Round and round - the AMERICANS go??

Ann Arbor Michigan is probably among the smartest cities in the United States. The major industry - heck, nearly the ONLY industry - is the University of Michigan, one of the largest and best universities in the country.

So perhaps it isn't surprising that the Ann Arbor area is home to many examples of the smartest traffic control measure ever invented.
Yeah yeah, here I go with roundabouts again.

This particular one is out in the country, but not far from Ann Arbor. As you can see, the locals are having no issues negotiating it.

We went through several roundabouts on our bus ride from the downtown hotel we were staying at to the Hyundai-Kia Technical centre in the town's outskirts. Our driver was a large, very funny and slightly scary woman who one-handed the bus through the roundabouts, her other hand holding on to her coffee mug.

Her comments on other drivers suggested that she had no problems with the roundabouts but perhaps others were still getting used to them. I'm not sure how long they've been here; the construction was clearly not that old.

The Americans are slowly figuring out seat belt use - they're still double-digit percentage points behind us on that count.

The glimmer of national health care is only 50 years behind us.

But it seems that at least in some American jurisdictions, they're ahead of at least some Canadian jurisdictions on roundabouts.

Now that Toronto has a mayor who doesn't actively hate cars - hey; his name is Ford, fer cryin' out loud - is there a chance for Toronto?

Comments

[John Strung]

You don't have to go as far as Ann Arbor. Hamilton has seen the light and has installed a number of traffic circles. There are two on Wilson Street on either side of the 403, one just completed at Hwy 52 and Jerseyville Road, one scheduled for the very messy intersection of Peters Corners (where highways 52, 5 and 8 all meet) and one being considered from Wilson and Rousseaux.

A live webcam of one of the Wilson Street traffic circles is available here at the link below. It is interesting to watch for a few minutes and see how well it works and how smoothly traffic flows without lights or stop signs:

http://www.ourston.com/resources/webcams/hamilton.html

There is also a good article about the benefits of traffic circles on Hamilton's website: http://www.hamilton.ca/CityDepartments/PublicWorks/TrafficEngineeringAndOperations/RoadsTrafficModernRoundabout.htm

[Jim Kenzie]

Hi John:

Yes, I've written about the Hamilton/Ancaster roundabouts and those in Waterloo and Orleans (in Ottawa) before.

Everywhere it seems except the GTA.

Are our drivers really that unique that they couldn't figure them out?

Toronto Mayor-Elect Rob Ford, and the new administrations in surrounding municipalities, over to you.

Jim Kenzie