May 04 2007
You spin me right round, baby right round
The Michigan Department Department ofTransportation, which gave the world the infamous Michigan Left, is gonzo for roundabouts. Several have either been built or are being planned in the Detroit/Ann Arbor area, including:
- Maple Road and Drake in West Bloomfield
- Lee Road and US-23 near Brighton (3 back-to-back-to-back)
- Four on Northwestern Highway
- Three by Skyline, Ann Arbor’s new high school (teenage demolition derby anyone?)
- Nixon and Huron Parkway (between my house and work)
M-DOT claims they are safer and more efficient than regular intersections. Many drivers aren’t so sure.
I haven’t driven any of them yet, but I guess we will have to get used to them.
Pretty soon this place will look like England. Tea, luv?
Test drive the Brighton roundabouts:
Cheers, love the site!
So, is the Steinway closeup photo of the piano at the Whalehead club? Looks lke it to me! And I just figured out that the other is looking down at a three-wick candle.
Yeah, that’s the piano at the Whalehead club - Bob took it. The three-wick candle is from your last NYE party. The fountain is the one in front of City Hall in lower Manhattan which I took when we were in NYC last summer.
I just moved to Portland, OR and live next to a big fancy roundabout/ They are fun if kinda… not that functional..
It’s so cool what you can do with Google…
Roundabouts can be good. They should be big on reducing fuel consumption, provided people use them correctly (coming to a full stop wastes a lot of fuel and increases emissions). There’ll be accidents, there’s a learning curve. But they should be less severe and less obstructive. Traffic circle accidents shouldn’t require a stop in traffic like an intersection accident. They’re likely to be limited to minor body damage. I think that often the circles are too small (tight) for the number of intersections entering. Problem is knowing whether or not the car to the left is staying in the circle or exiting.