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The Irony Of It All
Brad Hollerbach

Cape Needs A 21st Century Roundabout

Posted Wednesday, July 7, 2010, at 12:00 AM

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  • Ye Gads and little fishes, a vertical parking lot or did a flying saucer lose one of its rings?

    -- Posted by voyager on Wed, Jul 7, 2010, at 8:01 AM
  • This video might help explain.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wiZoVAZGgsw

    And kudos to Christopher for loaning me his sons' Hot Wheels track.

    Thanks for reading.

    -- Posted by Brad_Hollerbach on Wed, Jul 7, 2010, at 8:39 AM
  • Many people lump all circular intersections under one label, incorrectly. If it has stop signs, it's not a roundabout. If you don't have to slow to 25 mph or less to drive it, it's not a roundabout. If you don't have to yield to drivers already in the circular roadway, it's not a roundabout. The locations cited in Jonesboro and Chafee are traffic circles, for the reasons cited, not roundabouts. Modern roundabouts are one of the safest and most efficient intersections, with up to half the crashes, up to 80% fewer injury/fatal crashes, and significantly less delay than comparable signalized intersections. It's the small size, compared to east-coast rotaries, that provides these benefits.

    For facts, try a search for 'roundabouts' at www.fhwa.gov or www.iihs.org.

    -- Posted by ScottRAB on Wed, Jul 7, 2010, at 12:32 PM
  • TomatOH, TomatAH regarding "traffic circle" versus "roundabout." To most people and according to Dictionary.com they are synonymous.

    Personally, I don't mind roundabouts (I like that name better than traffic circle or another synonym, rotary). Usually it's "the other guy" who seems to have problems with them and then creates a problem for everyone else.

    There are plenty of other things that are more dangerous than driving around one of these traffic circles such as the drivers who do everything else (phone, text, eat, apply makeup etc) but pay attention to the road.

    Of course, the point of this blog (as if there actually ever a point to any of my blogs) was to showcase what a giant HotWheels loop would look over downtown Cape. Actually, I guess I really should have two loops, one for north bound traffic and one for south bound.

    Well, back to Photoshop and thanks for reading.

    -- Posted by Brad_Hollerbach on Wed, Jul 7, 2010, at 1:11 PM
  • I use the controversial roundabout in Cape almost daily. And every other day someone treats it like it's a 4-way stop and pulls out in front of me because they think it's their turn. Generally it's an older person driving, but not always. It's frustrating, but it's not the roundabout's fault.

    -- Posted by GoodStory on Wed, Jul 7, 2010, at 2:03 PM