[dbussone]

Originally Posted by njbchbum

Aaahh, Philip. I also grew up with and still navigate traffic circles here in NJ. And our circles are designed just like the ones in The Villages having two lanes AND the striping of the solid 'do not cross' line and the 'okay to cross line'. The Villages roundabout dilemma is not with folks like us who have navigated them for years - but is with folks who have NOT grown up navigating them or even seeing them. As mentioned they are still in the learning curve period. The bigger problem is with the roundabout user who is simply disregarding the solid vs broken traffic indicator line within the roundabout; as well as simply ignoring the 'rules' of navigating a roundabout!

Perhaps it is 'stubborness or stupidity' of individual drivers that complicates roundabout navigation rather than traffic design. In several instances near my NJ home, traffic circles that were thought to be dangerous were reconstructed to '+' intersections. Traffic became soooo very unberable that circles [3 to 4 traffic signal changes before proceding thru the intersection] were created around them with special turn lanes and delayed turn arrows. End result - more accidents from the folks who run the red turn light or are too slow to get out of the intersection turn lane before the yellow turns to red! The ONLY good thing about those areas - the projects kept a lot of people employed for a looong time!

Now close your eyes and imagine a one lane roundabout just over the LSL bridge and the traffic build-up at any given time, but especially when a favorite entertainer is at that square or a special event is taking place there. Where is the traffic [that was already built-up in the turn lane on 466 that is now stopped again because of 2 lane traffic waiting to merge into 1 lane for exiting to the square or continuing on up the] to go? And with the advent of housing expansion in District 4, the Buena Vista/El Camino roundabout will see an increase in daily traffic as wellas after Savannah Center events in that area too.

"Traffic" in the roundabouts on the Cape is really a seasonal thing. And I do recall when as a child on vacation in the City of Boston, navigating a roundabout in the area of a bridge over the Charles River, had my Mother going round that circle again and again in an attempt to exit to get to that bridge until we were all dizzy!

The points you've made are quite valid. And the Cape is very seasonal.