Category: Transportation Engineering

Good Roundabout Design Balances Safety and Performance

By Kevin Kuhlow, PE Properly designed roundabouts can provide excellent operations, improve safety by reducing serious injury and fatal crashes, and provide better bicycle and pedestrian accommodations. When designed improperly, however, not only can crashes increase, but one poorly designed roundabout also can significantly hinder an agency’s ability to implement additional roundabouts. If drivers go… Read More »

Bike Lanes, Intersection Improvements Can Change Urban Barrier into Friendlier Corridor

While heavy traffic is part of living in the big city, communities need not sit idly by as their arterial streets become unnecessarily clogged by outdated technology – or begin to feel like dangerous canyons that pedestrians and bicyclists fear to even attempt crossing. Traffic engineers hold the key to streets where shared use by… Read More »

What’s a Mini Roundabout, And Why Is It Effective?

One type of roundabout design starting to gain traction in the United States is the mini roundabout, which features a reduced diameter (50 to 90 feet) with a traversable central island, allowing buses and trucks to travel over the top of it. Passenger vehicles are expected to use the circular roadway around the central island.Read More »