Roundabouts can be a useful tool for managing intersections however they can be particularly unfriendly to people not in a car/truck. They often force pedestrians on detours to cross the street while cyclists and even motorcyclists can be quite vulnerable to impatient drivers who floor it out into the intersection at the slightest chance of a gap.
Never mind Mont Ventoux, the true pinnacle of cycling achievement is negotiating the Royal Oak roundabout.
— Lachlan Forsyth (@LachlanForsyth) August 2, 2013
On Friday night I saw the above tweet by Campbell Live reporter Lachlan Forsyth and it got me thinking about what are the worst roundabouts in Auckland. So here is my list of the five worst ones and some of these seem to just as bad for drivers as they are for pedestrians and cyclists.
Royal Oak
Seeing as Lachlan brought it up I thought we would start with this one. Five busy roads feed through this single roundabout. It is two lanes in some places and a single lane in others which helps add to some of the confusion.
Interestingly it never used to be a roundabout, back before the trams were ripped out, Manukau Rd traffic (and trams) had priority over the other arms of the intersection.
Panmure
Perhaps the most notorious roundabout in the city, it is large with multiple attached roads and subject to a lot of traffic. Thankfully the whole thing is being ripped out and replaced by a signalised intersection as part of the AMETI project.
What it will look like in the future
Greenlane
Pedestrians don’t get near this intersection whose almost sole purpose is to get vehicles into and off the motorway. I believe it is one of the busiest motorway interchanges in the city. One of the major problems for pedestrians is that if you were to get off the train, the only formal crossings across Greenlane West/East are either at Gt South Rd on the South-Western side or Ellerslie Racecourse Dr on the North-Eastern side, each which are 250-300 metres away making for a long detour.
Blockhouse Bay
Another multi-lane roundabout but this time done so in a much tighter space than the previously shown examples. Some of the legs have pedestrian crossings while others have absolutely nothing. The pedestrian crossing on Donovan St (the one on the Eastern side) adds quite a detour for walkers.
Swanson Rd
It’s the elongated shape that can make this roundabout tricky, especially if you are coming from the Swanson Rd (South-East) and wanting to get to Universal Dr (North-East). There are some gaps in traffic islands for pedestrians but you would have to be a brave person to use attempt to cross.
There are plenty of other roundabouts out there and some which actually seem to work very well but these ones seem to be some of the worst. Please feel free to add more to the list in the comments.
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Also the GI roundabout. It’s narrow, and Pt. England Rd. connects to Line Rd just before the roundabout.
No that I could really know but it looks okay to me. If it is a problem you could replace it with two signalized intersections in sync relatively easily.
I ride through GI fairly often, and find it easy and not at all intimidating, maybe because the exit lanes are relatively narrow and well defined.
Panmure is definitely towards the other end of the scale, though my vote for worst in Ak goes to Greenlane.. fortunately there’s an underpass.
Roundabouts per se are not the enemy of the cyclist or traffic safety generally.. they have a lot of good points going for them, particularly because crashes tend to be glancing blows rather than side on and relatively minor. Also from the cyclist’s perspective you have a far better chance to conserve momentum by rolling through.
Best roundabout in the world? ..by a country mile has to be the Magic Roundabout in Swindon, England ..a town of 150,000 people and 600 roundabouts. None of them ever caused me a problem in years of cycling there. Though driving counter-clockwise round the centre of the Magic Rounadbout feels a bit odd the first time round. But you can just drove around it for w few minutes to get the idea. Wiki has a good article, which also notes the popular misconception of roundabout safety.. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_Roundabout_(Swindon) now that i think of it, Panmure’s five-way interchange would have been the perfect place for another Magic Roundabout.
If you are a pedestrian and take the south entrance to the train station the GI roundabout sux as there is no pedestrian crossing across Merton rd. if you walk up the hill to cross, then there is no footpath on the south side of Merton rd. the footpath around Pernod factory is Tarmac and needs replacing.
The GI roundabout is busy and a little confusing because line rd and pt England rd arms are close together.
I remember driving through that roundabout back in the day (my sister was living in Swindon at time). The actual roundabout wouldn’t have been so bad if I hadn’t been a bit freaked out by the road sign showing what was ahead! I did mange to get through unscathed though.
