Every wonder how long it will take a traffic light to change?

[41magsnub]

I too like roundabouts.

I understand the objections to them, which are namely that all other drivers are inattentive idiots, but I like more Darwinistic solutions in public space that aren't predicated on the least common denominators among us. 

Same here, except my town started sticking them in all over the place where the intersection was perfectly fine as uncontrolled, or in a spot where the traffic so heavy that one idiot at the roundabout screws it up for a huge number of people.

Also..  if building a roundabout - don't do a bunch of fricking tall landscaping the middle of it to where it obstructs the view of the traffic coming in other directions!

[KD5NRH]

Good idea if the diameter is large enough.

The new one in front of our airport is ridiculous.  It is only about a (small) car's length between each ingress/egress.  You almost run into yourself going around.

Neither extreme is great.  Case in point, the giant traffic oval on US377 at Alta Mere and Southwest on the southwest edge of Fort Worth.  It's so damn big, you always feel like you've already missed your exit, and it just seems like the acre or more in the middle of it is a terrible waste.

Oh, and wrong way tire damagers should be mandatory, along with heavy fines and vehicle forfeiture for blocking the road with your freshly de-rubbered car.

[TechMan]

This is  close to my house- someone had a roundaboutgasm when they redid the road.

https://maps.google.com/maps?ie=UTF-8&q=Cabela's&fb=1&gl=us&hq=cabelas+richfield&cid=4107625942258610102&ei=AbnqUvT_BuexsQS4n4DoAw&ved=0CKsBEPwSMAo

We have some roundabouts, but ODOT decided to implement this intersection along one of the heavier state roads in the next county up.

https://goo.gl/maps/Ryx8S

[KD5NRH]

We have some roundabouts, but ODOT decided to implement this intersection along one of the heavier state roads in the next county up.

https://goo.gl/maps/Ryx8S

So there's no option to stay on Tylersville Road from either direction?

Major asshattery there on the engineers' part.  I predict a lot of very unhappy drivers who do such logical things as try to follow a single road from where they are to where they need to be.

[TechMan]

So there's no option to stay on Tylersville Road from either direction?

Major asshattery there on the engineers' part.  I predict a lot of very unhappy drivers who do such logical things as try to follow a single road from where they are to where they need to be.

Correct.  If you are traveling Eastbound or Westbound on Tylersville Road you must turn on to Route 4 Bypass, then make a legal U turn and go back the opposite way on Route 4 Bypass and then turn back on to Tylersville Road in the original direction you were heading.

ETA: Video demo of how it works: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3-lLBZbRqo

[fifth_column]

I recall a sci-fi story, might have been Heinlein, that had an artificial intelligence that derived from an automated traffic control system.  Maybe in LA? 

[MechAg94]

IMO, a properly managed light or set of lights work just fine.  IMO, circles work well as long as the traffic isn't too heavy.  We have bad mix of agressive and overly-careful drivers here so I hate think how that would turn out.  

The lights that piss me off (or used to, they put in a bunch of overpasses recently) were the ones that were deliberately timed to prevent you from being able to cruise through the lights.  They deliberately stopped you at nearly every other light, I assume to make sure traffic didn't get going too fast.  

[KD5NRH]

Correct.  If you are traveling Eastbound or Westbound on Tylersville Road you must turn on to Route 4 Bypass, then make a legal U turn and go back the opposite way on Route 4 Bypass and then turn back on to Tylersville Road in the original direction you were heading.

Somebody's getting kickbacks from the striping paint and traffic light vendors.

[KD5NRH]

The lights that piss me off (or used to, they put in a bunch of overpasses recently) were the ones that were deliberately timed to prevent you from being able to cruise through the lights.  They deliberately stopped you at nearly every other light, I assume to make sure traffic didn't get going too fast.

