Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Circle Power

The Economist has a short piece on roundabouts and how they are safer, faster, and slightly more confusing for Americans to use. In Ann Arbor, we have a few roundabouts. Off the top of my head, I know there's a couple near M-14 and N. Maple, and three or so near US-23 and Geddes Road. I really like them, although sometimes I get a little flummoxed while driving. Unfortunately, I don't think they're likely to be built up in the downtown area. Readers: Are there other roundabouts in the area that seem to be working well?

6 comments:

  1. When I lived in Northville and worked in Troy roundabouts were built on Maple (15 mile) at its intersections with Farmington and Drake that replaced 4-way stop signs. When the intersections were 4-way stops there were often backups of tens of cars heading Westbound on Maple. After the roundabouts were installed I would frequently have trips through the same area where I would never slow down to less than 15-20mph. I thought they were an excellent upgrade.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Near-accidents and horn honking every time I roll through one of Ann Arbor's roundabouts. The Geddes ones especially. People stop when they should go, jut out in front of other cars who have right of way, and generally act like clueless and afraid. I think they're good when people understand "the rules" and execute forward movement and don't almost hit me every time.
    I am honestly afraid for the State - Ellsworth 'bout that's planned to accommodate the Costco.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I use the Geddes one about twice a week -- morning and evening drivetimes -- and haven't seen anything untoward.

    ReplyDelete
  4. The Nixon Road/Huron Parkway one is working really well, although it took around a year for people to fully understand how to use it. You still see a couple of drivers who don't get it, but these a increasingly rare.

    ReplyDelete
  5. s/these a increasingly/these are increasingly/

    ReplyDelete
  6. The Ann Arbor Newshawks on car-train roundabouts, as part of their discussion on alternatives for the Stadium bridges.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=v6Br5BAafwM#t=324s

    ReplyDelete