Yeah, Swindon must be the worst bit of roading ever
Astonishingly given its relative youth, the roundabout at Highbrook is a total clusterfuck. It’s poorly marked out, there’s traffic crossing lanes trying to go in all directions and it has patently failed to solve any congestion problems in that area. As for riding a bike through there? Only early on weekend mornings.
The worst thing is that it’s so badly designed Auckland Transport are now seriously talking about knocking over dozens of houses in Mangere and Otahuhu to put through a motorway from the airport to Highbrook (including a bridge over the Tamaki Estuary) to deal with it (Option 4 of the East-West link). Apparently it hasn’t occurred to Auckland Transport to revisit the design of the roundabout.
That Roundabout is a shocker – especially when the Ramp signals flip on for the Northbound entering traffic and the place begins to back up. Oh and that most of Auckland drivers either don’t know what an indicator is or cant use it properly…
This one would be very easy to replace with a big signalised intersection. I imagine it could get pretty bad at the moment.
It looks like AT’s east-west link plans could destroy houses directly west of the interchange and upgrade that intersection in every option except option 3.
The Southgate (Takanini) Roundabout can be a dog when you have shoppers running in and out of Southgate itself, 2 lines of traffic barrelling in from the north end of the Great South Road owing to the useless lights sitting red for ages at Glenora Road then finally going green. Add some side streets or entrances a short distance after the roundabout (or before it if coming from Walters Road), some more traffic from Walters Road and all the best if you are a cyclist or pedestrian trying to get through that muck. And to make it worse Addison is expanding and the Takanini Village stage 1 opens in November (yay) with a nice big flash new Warehouse as its anchor tenant http://goo.gl/maps/ml6R1
Wow, I have to seriously call you out on the BHB roundabout. It’s a great roundabout for pedestrians. I went to BHB Intermediate, Lynfield College, and spent many a day of my teenage years wandering around BHB township (many of those intoxicated); even in peak hour traffic it’s easy as hell to get across and if you think the crossing on Donovan is a detour you must be lazy as all hell. The only issue is crossing on Heaphy (where the Medlabs place is) as sometimes traffic can move relatively quickly down here and there isn’t a crossing, but it isn’t a big deal. If anything the roundabout is TOO pedestrian friendly because the crossing on Blockhouse Bay road (next to the chemist) can absolutely destroy the flow of cars with just a couple of pensioners ambling their way across!
If you want a place where we need traffic lights – the intersection of Boundary and Donovan can be a nightmare to even turn left out of Donovan. It’s one of those intersections where you pray for a pedestrian to cross as it will give you a gap to get across. Please, AT, light that interesction up!
The rest I will give you, but again, driver skill matters. Royal Oak is a piece of piss (Panmure is still challenging) if you are even a halfway competent driver. What annoys me about signalised intersections vs. roundabouts is that they eliminate all of the skill from driving, the ability to play chess and figure out two cars ahead when a gap is going to open up. Might as well replace us with robots.
Actually there are plenty of worse roundabouts where the design of the roundabout forces you to slow wayyy too much, really inefficient. And keeping around BHB, the roundabout they put on at the bottom of the Whitney hill (intersection Mulgan and Margate) is the dumbest idea ever as it stops you being able to go up a very steep hill at an acceptable gear/speed; now (especially trucks!) are reduced to dropping down into really low gear.
Royal Oak had 6 roads feeding it until the early 2000s, when the bottom left one was closed off. Because of low speeds and good sight-lines (the entrances are close together – something that would never happen under modern regulations) it’s rather simple to negotiate, and not that bad for a confident cyclist. It’s still difficult for pedestrians, though the location of crossings close to the roundabout mean that there’s not too much diversion required.
I see that BHB roundabout has pedestrian crossings on only two of five approaches. IMO that’s a “D” for effort rather than a “great” outcome for pedestrians. If you want to see a roundabout that’s “great” for pedestrians you should check this bad boy out (Amsterdam): http://goo.gl/maps/ld7UX. I’ve walked, cycled, and trammed through that roundabout and it works perfectly well.
P.s. Any pedestrian facility will “destroy the flow of cars”. IMO if Auckland is to improve as a city we actually need to “destroy the flow of cars” much more often. Vehicles should not be allowed to rule the urban environment the way they have been allowed to in the roundabouts illustrated above, and the way you seem to be advocating for. Have a look at a European city like Vienna if you want to see how real cities treat pedestrians – minimising disruption to vehicles is low on their list of priorities.