Timed properly, they could keep traffic going right at the speed limit.  Timed poorly, as on SH121 where it now serves as a six lane access road for the Sam Rayburn Tollway, they just piss you off in an attempt to get you to pay for the tollway.

[Fly320s]

This is  close to my house- someone had a roundaboutgasm when they redid the road.

https://maps.google.com/maps?ie=UTF-8&q=Cabela's&fb=1&gl=us&hq=cabelas+richfield&cid=4107625942258610102&ei=AbnqUvT_BuexsQS4n4DoAw&ved=0CKsBEPwSMAo

Reminds me of a few roads in Ireland.

[roo_ster]

We have some roundabouts, but ODOT decided to implement this intersection along one of the heavier state roads in the next county up.

https://goo.gl/maps/Ryx8S

Got something like that around here.

[BlueStarLizzard]

There is one traffic circle that I get to go through every friday night.
I hate that stupid thing. I want lights and an intersection.

Someone ALWAYS trys to ram me around that thing, if I don't get to do some defensive driving in the circle, I get to do it right as I come out. All four corners have some sort of store. In that whole drive, the only place people get stupid is Gordensville. I think driving in loops causes perminate brain damage.

[Scout26]

Reminds me that I had this as my e-mail tagline when I worked at Airborne Express.


"Stop lights timed for 35mph are also timed for 70mph."

[AJ Dual]

I recall a sci-fi story, might have been Heinlein, that had an artificial intelligence that derived from an automated traffic control system.  Maybe in LA? 

You might be thinking of "Mike", Mycroft Holmes from "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress". The IBM supercomputer that ran the Lunar city/penal colony systems that gained self awareness by having more and more systems and parts added onto him.

[freakazoid]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Tdu4uKSZ3M

[HankB]

Or some ghetto trash running through 30 mph over the speed limit 3 seconds after thier light went red- as was the case where I almost got killed a few weeks back.

Not just ghetto trash. I've lived in the Austin, TX area for some 17+ years now, and in my first three months down here, I saw more blatant red-light-running than in my previous lifetime. 

[brimic]

We have some roundabouts, but ODOT decided to implement this intersection along one of the heavier state roads in the next county up.

https://goo.gl/maps/Ryx8S

That makes my head hurt.

[Sergeant Bob]

Reminds me of two civil engineer dads that both work for the county in my son's cup scout den- they argue incessently about roundabouts, one loves them, one hates them. 

They have roundabouts in Tijuana, Mx. They are a lot of fun and are like entering a race! I did some of them in my Laser and whooped them all!

[KD5NRH]

There is one traffic circle that I get to go through every friday night.
I hate that stupid thing. I want lights and an intersection.

Someone ALWAYS trys to ram me around that thing, if I don't get to do some defensive driving in the circle, I get to do it right as I come out. All four corners have some sort of store. In that whole drive, the only place people get stupid is Gordensville. I think driving in loops causes perminate brain damage.

I think I see the problem.

[bedlamite]

Part of me wants to get enough people together with full gas tanks and have line of cars continuously driving around a busy roundabout during rush hour.

[AJ Dual]

Part of me wants to get enough people together with full gas tanks and have line of cars continuously driving around a busy roundabout during rush hour.

"Hey look kids, there's Big Ben, and there's Parliament... again."

[brimic]

Part of me wants to get enough people together with full gas tanks and have line of cars continuously driving around a busy roundabout during rush hour.

Part of me likes that idea a lot. 

[BlueStarLizzard]

I think I see the problem.

There are four roads that lead into the circle. There is a store on both sides of three of the roads. Which, if you draw a straight line from store to store, you, more or less get a square with a circle smacked in the middle.

Like I said, it's a very stupid traffic whatever.

[Tallpine]

The trouble is that they always add the roundabout after the fact - when there is too much stuff already built to make room for the circle.

[Strings]

I've seen a few of those roundaboutgasms (SO stealing that). Great fun on the bike with little traffic. Absolute PITA with normal traffic in a car