Traffic engineers developing senility?

[LibraryLady]

For those of us "long in the tooth".......we can remember:

Traffic circle at Harry Hines.......result: MANY wrecks, so the circle was removed
Traffic circle on Camp Bowie, FW ......result: MANY wrecks, so the circle was removed
Traffic circle in Brownwood, Tx.......result: wrecks, so circle was removed.

Tonight's news: Sound the horns, FW will install TWO traffic circles--one on either end of a new bridge that is planned.

Do you like traffic circles?

I HATE, HATE, HATE them.

[LibraryLady]

Traffic circle in Paris, France

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lay8aZlsbB0

[LibraryLady]

Mythbusters takes on 4 way stop vs roundabout

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OvoFjirrgYA

[planosteve]

We had another traffic engineer brainfart in Plano at Preston Road & Hedgecox. To make a left turn onto Preston, you had to be in the far right lane, enter Preston Road going the wrong way and then making a U turn to go south. They finally are tearing it out.

[Houston]

did roundabouts several years ago in Scotland.
1. seemed to have larger circles than here
2. much lighter traffic than the ones here in Ga.

no not like them but seems the government wants us to be like Europe.
so gotta go with the circles.

are yall in Texas getting the "diverging diamonds" at interstates yet? we are getting them
here. strange but seem to be working.

[BigTex]

The must be OK. Everybody thinks everything is perfect in Fort Worth.

[Cowman52]

At least someone had a plan. The guy who designed San Angelo traffic had a quart of shine, no flashlight , and was following a lovesick jack rabbit.

[GRANDPA]

Nearly every single one I go through are not big enough around for a tractor trailer without dragging the ass end over a curb. I hate them.

[ScottRAB]

Many people confuse older styles of circular intersections with modern roundabouts. East coast rotaries, large multi-lane traffic circles (Arc D’Triomphe), and neighborhood traffic circles are not modern roundabouts. If you want to see the difference between a traffic circle, a rotary (UK roundabout) and a modern roundabout (UK continental roundabout), go to http://tinyurl.com/kstate-RAB to see pictures. And here’s another site that shows the difference between an older rotary and a modern roundabout: http://tinyurl.com/bzf7qmg
The FHWA (http://tinyurl.com/fhwaRAB) has a video about modern roundabouts that is mostly accurate (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhHzly_6lWM ).
Modern roundabouts are designed for trucks and trailer towing vehicles by including the center flat area around the circle. It’s not a sidewalk, it’s called a truck apron, and it’s for trucks to begin a sharp right or end a left or U-turn on.

Roundabout Trucks Videos:
WA DOT: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsCoI7lERGE
FHWA: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nVzsC2fOQw
Washington County, WI: http://tinyurl.com/trucksRABwi
Ourstons: http://tinyurl.com/truckRABourston
U-turn: http://tinyurl.com/rabtruckuturn

Modern roundabouts are the safest form of intersection in the world. Visit http://tinyurl.com/iihsRAB for modern roundabout FAQs and safety facts. Modern roundabouts, and the pedestrian refuge islands approaching them, are two of nine proven safety measures identified by the FHWA, http://tinyurl.com/7qvsaem
The safety comes from the ‘slow and go’ operation instead of the ‘stop or go fast’ way a stop light works. The smaller size of properly designed modern roundabouts is what makes them safer and keeps speeds in the 20 mph range. This makes it much easier to avoid a crash or stop for pedestrians. It also means that if a crash happens the likelihood of injury is very low. Safety is the #1 reason there are over 3,000 modern roundabouts in the US today and many more on the way.

[Bob Of Burleson]

You may not be able to follow the link. The Star-Telegram seems to have fortified its firewall.

In DFW, rounding off the edges
for smoother traffic flow

By Gordon Dickson
gdickson@star-telegram.com

Lisa Wynne wasn’t looking forward to driving on any of the four roundabouts recently built in her Kennedale neighborhood. Like many drivers, she found the experience with larger traffic circles in other cities stressful.

“I often ended up in the wrong lane and went around twice,” she said.

But she was pleasantly surprised when Kennedale finished the road work. After a couple of trips through the new roundabouts, which feature a single, one-way lane moving traffic counterclockwise, she said they were easy to use and nicely landscaped.

North Texas cities are in the midst of a roundabout boom. At more than a dozen intersections in Kennedale, Colleyville, Southlake, Trophy Club and other cities, four-way stop signs have been replaced. Traffic is being routed onto a single, one-way lane around a circular median, with only yield signs at each entry point.

. . .

Fort Worth officials are pursing roundabouts aggressively.

The city has had its share of larger, old-fashioned traffic circles, and many drivers didn’t like them because of their multiple, confusing layers of lanes. Examples include the large Weatherford Traffic Circle at Camp Bowie Boulevard and Southwest Boulevard (Texas 183), and Bluebonnet Circle on the south end of University Drive.

Modern roundabouts with fewer lanes are a different story.

One recently opened at Summer Creek Drive and McPherson Boulevard, near the new Chisholm Trail Parkway toll road in southwest Fort Worth. Two are being built on East Rosedale Street, one at Mitchell Boulevard, the other at South Ayers Avenue.

Another is planned at Henderson Street and White Settlement Road, as part of the Panther Island redevelopment project north of downtown.

In north Fort Worth, a pair of roundabouts is being built on either side of the new North Riverside Drive bridge, which is under construction on both sides of North Loop 820, near the city’s Mercantile industrial area. One roundabout will be at North Riverside Drive’s intersection with Northern Cross Boulevard, the other at Fossil Creek Boulevard.

The city staff strongly favors roundabouts and included them in the design from the beginning of the North Riverside Drive project, said Councilman Danny Scarth, whose district includes the area.

Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/2014/06/14 ... rylink=cpy

[truep]

I loved the old Harry Hines circle, there used to be a bar there with a patio facing the circle.
They had a sign that said"Best entertainment in town" over the door leading to the patio.