So how do we fix them?
Royal Oak is tricky, as all the roads are very busy. The only option here I can see might be a 5 road traffic light. There is already one at the intersection of GSR and Manukau Rd, but that one has one one-way and one banned right turn to make things easier.
Panmure as you say is already being fixed, and the new setup will cater well for everyone except perhaps those going from Glen Innes to Pakuranga, who are a minority, and will just have to go through Panmure town centre.
I think Greenlane’s traffic woes could easily be fixed by signalising the roundabout as it is, as is common in Europe (we have some in Tauranga). You could also install a signalised pedestrian crossing around the location Nolan and Marewa Roads to address Matt’s concerns.
Blockhouse bay seems easy as clearly Heaphy St has way less traffic than the other exits, leaving the other four to be changed into a standard traffic light. However, simple closing it could mean extra travelling time of up to 5 minutes for some residents, and I can’t see the potential for any new connections to mitigate this.
Swanson Road is easy – although I don’t think this is nearly as bad as some of the others.. Simply replace it with a traffic light. Done.
Although I’ve never seen it in real life this roundabout also in Panmure looks pretty nasty – http://goo.gl/maps/yGVmD – also look at the intersection of Kings and Tripoli Rd.
Also I think some of the ones in Albany need to be replaced with signals and some have pedestrian crossings installed to improve the pedestrian environment there.
Finally this one – http://goo.gl/maps/Ru7kx – I use it quite a lot and it works okay but I can imagine with growing traffic problems it would work better as a traffic light.
There are others I know about that are pretty bad for pedestrians – except there aren’t many pedestrians so it’s not a big problem.
The Clevedon/Willis/Marne Road roundabout in Papakura is quite congested, it has traffic coming from Mill Road, the Clendon Roundabout is even worse, it is bigger than most roundabouts and it has trees surrounding it, makes it hard for drivers to see other traffic
“I believe it is one of the motorway interchanges in the city.” Yes it is, but perhaps you also meant one of the worst? 🙂
(It is that, too)
Haha, meant one of the busiest. Fixed now
Thank god Royal Oak is first. I will go out of my way to avoid that roundabout.
I use Greenlane and Owens Rd to get to the airport and don’t find the Royal Oak roundabout too bad. What it does do is make you concentrate on what you’re doing, no bad thing really.
One of the greatest problems of roundabouts is that due to the large numbers of traffic light controlled intersections NZ drivers lack the skills to drive to the road rules. This results in panic reactions at the busier roundabouts which has a flow on impact to the pedestrians negotiating the same area. Equally pedestrians are becoming less aware of their surroundings resulting in further problems. In the case of the busier roundabouts the introduction of signalised entrances should be made well before the traffic loadings have increased to the levels that they have. Had this approach been applied at Panmure I doubt it would be the problem it has become. The additional signalising of the path around a roundabout is utilised in the UK where traffic flows have increased further. This also allows for pedestrian movement across the intersection. Surely the overall objective is to allow all road users a safe and efficient route in this I would question the repeated application of cross over traffic light controlled intersections where everyone waits for all the others before proceeding.
I wonder if NZ traffic engineers tend to over-complicate the design of our urban roundabouts? Most of the roundabouts shown above have relatively complex geometry, inconsistent turning movements, and varying numbers of circulating lanes. I often ask myself whether the additional capacity associated with such complications are worth the additional confusion and safety issues that they cause?
I hate to sound like a broken record, but in the Netherlands urban roundabouts seem to be almost universally restricted to very simple configurations, even on quite major arterials. Here’s a good example of one that connects two major roads, but which has only single lane approaches. It even has a light rail line running through the middle of it: http://goo.gl/maps/0F5ed
In the Netherlands the over-arching design principle for roundabouts seems to be “keep it simple stupid”. One consequence of this is that it frees up a lot of space around the roundabout to use allocate to urban amenities, such as seating and landscaping, and/or safer treatment of pedestrians and cyclists. None of the roundabouts above seem to deliver much in the way of anything to anyone who’s not in a car.
