Recent comments in /f/rva

szeis4cookie t1_jahrcty wrote

That will flow cars better, at the expense of pedestrians trying to cross. I'm not sure how you fix that without defeating the purpose of the roundabout - if you move the crosswalks back from the intersection car traffic wouldn't yield unless you put in a traffic light, and if you put in a traffic light you're right back where you started. Ped bridges/underpasses add expense and ADA compliance complexity.

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The_Kentwood_Farms t1_jahp6lt wrote

Yes! I grew up in a small MA town that hinged on two rotaries. There was no signage, people just knew how to navigate them, people drove through them like raped apes, but there was still very little issues because folks just knew how to use them.

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gravy_boot t1_jaho4qv wrote

This is true, but the alternative would likely be worse considering those intersections move a lot of people/cars, and wouldn't support the large central common areas. Broad/Boulevard may not be big enough for this, although it's bordered by things a lot of people wouldn't miss if they were gobbled up by an expansion...

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gravy_boot t1_jahmt7t wrote

I was basing this on the presumption in the comment I replied to that it's not safe for pedestrians as a standard no-lights circle (not that I necessarily agree with that), and thinking more along the lines of Dupont/Logan where there are light-controlled xing areas inside the circle between the corners, allowing peds to move around the circle and into the common area in the middle.

> "This circle has a series of lights, which effectively kills any chance of it being a true traffic circle. ..."

But is it better than an 8-lane 4-way stop light?

> " This also makes merging into the circle difficult, because given the light cycle the circle may be filled with stopped cars which often create their own lanes."

The in the dc examples, the inner/outer lanes are physically separated so this doesn't happen.

Another thought would be to let ped x-ing buttons control the existing lights one block out from the circle, to stem the flow of cars long enough to cross without snarling the traffic already in the circle.

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