General Road and Highway Discussion

[ijmorlan]

Given that it's a one lane roundabout, it is going to be orders of magnitude safer than the monstrosities that the region builds, but that doesn't change the fact that in the middle of a residential neighbourhood they build an intersection designed to facilitate high speed traffic at the expense of pedestrian and cyclist safety---this is why people drive.

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I cannot measure the new traffic circle because I have no Google Maps satelite photo of it yet but I'm guessing it's going to be at least as big as the new ones on Laurelwood Dr., and that's leaving aside the different geometry (what I'm calling a turbo roundabout) which enables drivers to pass through it even faster.

Thanks. What I found on “turbo” roundabouts seemed to imply that they are multi-lane roundabouts:

http://www.turboroundabout.com/turbo-roundabout.html

I think that’s a different usage.

I agree that in the middle of a residential neighbourhood is not a place where we need an oversized roundabout. It’s perfectly fine if large trucks have to navigate carefully to get through — leave the wide-open spaces to the main highways.

I’ll have to get out to the new road to see what it’s like. It doesn’t yet appear on Google Maps, and of course it isn’t visible in the overhead photography yet so I’m not even clear on its exact route.

The thought just occurred to me that the repressive zoning rules don’t carry over into traffic design. One could imagine a world in which industrial areas were designed with large truck-friendly vehicle infrastructure while residential areas were designed with narrow pedestrian-friendly streets; but instead (almost) everything is designed for fast vehicle traffic.