I should say that it’s not only NZ engineers who seem to have become infatuated with highly complex roundabout configurations: The UK is just as bad in my experience.
The roundabout at Ayr St/Brighton Rd/Shore Rd seems like a great example of that spirit. All four streets that meet there are just one lane each way, but for a few metres they all balloon out to two lanes, just to go through the roundabout. It’s not one of the worst roundabouts in Auckland, but it might be the most pointlessly overdone. It even has a two-lane free left turn.
yes! Good point – that is a funny roundabout. Encourages high speeds right on the edge of a park where kids play cricket.
There is also only one pedestrian crossing or refuge out of all 4 approach roads.
Have sent in a complaint to Waitemata Local Board about this one, were going to get an AT engineer out to look at it.
Even sillier one is probably the one added in the last couple of years to the intersection of Seymour Rd and Pars Cross Rd out west (you can still see the old layout on google maps. They added two very narrow straight through lanes heading south on Pars cross Rd even though there isn’t really the space for it. Result is that most people use just one lane anyway but then every now and then you get some idiot trying to save 2 seconds by jumping past a couple of cars using the other lane and almost wiping people out. If AT were to make it one lane turning and one lane straight through it would be much much safer. All approach roads are a single lane too.
The two narrow lanes seems to have been preference out west recently as other roundabouts like at Sturges/Pomaria/Summerland has them too. I remember seeing something saying they were trying different things and the intention was trucks would use both lanes but all it seems to create are reckless drivers who use the roundabout to overtake others.
http://goo.gl/maps/2q1QF
This is my nieghbourhood! Large sportsfield playground on the right, off road bike track out of view on left, fruit shop and market below, and train station to the top. The most annoying thing about this piece of road is that the lack of space and crossing for cyclists and pedestrians. Should be a really cycle friendly piece of road.
I use that one every day. I’ve never seen anyone use the right hand left turning lane from Brighton Road to Shore Road ever – even when there’s a queue in the left lane.
I second you on the Ayr/Shore Rd roundabout. Crossing Shore Rd on foot is deadly – drivers fan out and speed through in both lanes and on foot you just have to be very patient (or risk tolerant).
I’m with Stu – why don’t we go for simple single lane approaches?
I think this link is for the same roundabout Stu linked to earlier. It has a story of the history. http://bicycledutch.wordpress.com/2013/05/09/a-modern-amsterdam-roundabout/
yes that’s it! Great to have a YouTube video of all my favourite Dutch roundabouts.
totally agree with that, keeping consistency in the design of roundabouts throughout the country should take priority over trying to optimise each and every one to the particular configuration / relative flows of traffic etc…
Another one is corner vestey drive and mt wellington highway,in mt wellington.5 road roundabout.Alot of people seem to take it at too higher speed.
I forgot about that one. You could potentially close Monahan Rd by connecting it to Clemow Dr via the back of the warehouse there. It would then be ideally suited to a simple traffic light, phased heavily in favour of Mt Wellington Hwy traffic.
As I understand it, roundabouts are intended to share delay pretty much evenly amongst road users (OK then, drivers) by requiring a give way to your right approach assuming relatively equal traffic on each approach. Where this approach fails is if one leg of the roundabout has a dominant movement that is not interrupted by traffic from the previous entry road. One place that this situation arises is the Lake Rd/Northcote Rd roundabout in Northcote/Hillcrest.
An almost contiuous stream of traffic from Lake Road causes queuing back on Ocean View Rd and Hillcrest Ave. The reason I know this is that I used to catch the 920 to work in the CBD, because of queueing on Sylvan Ave, it runs “backwards from Northcote through Hillcrest and Akoranga Dr/Station to the CBD. We often spent 15-20 minutes just sitting on Hillcrest Ave as we were dependent on the courtesy of drivers on Ocean View for anyone to get out of the street. Once or twice the bus driver apllied a bit of impromptue bus priority by driving down the wrong side of the road to get to the roundabout.
The same situation applies in the evening, where traffic off Northcote Rd into Hillcrest prevents drivers from leaving Lake Rd.
This intersection should definitely be signalised, as the roundabout simply doesn’t work!
I wouldn’t want to see lights replace the roundabout at Royal Oak. I think it does an incredible job of moving through five intersecting roads of traffic. Having lived there for many years until recently, I also found it okay as a pedestrian as the pedestrian crossings are close to the roundabout. Not sure what it would be like for a cyclist. You’ve probably got to be quite brave.
