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Kirkland Roundabouts

kirklandroundabouts.com

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Re: Kirkland Roundabouts

#41

Post by GauntletWizard »

WalterBright wrote: post #22

There's one installed a few years ago north of it where 132nd goes under the freeway. It used to have 2 lights to get through under the freeway. Now there are 2 roundabouts. I never have to wait anymore. It's a big win.

Yes, because nobody goes that way anymore - It's too much of a time sink, significantly because you never end up where you want to go. Instead the real crossing points got even more crowded, or were until this abomination got installed.

Thankfully, I literally sold my house because of it, and my timing was good and I got out before prices dropped.

Re: Kirkland Roundabouts

#43

Post by ddxv »

faxmeyourcode wrote: post #40

A town I grew up in went absolutely crazy with roundabouts over the last 10 years or so. They built them everywhere. Most are pretty straightforward and they simplify traffic a ton but there were some bad design choices made. Take this similarly confusing double-roundabout for example https://maps.app.goo.gl/VTSrSWsBGnsYyzKU6 There are accidents here almost every week and when an out of towner comes off the interstat…

Wow, thanks for sharing that maps. Looking at the satellite is wild. It's all roads and parking lots, barely any buildings. Even if you did fix the massive road infrastructure, what would they do, give the land back to businesses nearby?

Re: Kirkland Roundabouts

#44

Post by 2bitencryption »

smithkl42 wrote: post #6

I've been driving roundabouts for decades, and think they're great - they really help with traffic flow. I've never found them confusing. I had to drive this specific Kirkland roundabout the other day, and ended up missing my offramp and going in completely the wrong direction. It's the most confusing roundabout I've ever seen.

I live moments away from this roundabout. It's confusing. Single-lane roundabouts are really straightforward. You're either clear to enter, or you're not.

Adding lanes makes it far more confusing. I consider myself, you know, pretty smart. Not stupid, at least.

But I almost sideswiped someone in this roundabout the other day. Years of driving experience gave me an intuition that the middle lane would not cross over the outer lane. E.x. a car in the inner lane would not pass through the outer lane (except at the very end). So when I saw an oncoming car in the inner lane I thoguht I was safe to enter the outer lane. Not so. The inner lane car was actually lane-changing to the outer lane (at the exact point I was about to enter the roundabout) in order to exit.

Re: Kirkland Roundabouts

#45

Post by WalterBright »

GauntletWizard wrote: post #41
WalterBright wrote: post #22

There's one installed a few years ago north of it where 132nd goes under the freeway. It used to have 2 lights to get through under the freeway. Now there are 2 roundabouts. I never have to wait anymore. It's a big win.

Yes, because nobody goes that way anymore - It's too much of a time sink, significantly because you never end up where you want to go. Instead the real crossing points got even more crowded, or were until this abomination got installed. Thankfully, I literally sold my house because of it, and my timing was good and I got out before prices dropped.

Another reason it's way better is because of all the time spent waiting at a red light when there's zero cross traffic. The traffic lights all have cameras now, you'd think the traffic engineers would hook it up to AI and optimize the lights. But no.

A taste of what that would be like is when all the power goes out, including the power to the traffic lights. Traffic moves faster! Because drivers cooperate. Traffic also moves faster when a cop is directing traffic.

Re: Kirkland Roundabouts

#46

Post by cespare »

I live a couple of blocks away from this Kirkland roundabout and I drive through it very often -- almost every time I go anywhere. Overall, I like it. My average traversal through the roundabout, for just about any source/destination, seems a bit faster than the pre-roundabout infrastructure and much faster than the temporary so-many-stoplights configuration they had for the past year or two.

Re: Kirkland Roundabouts

#48

Post by testing22321 »

faxmeyourcode wrote: post #40

A town I grew up in went absolutely crazy with roundabouts over the last 10 years or so. They built them everywhere. Most are pretty straightforward and they simplify traffic a ton but there were some bad design choices made. Take this similarly confusing double-roundabout for example https://maps.app.goo.gl/VTSrSWsBGnsYyzKU6 There are accidents here almost every week and when an out of towner comes off the interstat…

I grew up in a town in Australia nicknamed “the city of roundabouts.”

Four way stops simply don’t exist.

When well designed, roundabouts are excellent for traffic flow and reducing accidents and severity of accidents.

If I was king for a day I’d replace all four way stops with them.

Re: Kirkland Roundabouts

#49

Post by strken »

testing22321 wrote: post #48
faxmeyourcode wrote: post #40

A town I grew up in went absolutely crazy with roundabouts over the last 10 years or so. They built them everywhere. Most are pretty straightforward and they simplify traffic a ton but there were some bad design choices made. Take this similarly confusing double-roundabout for example https://maps.app.goo.gl/VTSrSWsBGnsYyzKU6 There are accidents here almost every week and when an out of towner comes off the interstat…

I grew up in a town in Australia nicknamed “the city of roundabouts.” Four way stops simply don’t exist. When well designed, roundabouts are excellent for traffic flow and reducing accidents and severity of accidents. If I was king for a day I’d replace all four way stops with them.

I don't think Australia has many true four way stops in cities and towns. Usually there's a give way sign on two of the directions, or lights, or a roundabout.

Unmarked intersections do exist, mostly on bush tracks and backroads, but I don't think I've ever seen the four stop sign arrangement here in Vic. Apparently it's slightly more common in NSW.

Re: Kirkland Roundabouts

#50

Post by dwd »

2bitencryption wrote: post #44
smithkl42 wrote: post #6

I've been driving roundabouts for decades, and think they're great - they really help with traffic flow. I've never found them confusing. I had to drive this specific Kirkland roundabout the other day, and ended up missing my offramp and going in completely the wrong direction. It's the most confusing roundabout I've ever seen.

I live moments away from this roundabout. It's confusing. Single-lane roundabouts are really straightforward. You're either clear to enter, or you're not. Adding lanes makes it far more confusing. I consider myself, you know, pretty smart. Not stupid, at least. But I almost sideswiped someone in this roundabout the other day. Years of driving experience gave me an intuition that the middle lane would not cross over t…

> Single-lane roundabouts are really straightforward

Like the Arc de Triomphe roundabout? :)

If it had lane marking there would apparently be 10 tracks around the circle.

What makes it seem crazy is cars entering have right of way.

The reason it works seems to be French attitude. Cars entering do their thing, and cars already going around do their thing (and just have to avoid anyone on their right).

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