roundabouts in the US

someone just told me there aren't any roundabouts in the us. can't say i've really thought about it, but it seemed weird to me that im 31 years old and haven't heard about it before, and when i think about it i can't really recall seeing any in tv series / films etc. what's the dealio? also, i watched chevy chase in "european vacation" the other day and in one scene he got stuck in a roundabout in london for hours. I GET IT NOW.

there's a bunch in miami. coral gables & the grove are full of em. Maybe it's the european influence.

They have become more common in the last 10 or so years.

Drivers ed didn't teach me or any of my friends how to navigate them in the late 90s so the majority of drivers don't know how to handle these things. It's pretty funny to watch confused drivers use them.

I've only seen a few 2 lane ones though. I have a feeling a 3 lane one like that gif would be too complicated for drivers here.

Like couch said, modern roundabouts have become more prevalent here recently, although in the civil/transportation industry (which I work in) we aren't building too many 'new' roads these days; redesigning/reconstructing existing infrastructure is where most of the work is, and they're tough to implement on reconstruction/redevelopment projects because of the space required (say, if you wanted trying to replace a signalized intersection).

Also, we still have several 'rotaries' that predate halfway decent design standards, so most drivers are immediately associate roundabouts with these monstrosities and are generally unreceptive to them.

Here's an example of one of these clusterfucks that I had to navigate through south of Boston yesterday:

http://binged.it/upGWtX

This is not too far from where I live.

5 Roundabouts in a ring, that you basically use as one big roundabout. Its not too bad once you get the hang of it...

There are a lot of old "rotaries" in Massachusetts.

  On 12/28/2011 at 7:52 PM, feltcher said:

This is not too far from where I live.

 

5 Roundabouts in a ring, that you basically use as one big roundabout. Its not too bad once you get the hang of it...

 

 

  On 12/28/2011 at 7:52 PM, feltcher said:

This is not too far from where I live.

 

5 Roundabouts in a ring, that you basically use as one big roundabout. Its not too bad once you get the hang of it...

 

 

Geez, I get roadsick just from looking at it.

^ haha, this. see my edited post above!

Although felch's certainly gives it a run for the money. I wouldn't know what the f to do there.

There's a few here and there in Austin, but mostly in unusual intersections in low-speed areas downtown. There's a big one in Fort Worth, Texas, from the 60s I think, but its a bitch to drive around because of morons behind the wheel. Actually it's really more of circular off-ramp between connecting highway and boulevard.

Americans are too fucking stupid use them more frequently. People don't even use 4-way stops properly. Making driving tests stricter and therefore limiting who can get a license is a big no-no here, especially since it would force local governments to fund and develop proper public transportation systems.

We also have this new one in Oxford, which you can use normally as a roundabout, or if you need to follow the ring road / A40 you just go straight over the middle if the lights are green.

So, its a roundabout. But also just a normal junction. Confused? Hell yeah!

There are a handful in SF, but they're quite common in Columbus. A lot of larger US cities are too dense to construct those, so a lot of the roundabouts tend to be in developing cities that have more room.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPOTg-7pV64

I know of one town in the area that uses them, and everyone just bitches about it.

I like it though, keeps traffic flowing, and they're fun to go around several times in a row when there's no traffic.

  On 12/28/2011 at 7:52 PM, feltcher said:

This is not too far from where I live.

 

5 Roundabouts in a ring, that you basically use as one big roundabout. Its not too bad once you get the hang of it...

 

 

I've got one just down the road from me.

If you attack each little one separately they're easy. Be careful when you've got women in 4-wheel drives taking their kids to school though, they have no fucking idea.

Sounds like someone has been fibbing to you data.

There are a few small ones around the city here, including one fairly close to where I live. I never have trouble navigating it. Maybe I'm not American enough.

a round about is just a 1 way street in a circle

oh, cool, guess my source was wrong!

those posted ones looks fucking nightmare'ish.

Yeah, there's a few here too. I hate people that fucking stop in the middle of the roundabout to let other people in..... Pisses me off to no end They're not even as complicated as the ones pictured above either

http://maps.google.c...=m&z=18&vpsrc=6

when you're riding a bike, going through a roundabout supposedly increases your chance of being hit by about 3x compared with a regular intersection (wnich sounds right, based on my experience with the only one in ottawa). so, i don't like them.

  On 12/28/2011 at 7:52 PM, feltcher said:

This is not too far from where I live.

 

5 Roundabouts in a ring, that you basically use as one big roundabout. Its not too bad once you get the hang of it...

 

 

It would take me a while to figure out who has right of way.

  On 12/29/2011 at 12:02 AM, hautlle said:

Yeah, there's a few here too. I hate people that fucking stop in the middle of the roundabout to let other people in..... Pisses me off to no end They're not even as complicated as the ones pictured above either

 

http://maps.google.c...=m&z=18&vpsrc=6

Im fairly sure stopping on one is illegal. Unless theres traffic on it.

  On 12/29/2011 at 12:02 AM, hautlle said:

Yeah, there's a few here too. I hate people that fucking stop in the middle of the roundabout to let other people in..... Pisses me off to no end They're not even as complicated as the ones pictured above either

 

http://maps.google.c...=m&z=18&vpsrc=6

*follows link*

*wonders why there's a roundabout in the middle of nowhere*

theres a roundabout right outside my house and a lot more around town right here in the Little Apple - Manhattan , KS!!!

there are a bunch in south jersey but here in northern nj we are too busy doing other things in the car to be responsible enough to handle them. I did encounter quite a few in Arizona last year.

coolville is like 100% roundabouts