Given what I consider to be unintelligent phasing in Auckland, traffic lights would see the traffic cued up for even more miles than it often is now.
Still insist that Greville Road should be in there, especially if we are talking about peds and cyclists.
I think the NZTA will either upgrade that one or build flyovers from Albany Expressway to the motorway – but not both.
I heard they were planning to signalise it in the interim.
+1 for Greville … The design encourages drivers to exit into a different lane from the one they went around the roundabout on, particularly northbound off the motorway heading up Greville will take the right lane around but exit into the left lane at conflict with Albany expressway vehicles going into the left lane before its clear. And absolutely nothing for pedestrians – find it so bizarre that the start of Albany expressway just has grass alongside it – obviously no one thought people way want to walk!
* err, should read “because its clear”
I can’t imagine ever cycling through there either. It used to be the most direct route for me to do a fairly common journey and I just refused.
I’ve cycled through all shown except Swanson. Greenlane is the worst by far due to cars approaching at speed from the motorway offramps not seeing cyclists. Travelling through at night is truely dangerous.
There is a off road cycle lane that goes under the southern offramp and onramp at Greenlane,why not use it ?
Travelling East that would be extremely difficult.
There is a off road cycle lane (divided footpath)that starts at Great South road through to Ascot Ave on the south side I guess it’s expected that travelling east you hop on at Great South Rd as many cyclists do every day to use this detour. I use it going east and would never consider using the main road for safety reasons. The cycle lane was built to avoid what Anthony is saying especialy for the local school nearby.There is a alternative to the road but maybe AT should sign post it better at Great South for east bound cyclists however I have never seen a cyclist on the roundabout yet see plenty on the cycleway.
Ah k, had a week look as I drove past in the work truck today, looked alright.
We seem to be the only country in the world that refuses to have pedestrian crossings hard up against the roundabout (and one of very few not to give pedestrians priority at roundabouts). Why is that?
Because cars are the only valid form of transport, duh.
Are there any well designed roundabouts in Auckland?
I understand the Swanson Road roundabout has been investigated and improvements are proposed. This involves constructing a speed platform at all entrances to the roundabout to slow traffic speeds. Such measures are expected to improve safety for all road users.
http://riverparkactiongroup.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/universal-swanson-consultation-plan-06122011a.jpg
That plan seems like a cop-out. A traffic light would cost significantly more to construct, but take up less room, provide greater vehicle capacity, and with NZ’s protective phasing I think make it safer. It would certainly be a lot easier for peds to cross and cyclists to use.
I agree lights would work better.
Whilst I believe the proposal the Swanson Rd roundabout could be further improved, the design shown will reduce accidents while improving the user experience for pedestrians and cyclists. Ultimately, it will be a massive improvement on the existing situation. Traffic lights generally work best when they connect with other lights, creating light phases etc. At this location there are no other lights near the intersection, and as a result, traffic flows in the area could be significantly effected if lights were installed.
I thin cars will actually move faster through that new setup. More and wider lanes, and if most speed tables are anything to go by, motorists barely touch the brake pedal. This design is about moving vehicles.
I agree – its a massive improvement (though it should have speed tables on the departure lanes too!).
We NEED to add speed tables to our urban roundabouts as standard treatments, not just when it gets too bad.
That Don Buck – Swanson Rd traffic will be moving pretty quick. It does nothing to promote a walkable neighbourhood. Severance at it’s best. Don Buck Rd (at Woodside Rd) 17,000 VPD. Would you let your kid cross there? With no lights, the cycle / walking facilities need grade separation. Expensive, yes, but necessary.
Actually, I now see they are proposing to make it a 3-lane roundabout! I’ll withdraw my comment – the design is pretty horrible for cycling.
The design attempts to slow traffic speeds of vehicles using the roundabout. I also believe that the design sould have speed platforms on all departure lanes and not sure about the need to have three lanes.
