esp. a left hand "turn" that requires 3/4 of a loop) if difficult to take, especially if you're holding groceries, or don't have your feet parallel to the force. As well, from my experience with GRT, roundabouts seem to increase the liklihood of blowing a bus tire. Until I started riding the iXpress, I'd only been on one bus that blew a tire (on eastbound on Lakeshore, E. of Dixie) but since coming here, I've been on three, all blowing the tire on the northern roundabout in the R&T park. Don't know if there is actually a correlation, but I find it strange.
 
ShonTron said:
Roundabout? Yes!
Click to expand...

*compelled to post*

Roundabouts are tricky when not encountered very often. The ones in Moncton and Halifax are few in number but almost impossible to avoid...the one next to Champlain is amusingly large (perhaps its size was compensation for the total bore, which was a tidal bore until the causeway featuring Moncton's other roundabout was built). If they were everywhere, like England, we'd get used to them. I don't like the idea of losing signalized pedestrian crossings, though...Clark with no traffic lights might be better for cars but what about everybody else?
 
As mentioned, we do have these in Waterloo Region, and I'm not sure if we've really settled on whether we like them or not. They seem safer in reducing the severity of accidents, but drivers still panic on approach to these things. The most interesting roundabout we have is at the end of a limited access highway (the Conestoga Parkway) outside of St. Jacobs. Within the span of a kilometre, we have to slow from 90 kph to meet this roundabout. But no serious accidents have been reported.

I am also concerned with the amount of space these things gobble up compared to a typical intersection. The space within the roundabout is basically wasted unless you want to put an art installation or neat landscaping in the middle of it. Do these things decrease urban density?

...James
 
They have "mini-roundabouts" in England. They're basically a slightly raised and painted circle, so they take up much less space. Typically they're used in smaller intersections where size and traffic warrant a reduced size roundabout.
 
scarberiankhatru said:
*compelled to post*

Roundabouts are tricky when not encountered very often. The ones in Moncton and Halifax are few in number but almost impossible to avoid...the one next to Champlain is amusingly large (perhaps its size was compensation for the total bore, which was a tidal bore until the causeway featuring Moncton's other roundabout was built). If they were everywhere, like England, we'd get used to them. I don't like the idea of losing signalized pedestrian crossings, though...Clark with no traffic lights might be better for cars but what about everybody else?
Click to expand...
The circles in Moncton and Halifax aren't roundabouts, at least not the ones I could find in google maps. The one in Halifax is being modified to more closely resemble a modern roundabout, but the two on Highway 15 in Moncton aren't even close. They should be replaced with interchanges - circular intersections, be they modern roundabouts or old style rotaries like in Moncton, don't belong in the middle of freeways.
 
MisterF said:
The circles in Moncton and Halifax aren't roundabouts, at least not the ones I could find in google maps. The one in Halifax is being modified to more closely resemble a modern roundabout, but the two on Highway 15 in Moncton aren't even close. They should be replaced with interchanges - circular intersections, be they modern roundabouts or old style rotaries like in Moncton, don't belong in the middle of freeways.
Click to expand...

Meh, whatever subtle technical variances exist on paper do not exist in reality when drivers unused to them encounter them for the first time.
 
BMO said:
yea that is pretty convoluted but if you notice there are 5 streets that converge at that one spot, how would it be possible to use any other method than roundabouts? lol but yea, sometimes using roundabouts at big interesections wiht lights kind of defeats the purpose of a roundabout like many intersections in Madrid.
Click to expand...

It can be done with traffic lights. There are intersections in St. Catharines with five directions. Not very efficient, I must say...
 
Right-on:cool:

Mississauga to get first roundabout

The City of Mississauga will be getting its first roundabout soon near the Square One shopping centre.

Construction on the roundabout is set to begin late June and be completed by August 2011.

The intersection of Duke of York Boulevard and Square One Drive will be converted into a roundabout. The move was recommended by the City’s Downtown21 master plan and approved by council this week.

There will also be presentations at the mall and Sheridan College to teach people how to use the structures.

The plan calls for multiple roundabouts along Duke of York Boulevard, noting that they moderate traffic flow and provide space for things like monuments and green areas.

The Downtown21 plan is a guiding document for the development of downtown Mississauga.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news...sauga-to-get-first-roundabout/article2037237/

http://www.mississauga.com/news/article/1016117--round-round-we-ll-go
 
Automation Gallery said:
Right-on:cool:

Mississauga to get first roundabout

The City of Mississauga will be getting its first roundabout soon near the Square One shopping centre.
Click to expand...

Didn't Mississauga have a roundabout interchange on the QEW when it originally opened?
 
All of Duke of York intersections will have Roundabouts starting with Sq One Dr this Year. Other than Sq One Dr Roundabout, not sure what the time table is for the rest.

Southdown had an Roundabout until about 5 years?? ago when it was rebuilt the way it is now.
 
And if one must be technical, you can also find a traffic circle/roundabout predecent in the middle of Credit Woodlands--though that's more a 60s picturesque-suburban-planning conceit...
 
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