Reply To: Irelands Ten Worst Roundabouts

Two quickies:

US roundabouts – there are plenty, and there are also loads of a horrible device called a traffic circle that appears designed to cause accidents. Check this out:

http://www.tfhrc.gov/pubrds/fall95/p95a41.htm

You should check out the terrible interchanges that exist between freeways and surface streets in the US as well. Try the single-point urban interchange (scroll down a bit):

http://www.kurumi.com/roads/interchanges/spui.html

… or this take on the most common motorway-motorway interchange in the UK, the three-level stacked roundabout:

http://www.kurumi.com/roads/interchanges/volleyball.html

… and there is of course the most common full interchange in the US (and Germany), the cloverleaf – poor capacity, low speeds and weaving traffic all in one. It’s probably better than this though:

http://www.centerturn.com/

… and any other interchange design with overtaking-lane exits, of which we are getting a few along the M50.

Italian autostrade – these are not world-class; they have extremely narrow lanes, no hard shoulders and poor interchanges. When combined with Italian driving, they are amongst the most intimidating roads you’ll ever encounter. In fact, people who have experience of excellent British or American motorways and dismiss ours as pathetic may be surprised by the poor quality of much of Europe’s network.