Welcome to the Roadscapes Wednesday segment! Each week here on Geek Alabama, Roadscapes Wednesday will feature roads and infrastructure related topics. Geek Alabama Editor / Publisher Nathan Young is often called the “road geek” for a good reason, Nathan loves roads and loves talking about roads!
Roundabouts, a very simple traffic intersection idea, where cars travel in one direction around a circle, with yield signs for incoming traffic instead of the traffic lights most people were used to. Modern roundabouts were introduced in England in the 1950s, and they began to be widely built across that country after that. In America, the first roundabout was built in 1990 in Summerlin, Nevada. A planned community on the west side of Las Vegas. From there, they started to spread around North America aswell. But they aren’t perfect for every situation.
There are definitely certain roundabouts that are dreaded by locals, feeling chaotic and crowded, and resulting in alot of accidents, which ends up defeating the purpose of the roundabout all together, which was likely installed to reduce these accidents and fatalities. Because of this, alternatives have been designed. One of these is the turbo roundabout. A design created to eliminate lane changes, slow things down and make them run smoother, in turn working as a safer version of the original roundabout design. So today I’m going to give you a bit of info on what this is, why it’s here & why it could be better or worse.
