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I like roundabouts over lights at small intersections. I still prefer simple give way/stop that changes the next intersection over roundabouts. Lights suck unl

by grebc 10d ago

I like roundabouts over lights at small intersections. I still prefer simple give way/stop that changes the next intersection over roundabouts. Lights suck unless there’s sufficient traffic.

projektfu 10d ago
I've lived some places where 4-way stops were just abused, like Sugarland, TX. England and Ireland are full of roundabouts, some of which are incredibly small, just a painted dot, and some are giant multi-lane white-knuckle nightmares. There are places with good traffic light setups, but traffic lights generally suffer from the same problems of sometimes stopping traffic for no good reason while also encouraging excess speed. In my current city, I can identify at least 3 intersections that would be better as a roundabout, but I don't have my hopes up.
- grebc 10d ago
  Yeah, I know what you mean by abusing 4 way stops being abused. Thankfully I moved from there a long time ago. Also where I moved from recently, they changed a roundabout intersection into a traffic lights intersection. And the traffic used to flow. Now it’s a stand still. There’s always so many little insights when you use the road daily that a planner will never have unless they do the same. Melbourne where I am kind of close to now, has an absolute clusterf*ck of overpasses, underpasses, toll ways, free ways, tunnels all coming & going out of a neatly planned grid. They probably think it’s planning perfection while driving it as a non-resident is an absolute nightmare. Sydney which is famously poo poo’d for not being planned in Australia is 10x more straight forward to drive.
UltraSane 10d ago
They replaced a intersection near me that would get backed up very badly during rush hour with a roundabout that has a much higher capacity and never seems to get backed up.
Sohcahtoa82 10d ago
> Lights suck unless there’s sufficient traffic. This is basically it. Roundabouts make sense for low/moderate traffic, but you get to a point where the traffic gets so heavy that a roundabout just clogs things up, especially when traffic is primarily coming from one direction. I will die on one hill though: 4-way Stop intersections should absolutely never exist, and any situation where you think a 4-way Stop is appropriate should be replaced with a roundabout.

by grebc 10d ago

I like roundabouts over lights at small intersections. I still prefer simple give way/stop that changes the next intersection over roundabouts. Lights suck unless there’s sufficient traffic.

projektfu 10d ago

I've lived some places where 4-way stops were just abused, like Sugarland, TX. England and Ireland are full of roundabouts, some of which are incredibly small, just a painted dot, and some are giant multi-lane white-knuckle nightmares. There are places with good traffic light setups, but traffic lights generally suffer from the same problems of sometimes stopping traffic for no good reason while also encouraging excess speed. In my current city, I can identify at least 3 intersections that would be better as a roundabout, but I don't have my hopes up.

grebc 10d ago
Yeah, I know what you mean by abusing 4 way stops being abused. Thankfully I moved from there a long time ago. Also where I moved from recently, they changed a roundabout intersection into a traffic lights intersection. And the traffic used to flow. Now it’s a stand still. There’s always so many little insights when you use the road daily that a planner will never have unless they do the same. Melbourne where I am kind of close to now, has an absolute clusterf*ck of overpasses, underpasses, toll ways, free ways, tunnels all coming & going out of a neatly planned grid. They probably think it’s planning perfection while driving it as a non-resident is an absolute nightmare. Sydney which is famously poo poo’d for not being planned in Australia is 10x more straight forward to drive.

UltraSane 10d ago

They replaced a intersection near me that would get backed up very badly during rush hour with a roundabout that has a much higher capacity and never seems to get backed up.

Sohcahtoa82 10d ago

> Lights suck unless there’s sufficient traffic. This is basically it. Roundabouts make sense for low/moderate traffic, but you get to a point where the traffic gets so heavy that a roundabout just clogs things up, especially when traffic is primarily coming from one direction. I will die on one hill though: 4-way Stop intersections should absolutely never exist, and any situation where you think a 4-way Stop is appropriate should be replaced with a roundabout.