Some research has been done by Duncan Campbell, funded by NZTA on the safety of urban multi-lane roundabouts. Solutions involve reducing the lane with on entry, installing speed platforms and ensuring that vehicles have to manoeuvre around the roundabout. This research can be found here: http://www.nzta.govt.nz/resources/research/reports/476/docs/476.pdf
This research also suggests that we consider installing turbo roundabouts to further improve safety. A turbo roundabout splits each traffic lane on the roundabout to reduce the number of conflict points: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMYib3IR43I
Turbo Roundabouts improve vehicle safety. They are NOT designed to be used in conjunction pedestrians or cyclists.
http://www.aviewfromthecyclepath.com/2012/01/turbo-roundabouts-be-careful-what-you.html
Sure, I’d take dutch style turbos with off road cyle lanes and walkways, either grade separated or with priority.
If I could add a new roundabout it would be in Ellerslie (or us it still Remuera?) at the junction between Grand Drive and Abbots Way.
Given how bad New Zealand drivers are at respecting traffic lights I do wonder if round abouts are not safer. I mean every day you see people (including trucks and cop cars running reds) but have you really seen anyone speed up for a round about?
Auckland has such a small population and so few cars it should be a breeze for everyone to share the roads in perfect harmony. Trouble is everyone is such a dick at breaking the laws (cars, cyclists, peds) its like a computer simulation to see who can kill who first 🙁
Of course there are some intersections that can be improved but ask yourselves, wouldnt they all be ok if we all just obeyed the simple to follow rules?
Remember, we must be the only country that needs a movable barrier to stop head on collisions on a straight stretch of road…. Kiwis must be the worlds worst road users 🙁
“Auckland has such a small population and so few cars”
Uhhhh, we have per capita car ownership rates that are some of the highest of the world, on par with California?
They seem to be replacing the roundabout at Tiverton/Wolverton/BHB Road with lights now as part of the road upgrade there.
Redhills/Don Buck. Two lanes on Don Buck, , one through, one turning right into redhills. Beware of buses trying to use the through lane while you are in the turning lane, side of bus tends to migrate into your lane pushing you into the roundabout, as the through lane radius is too tight for long vehicles. Makes for an interesting insurance claim- who was at fault?
I never thought the Panmure one was too bad; I had to cross two roads to get to the supermarket when I lived in the area. That would have been the top two in the picture, though, and one of those has a crossing, and the other had a traffic light for pedestrians with an island in the middle.
I love roundabouts – they are so efficient – and I think the Panmure and Royal Oak roundabouts in particular are efficient at moving traffic. I spent some years working in the fishbowl that is Ollies icecream parlour on the Royal Oak roundabout and saw a few near misses which came down to the kind of poor driving which you will see at any type of busy intersection. I was impressed by the constant easy flow of traffic and was convinced that if the roundabout was ever replaced by lights, it would be a traffic nightmare with long queues on all feeder roads. Hopefully I will be proved wrong. The best improvement to flows would be if people indicated correctly. Most people don’t, yet the rules are so simple. As you approach, indicate as you would at any intersection (left for left, right for right and nothing for straight ahead). The only difference is, as you leave the roundabout, indicate your exit (left). Not only is it a rule, it is a common courtesy that lets other people coming on know they can get on.
Yes, roundabouts are efficient, however they can have some large downsides for pedestrians and cyclists who are also a vital part of the bigger transport picture.
I agree with both comments, the Royal Oak roundabout is both efficient for cars and very dangerous for pedestrians (and I can imagine it probably generates its fair share of car crashes). Part of the problem is that people who want to make the most of any small gap in traffic to get in have to accelerate more than usual and they’re not quite ready to hit the brakes for a pedestrian crossing on their outbound lane.
This is a problem which crops up often in NZ traffic: there’s a competition between the rule of priority and the unwritten rule of courtesy, which says you should slow down a little to allow others to pass (same thing happens with merge-like-a-zip situations). And everybody interprets these rules differently. In my opinion, it would be much better for safety to get rid of the courtesy bit, and instead of telling people to slow down to let others pass, tell them to keep their speed even and instruct people who haven’t got priority (trying to get into the roundabout) to be more patient and get in only when there is enough of a gap for them to get in without slowing down others in the roundabout. Applying this principle would require getting rid of merge-like-a-zip situations, replacing them with acceleration/deceleration lanes with a clear definition of which lane has priority over which, and people would know where they stand, it would be less efficient than a merge-like-a-zip, but safer. But that’s a cultural thing and I guess it’s not going to change anytime soon.
