• @[email protected]
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    61 day ago

    Nope. Traffic lights create high traffic areas, by unnecessarily delaying cross traffic.

    Near my parents house, there is a 6-way intersection. When I was growing up, it was served by traffic lights, with straight and left-turn lanes in all directions. Traffic was backed up all day long in 3 of the 6 directions, to the point that pretty much everyone waited through at least two turns.

    A few years after I left home, they converted it to a two-lane roundabout. Traffic immediately died down. Now, you typically see one to two other vehicles when you pass through the intersection, and you never wait more than a few seconds to get through.

    • @joel_feila
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      17 hours ago

      Well did the expand any other roads near by, or have a large business close down. Sound like drmand for that path died down

      • @[email protected]
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        1 hour ago

        No. The problem wasn’t the amount of traffic. The problem was the delay from the lights. It was enough to build up long queues on three of the six entry roads. It turns out when you don’t unnecessarily impede drivers, they don’t become “traffic”.

        A housing allotment (~100 single family homes) was built about a mile down one of the feeder roads. An elementary school was torn down on another road, but a high school and rec center were built on the old site. The number of vehicles passing through that intersection has only increased.

        Maxinum throughput of a round about is much higher than a typical stoplight.

        Now, if stoplights typically went to flashing red instead of solid red, so drivers could proceed if traffic was clear, they would approach the efficiency of a roundabout.