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- Thread starter CAJUNLAWYER
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SnidelyWhiplash
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SnidelyWhiplash
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SnidelyWhiplash
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Your photo shows the gutter (rather than a curb) that I was describing in my last post.In and around Bellingham, most of the roundabouts actually make sense, and they have "sensible foliage." Several years ago, they put one of the first ones in a couple of blocks from my gf's house, which had been a nightmare intersection as I-5 is right there on the north as well as a major N-S road and it took ages to cross or turn due to the constant flow of traffic. I remember we were so relieved that we saluted the road crew one day as they were finishing it.
There are in fact TWO roundabouts there, one on each side of I-5. The one in the pic is on the south side.
The area you described above sounds EXACTLY like where the Barker Road overpass crosses I-90 here in Spokane Valley. With a stoplight on both ends of the overpass to regulate the flow on Barker, and the freeway on and off ramps, the traffic would back up both directions on Barker for a half mile, and the off ramps would both be backed up onto the freeway.
With the roundabouts it is rare to see more than half a dozen cars waiting to get through the intersections in any direction.
They did the same thing here - right before a developer started building a bunch of apartment complexes. It was actually good planning on their part - because they knew how much additional traffic the apartments would bring to the neighborhood. Hopefully that isn't what is about to happen where you are.
LVSteve
Member
That gives me a flashback to when I approached a roundabout in England to find the road number I was looking for wasn't on any of the signs. It had been last time I'd been there about a year before. I circled the roundabout yelling, "Where the A6 gone?" much to the amusement of my girlfriend. I dove off at the exit that looked right and was rewarded after about 500 yards with a sign that read "A1081 (was A6)". Renumbering roads to direct you where they think is better is a major hobby of highway 'planners' in England.
mckenney99
Member
Yeah roundabouts are sprouting up here about as fast as dandelions. One of the local intersections in town is on a US route that is the POSTED designated truck route. Unfortunately some genius engineer got involved and made the roundabout's radius TOO TIGHT for semi trucks to make it around the roundabout without the rear axles of the truck riding up onto the interior planter walls. Frickin' idiots.
One advantage, though, is that if you're not sure which exit to take, you can keep going around and around and around until you come to a decision. BTDT
We call them "Suicide Circles."
Yeah, the roundabouts are going in everywhere here in Spokane too.
In a lot of cases they really improve traffic flow, and even safety, through an intersection - as long as people know how to use them.
Then you get the idiot who is afraid to enter the roundabout if there are ANY cars ANYWHERE in the circle.
Or the other idiot that doesn't know when to yield and just barges in cutting other people off.
A SIMPLE stoplight at an intersection is WAY cheaper than those stupid roundabouts.
Those marks are from big trucks that can't make the tiny turns
OP
CAJUNLAWYER
Member
They put in a roundabout here....my wife got lost and almost ran out of gas.Yeah, the roundabouts are going in everywhere here in Spokane too.
In a lot of cases they really improve traffic flow, and even safety, through an intersection - as long as people know how to use them.
Then you get the idiot who is afraid to enter the roundabout if there are ANY cars ANYWHERE in the circle.
Or the other idiot that doesn't know when to yield and just barges in cutting other people off.
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"Look kids- Big Ben,, Parliament...."
Roundabouts and crossover bridges are my 2 big pet peeves about the roads here. Oh, and drivers with their nose in a cell phone. And...I better stop before I write a book.
I like roundabout. They can really move traffic. Go ahead and flog me if you want, but I have seen the results. Old people like myself often criticize them and my go to reply is. "If your driving abilities are so poor that you cannot look over your left shoulder and see a car approaching and then slow down to it clears, then proceed then you shouldn't be driving". A man I know lived in a very congested town in a horribly laid out road system with an abundance of traffic lights. He found out they were removing the light near his house and installing a roundabout. He blew a gasket. Even got a meeting with the governor. Countless letters to the editors and petition campaign. Nothing would change their mind. Constuction was completed and he had to go to the store, and he got into his first roundabout and made 3 trips around before he got out. Then he had to re-enter it to get home. Next morning he started writing apology letters to every official he ever bothered and a letter to the editor apologizing. He said he had the smoothest fastest trip to the store he had had in years.
"Your photo shows the gutter (rather than a curb) that I was describing in my last post."
The 'curb' you mention is actually a mountable curb. It is constructed that way on purpose to permit articulated vehicles trailers to ride up on the curb rather than building the circle large enough to handle the large vehicles. The round-abouts would be significantly larger without this design.
The 'curb' you mention is actually a mountable curb. It is constructed that way on purpose to permit articulated vehicles trailers to ride up on the curb rather than building the circle large enough to handle the large vehicles. The round-abouts would be significantly larger without this design.
The curb is also made that way for EMS vehicles like long fire trucks, ambulances that don't want to be whipping r and l at speed, police cars in a chase, etc.
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