this will scare you US folks

[XcOM]

I know you folks in the USA like roads that don't have bends it them, and would rather use traffic lights rather than a roundabout,

I also recal some members here mentioning that "Roundabouts are nothing compaied to the huge junctions here"

I agree that yes you do have bloddy huge junctions, but here in the uk, we have these at the end of every road, every junction on the motorway (Interstate) everywere.

The infamus spaggeti junction
http://blogs.warwick.ac.uk/images/richardwinskill/2005/08/12/spaghetti_junction.jpg

adverage motorway junction (Underpass version)
http://www.wyg.com/images/photo_images/5projects/m1_junction19.jpg

Above bridge version
http://www.iht.org/motorway/lofthouseic.jpg

and the one that gets most US folks,

The roundabout:
http://www.carrick.gov.uk/media/images/p/b/Carnon_Downs_Image_Large_Image_092337.JPG







Now some of you may think "Hay, thats piddly easy"

well, try the most famous roundabout in england (I have gone on this once, and hope i never half to ever again)
I give you, the magic roundabout
http://vanrees.org/thesis/swindon.jpg

[chaksq]

Is this type of roadway design present throughout all of Europe or only present in certain countries? How about Spain specifically?

[Eclecticos]

It almost looks like a child chalked out the roadway in the last picture.
Even has little spun out areas, Crazy! :D

[Trace]

You guys are crazy!
I hope I never drive in a roundabout like that last one!

[J-Roc]

That must be why 007 is such a good driver ;)

[Zephik]

http://vanrees.org/thesis/swindon.jpg


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[XcOM]

this type of design is fequent throughout all of europe, but mostly in the uk, per sq mile uk has more motorways then anywhere else,

our road infastructor is also more complex than anywhere else, as dave said in another thread "We were the kings of road contruction, then we noticed we would be out of the job, so they started messing things up"

[Omega]

we have big spaghetti freeways in the states. kind of like the macarthur maze...

http://img255.imageshack.us/img255/9897/macarthurpy2.th.jpg (http://img255.imageshack.us/my.php?image=macarthurpy2.jpg)

actually, pretty much anywhere the MacArthur freeway intersects with anything else it gets messy.

[nevermind1534]

Sh*t

That would suck to go through that last roundabout and have to figure it out.

[b4i7]

i found a roundabout downtown here..... i must remember where its at...there are some pretty amazing looking places in that area

[Cheron]

that last roundabout looks like an evil satanic symbol. (It is designed to be a sacrificial pit.):think:

[Cannibal23]

i guess knowing that you'll have to go through that magic (or do you need some kind of magic) roundabout might change the classic who's driving argument a little.

[halcyonforever]

Yeah... watch out, city planners have started to see the round-about as an appealing design here in the US. In Denver many of the new subdivisions have a round-about to the individual neighborhoods.

Downtown Tusla just re-did all their streets and installed a giant roundabout at the central crossing point.

[Luke122]

"Grove Shafter Freeway"? That sounds vaguely sexual.

[XcOM]

roundabouts are a very good way of controling traffic, it allows the road with the most traffic to flow with the roads with less traffic to filter in

[Indybird]

I always loved this one:
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a29/Indybird/HawaiiIntersection.jpg

Found it while I was playing Test Drive Unlimited, and check to see if it was real.

-Indybird

[Commando]

I grew up in Atlanta GA. They have this one.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1e/SpaghettiJunctionGA.jpg

[d_stilgar]

That last roundabout is a little silly. I don't see why they just didn't make a 3 or 4 lane roundabout. The mini ones around the center just slow people down from making a more direct route it seems.

[halcyonforever]

Yeah clover leafs are fun, my favorite is one here in Oklahoma City, it's a funky merger of 3 streets 2 highways and an interstate. The best is one of the overpasses goes up unbelieveably high as it is going over 5 overpasses...

[Indybird]

Yeah clover leafs are fun, my favorite is one here in Oklahoma City, it's a funky merger of 3 streets 2 highways and an interstate. The best is one of the overpasses goes up unbelieveably high as it is going over 5 overpasses...

Google maps please? I love this kinda stuff...

-Indybird

[TheGreatSatan]

Try driving in New Jerzey. No left turns!

[Crazy Buddhist]

This is pretty typical of the scene around the "Arc de Triomphe" in Paris .... it is basically a seven lane roundabout with no road markings. People drive at each other, at the traffic cops, even in the wrong direction to get there first. Parisian drivers are the most aggressive in the world. At rush hour it is hell. The one time I drove round it I swore I never would again. And I like mad driving.

http://vivh.com/images/s_fran9.jpg

CrazyB

Picture from http://vivh.com/france.html

[Omega]

My dad went there with my step-mom. To cross the street she had to put a shirt under her shirt (to look pregnant) and run out into the street. That's they only way they got to cross. Crazy.