Why America doesn't do roundabouts

[DocBrown]

Originally Posted by Lady Fitzgerald

If roundabouts are so great, why did the U.S. stop using them decades ago? We used to have them here, then they were phased out. So why are we bringing them back? They are almost as bad as the stupid disappearing right lanes on freeways!

The US stopped using them? When? I didn't know anyone stopped. Must be a thing specific to AZ. In WI they've been slowing adding them for the past 20 years or so. As roads get rebuilt we're seeing more and more of them.

[oldmanAZ]

Originally Posted by Lady Fitzgerald

If roundabouts are so great, why did the U.S. stop using them decades ago? We used to have them here, then they were phased out. So why are we bringing them back? They are almost as bad as the stupid disappearing right lanes on freeways!

Look to your north, Lady Fitzgerald: They've built many of them in Cottonwood, Clarkdale, Sedona, and Camp Verde.

Maybe they should implement more 'Michigan Left Turns'
A Michigan left replaces each left turn with a U-turn and then a right turn.
Or you could also say it replaces a left turn with two left turns, a merge into a left lane, a lane change to the right lane, and then a right turn.

[NewBlackDak]

We're the first house on the street, and they replaced the 4-way stop with a roundabout. It's nearly impossible to get out of the driveway now. People fly though at 40 even with a posted limit of 15.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[CrazyDawgMom]

During my very first 5th wheel towing lesson, my 'navigator' accidentally had me take a route that had not one but TWO roundabouts to get through. I hate driving through them in a car and there I was pulling the 5th wheel around them! I made it but I think I did close my eyes a couple of times.

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Originally Posted by oldmanAZ

Look to your north, Lady Fitzgerald: They've built many of them in Cottonwood, Clarkdale, Sedona, and Camp Verde.

Maybe they should implement more 'Michigan Left Turns'
A Michigan left replaces each left turn with a U-turn and then a right turn.
Or you could also say it replaces a left turn with two left turns, a merge into a left lane, a lane change to the right lane, and then a right turn.

I've seen (and cursed) them all around the Verde Valley (the areas you mentioned). I also encountered one on US 60 in Wickenburg. Tempe has gone nuts with them (Tempe has gone nuts, period). I've also seen them up in the Arcadia area in Phoenix and in nearby parts of Scottsdale.

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Originally Posted by DocBrown

The US stopped using them? When? I didn't know anyone stopped. Must be a thing specific to AZ. In WI they've been slowing adding them for the past 20 years or so. As roads get rebuilt we're seeing more and more of them.

I remember some in MO and AZ fifty years ago (and later in CA) but they were phased out shortly after that (back then, they were called traffic circles, along with some more colorful terms I wasn't supposed to hear due to my age). I also remember my parents commenting about how there used to be even more of them before that but they were removed because they couldn't handle the traffic (plus everyone hated them). I saw one removed in the Abilene area of TX back in the late '60s (I don't remember if it was in Abilene itself or in a nearby burg). It seems as towns grew and the streets were widened, they got rid of them.

[RedHorse1]

In the pre-GPS days they were pretty useful when driving in the U.K. Driving cross country could be a challenge as the signage told you what the next town was not necessarily a road number. I just keep goin' round till my navigator figures out which exit to take. I always called them "loopty-bouts". If I made the wrong turn the next loopty-bout was an easy U-turn.