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gravy_boot t1_jahazu6 wrote

Reply to comment by PussyKatzzz in With my (limited) knowledge of pedestrian safe infrastructure, I redrew what I think would be a much safer Arthur Ashe/ Broad St intersection! by Other_Ad39

I’m no traffic engineer but couldn’t there be stop lights hooked to ped xing buttons? I think DC has examples of this although those circles are bigger, not sure if size limits here would be an issue.

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10698 t1_jahcdz2 wrote

Traffic signals have no place in a traffic circle. That's how you end up with dysfunctional clusterf*cks like the Fairfax Circle.

https://ggwash.org/view/3181/make-fairfax-circle-a-real-circle

"This circle has a series of lights, which effectively kills any chance of it being a true traffic circle. This also makes merging into the circle difficult, because given the light cycle the circle may be filled with stopped cars which often create their own lanes."

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Utretch t1_jajvct4 wrote

Not strictly true you can have set ups where pedestrians are given right of way intermittently. You can even make them smart unlike our ancient timer based systems.

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gravy_boot t1_jahmt7t wrote

I was basing this on the presumption in the comment I replied to that it's not safe for pedestrians as a standard no-lights circle (not that I necessarily agree with that), and thinking more along the lines of Dupont/Logan where there are light-controlled xing areas inside the circle between the corners, allowing peds to move around the circle and into the common area in the middle.

> "This circle has a series of lights, which effectively kills any chance of it being a true traffic circle. ..."

But is it better than an 8-lane 4-way stop light?

> " This also makes merging into the circle difficult, because given the light cycle the circle may be filled with stopped cars which often create their own lanes."

The in the dc examples, the inner/outer lanes are physically separated so this doesn't happen.

Another thought would be to let ped x-ing buttons control the existing lights one block out from the circle, to stem the flow of cars long enough to cross without snarling the traffic already in the circle.

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SadValleyThrowaway t1_jalrnrd wrote

A lot of the roundabouts in the us have traffic signals. Shit many don’t even have lane dividers

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lafleurricky t1_jahmf5t wrote

Walking through some of DC’s circle is hell enough but they also take a long time to drive through.

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LowLifeHighJinx t1_jaie6ks wrote

I got trapped on DuPont once for 5 or 6 loops. I was finally able to exit, but not where I wanted. I just made my escape when I saw a chance.

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gravy_boot t1_jaho4qv wrote

This is true, but the alternative would likely be worse considering those intersections move a lot of people/cars, and wouldn't support the large central common areas. Broad/Boulevard may not be big enough for this, although it's bordered by things a lot of people wouldn't miss if they were gobbled up by an expansion...

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