They are fine for rural intersections, when detours are provided for cyclists. They are also fine for urban intersections – if they stick to being small & single lane (and/or “go dutch” with cyclists and peds having zebra crossing priority). Everything else is pretty vile for walking & cycling.
We should all be glad that we don’t have roundabouts like this one in Swindon, UK. http://goo.gl/bZtTme
No mention of the Te Atatu roundabout yet? That roundabout in the morning is the best advertisement for public transport. The people attempting to cut the queue from Te Atatu Rd by going around and coming out at Lyndhurst jam the whole thing up for everyone.
AT’s plans are to replace it with a signalised intersection.
I bought and electric bike last month. The man in the shop said they are selling a fair few to Te Atatu Peninsula for people wanting to use the NW cycleway. Bypass the roundabout altogether.
Yes. A potential problem in the making but not a big one. Observed a lady on an electric bike leave the Countdown, cross the road and take off at pace along the footpath in front of the shops nearly collecting a person leaving a shop. Nothing against elec bikes but the biggest growing number of fatalities in the Netherlands is over 65’s on electric bikes. The (elec) bikes can go faster than reaction times allow and, with the added deterioration in the human body at that age, the injuries tend to be worse. Just something to keep in mind.
Some good news for you then, Sailor Boy & antantnz – Greville will get walk/cycle facilities soon.
http://caa.org.nz/general-news/albany-expresscycleway-greville-road/
Annoying how the form keeps shoving responses into the wrong place… that was obviously supposed to go further up to the Albany Expressway discussion.
That is good, just a shame that it won’t have any priority or seperation where conflicts occur.
Well some of the crossings will be signalised, so you could argue that is separation (not grade separation obviously, which would be the best option in such circumstances).
You got a link to the actual project?
Why do councils/engineers insist on building roundabouts with a nature reserve in the middle of them, that obscures the view of other traffic and or grass that requires constant maintenance and also inconsistent signage? + At some roundabouts you cannot even see the other vehicle let alone its indicators, which presents a safety problem if it is turning right. + Signage varies from black/white chevron, black yellow chevron, white arrow on a blue dot, to none at all and the placement at best is inconsistent.+ Bad examples 1/10, would be, Forrest Hill/East Coast Roads, Paul Matthews/Bush Roads, Apollo Drive/Orbit, where some vehicles are completely obscured.
Good examples 9/10 would have to be Sunset/East Coast roads, Bush road/Cebel Place Except for grass, (I’m sure there’s a 10/10 out there somewhere). + What is required then, is a national design standard for roundabouts and traffic islands that facilitates the clear view and easy merging of traffic, that is easily recognizable and includes minimal maintenance. + I suggest as follows:- Height 150mm – Sides sloping – Diameter as appropriate – Top, level – Concrete the entire area (no undergrowth or grass) – A lamppost as required – No other structures – Signage, only one type white arrow on blue dot with white border, to the right of the drivers line of site – Associated triangular traffic islands included in the scheme, with one sign ’roundabout’ back slightly from the entrance.
I have a comment on roundabouts within limited spaces which have low concrete aprons to allow buses and long vehicles to manouvre through. I have experienced at times, cars and motorcycles who take a short cut across these aprons, and because they have less distance to travel than someone who follows the outer limits, a collision has almost occurred between my vehicle and the following vehicle taking the shortest route. Comments and thoughts would be appreciated.
“RAT” ALERT: Greenlane isn’t particularly complicated but there the structure allows people to queue-jump, particularly coming from Greenlane West, where there is a queue for entering the motorway, but people often enter the straight-ahead queue and can slip onto the motorway entry reserved for people coming from Greenlane East. Or they go completely around the roundabout and try to enter as if they were coming from Greenlane East. These two selfish actions make life miserable for people trying to enter from the East and they often can’t even enter the roudabout and the queue backs up all the way down Greenlane East.
If Greenlane could allow a straight across over the top grade separated design (especially if just for buses or T3 perhaps) it would greatly improve things for those, including buses, just trying to cross east-west. Also for the Ellerslie motorway interchange one for access across for the Great South Rd from the E-P Highway. This would cut out a lot of general traffic that currently just passes through the Ellerslie town centre ie giving a better town environment & more priority for the frequent 70 bus route to go through.