Are there rotaries beyond New England?

[Longgrain]

All of you in the NE must know what I'm talking about...

I'm talking about rotaries.

I'm guessing the closest, common definition' would be "roundabout"

I have no clue as to what a "clover leaf" is...never drove on one,

[greatauntoftriplets]

1. There is one in DesPlaines, IL.

Damned annoying. As are the ones in New England.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

2. Are you talking about a Rotary Club?

:shrug:

[Liberty Belle]

3. Weatherford, Texas, has one.

[SaintAnne]

4. I'm down in jersey, from NE, yes there are rotaries around

down here, they call them something else, I can't remember what. I think a "clover leaf" is exits to and from highways, If you look on a map they look like four leaf clovers, I think, I'm not sure...

[Kathy in Cambridge]

9. "Cloverleaf" and "Jughandle" are circular exits

or access roads off of highways. Our rotaries in New England are hellish. No one is polite enough to navigate them.

[SaintAnne]

15. jughandle? that's a funny name, can't they just be the exit ramp?

I'm never nice when I drive in NE, because well, being polite is just too annoying, I get taken advantage of all the time when I'm nice. I let one person go, half the damn line of cars thinks they can go. grrrrrr makes me pissed

[Kathy in Cambridge]

20. We are the least polite drivers in the nation

probably because we spend the majority of time in traffic!

[MuseRider]

5. My town has decided

to go roundabout crazy. Every intersection is becoming a roundabout if it is congested at all. I hate them. The next step is to put them at the intersections here where all the high school kids clog up the streets at getting out time, the stop signs don't seem to stop them so now we have to have these things. Egads, I am not looking forward to it.

[theshadow]

10. They're really inappropriate...

... when there's heavy pedestrian traffic. Is that the case at your high school?

[MuseRider]

12. No, we are out

of the city limits here. I don't think there are any roundabouts where there is pedestrian traffic. I just know that these areas will be frightful when the kids (I know how this sounds and I don't mean to sound this way) start screaming in these circles, especially when they get icy.

[Cuban_Liberal]

6. There are many in Illinois.

Usually at county seats, with the courthouse plunked down smack-dab in the middle.

:)

[Philostopher]

21. Smaller, older cities in Ohio used to still have them.

Troy, Ohio had one the last time I was up there, though I admit that was several years ago, and there were some others that had them back in the '80s. They're absolute chaos if there's any traffic density at all, though -- we're talking about people who can't navigate a four-way stop, here. A roundabout (which is what they're usually called here) causes their brains to short-circuit!

[Longgrain]

25. Hi Philostopher...

How are you doing?

:hi:

Perhaps we'll meet in the darkroom someday.

[Philostopher]

26. Hey!

One of these days, probably when I'm on break between Christmas and New Year's, I'll go through my enormous box of photos and scan a few for the photography forum -- some of my better stuff is analog, I've been through most of my really good digital shots already!

[theshadow]

7. Wisconsin

We have one in West Bend, and it took a dangerous, accident prone intersection and made it safe... no accidents anymore. More are coming. It's a new concept in this part of the world.

[motely36]

8. Yes, a clover leaf is looks like a four leaf clover

having an exit and entrance on both sides of the highway

[RC]

11. Oahu has one near the North Shore.

Half way between Waialua and Haleiwa on Kamehameha highway.
That's the only one I know of.

Clover leafs and rotaries are two different things.
Clover leafs look like 4 leaf clovers. Rotaries look like circles with any number of roads/streets going off at different places.

http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?TrafficCircle

The advantages (and disadvantages) of traffic circles are:

1. They make people drive at 15 miles per hour (25 kmph) instead of 30 mph (50 kmph). (Disadvantage: This also slows down fire engines.)

2. You can only make right turns, thus avoiding left-turn accidents.

3. There aren't any yellow lights, so you don't have to choose between running a yellow light and getting rear-ended.

4. They discourage driving along streets that have them, promoting less traffic, and more walking. :)

5. It is a lot easier to make a U-turn.

6. Cars merge naturally into gaps in rotary traffic, creating a more even traffic flow than is possible with a traffic light and supposedly causing less backup. (However, if there are two major roads entering the traffic circle, it can get so busy that no one on the minor roads will get a chance!)

[Longgrain]

13. For your consideration...

As Rod sterling used to say...

I have to drive on two or three of these things a day! Getting on and off can be quite treacherous.

Has any one else traversed the Concord rotary along Route 2 in MA.

Has any one else seen "National Lampoon's European Vacation"?

[SaintAnne]

16. I love the one in Winchester center, can't see who's coming and going

and it's a little one too.

[Longgrain]

24. There was one really weird one I encountered....

In Pepperall Ma. (I hope I spelled that correctly). Very small rural, somewhat upscale community.

Lot's of pleasant, hobbit-like, hand painted, rustic sign posts.

Yet, driving around their little rotary, I still got the horn honked at me for not knowing which way to turn.

Yeah--ah them signs don't lead in MA.;)

[Reverend_Smitty]

14. I live in Jersey...

and we have clover leafs, circles and jug-handles a-plenty! Its a cruel joke really, lets take the state with the largest population density in the nation and cram them full of difficult traffic patterns

[Gloria]

17. Many of the "traffic circles' in Jersey have been elminated...

however, I know of a couple of doozies in Central NJ...

Pennington Circle, at Rt. 31 and 526

Flemington had one at least last time I was there a few years ago...

And the Somerville circle was supposedly taken care of it, but what they created is hell if you don't know where you're going....

Is the Eatontown circle still there, anyone???

[Reverend_Smitty]

29. There is are a few more in Central Jersey

Whithorse Circle, I want to claw my eyes out everytime I have to deal with that one. Also Brunswick circle, that one feeds into route 1

[sariku]

18. We have a couple in our town

Not many, though.

[AlCzervik]

19. There is one up the street from me but it doesn't really count

becasue it's in a sub-division, it's not a real full on one.

[BurtWorm]

22. They're all over Spain and England

from what I recall.

[CO Liberal]

23. They Have Several in Colorado Springs, Colorado

They make me homesick for New Jersey. I remember the old days, when Route 23 was one traffic circle after another - now, they're all gone....

[gizmo1979]

27. sheboygan wi

has one and is surely loved by all.not really

[Kat45]

28. I LIKE rotaries!

If a rotary wasn't there, there'd be an intersection of too many streets, each needing its own green light, which means drivers would get very long red lights. And if the street is backed up such that the driver doesn't get through the green, which inevitably happens, then there's waiting through a whole 'nother long light cycle. With the rotary, you can get through much quicker. Of course here in the Boston area, we get a new crop of outoftowners every year who don't know how to drive in rotaries. It's easy: the cars already in the rotary get the right of way.

We used to have a big rotary in Watertown Square, but a number of years ago they replaced it with an intersection of a zillion streets. Now it takes forever to get through the square, especially since you rarely get through the green light the first time. It sucks.

[Left Is Write]

30. I must need new glasses.

I could have SWORN this read "Are there ovaries beyond New England?"

[Longgrain]

31. I can't resist....

Edited...I'm such a prude,,,:evilgrin:

[yellowdogintexas]

32. there are two in Fort Worth they are called "circles'

One is small, called Bluebonnet Circle and has a wonderful little mix of restaurants and shops around it.

The other one is large and I have heard it called several things, but we call it the "Dread Circle" because the first time I drove around it was at night in the rain and I nearly got creamed!