Mega Roundabout outside UK?

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pjr10th
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Mega Roundabout outside UK?

Post by pjr10th »

Are there any examples of the UK/Ireland style mega roundabouts outside of those two countries: i.e. big roundabouts with traffic lights and/or roundabout GSJs over expressways or motorways - or is that a uniquely British invention?
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c2R
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Re: Mega Roundabout outside UK?

Post by c2R »

Spain's got loads of different sorts of intersection - is this big enough for you?

https://www.google.com/maps/@38.3806925 ... 312!8i6656
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Re: Mega Roundabout outside UK?

Post by Beardy5632 »

There's a few dotted around France

Caen, Rennes and Nantes have at least two on their ring roads.
There's also this strange one near Challans.
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Re: Mega Roundabout outside UK?

Post by crazyknightsfan »

There are quite a few interchanges with roundabouts in Australia, generally used in light traffic conditions though with the busier interchanges controlled by signals.

This one looks like it could be in the UK - https://www.google.com/maps/@-31.461875 ... a=!3m1!1e3
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Re: Mega Roundabout outside UK?

Post by Telstarbox »

They appear to be permitted in New Zealand as well - note that they refer to DMRB guidance:

https://www.nzta.govt.nz/walking-cyclin ... undabouts/
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KeithW
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Re: Mega Roundabout outside UK?

Post by KeithW »

They are actually becoming quite popular in the USA, one driver may have been the 2013 episode of mythbusters which demonstrated the efficiency of roundabouts.



Carmel Indiana has been ripping out traffic light controlled intersections and replacing them with roundabouts large and small.

From this example in a residential area.
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@39.94134 ... 6656?hl=en

To this at a freeway intersection which is a variant of the dumbell.
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@39.94167 ... 8192?hl=en
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A303Chris
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Re: Mega Roundabout outside UK?

Post by A303Chris »

If you really want a large Stackabout, take this one in Plasencia, Extremadura, Spain.

Streetview gives a great impression of it's size.

One of the highlights of going to my mates wedding there a few years back.
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ChrisH
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Re: Mega Roundabout outside UK?

Post by ChrisH »

A303Chris wrote: Wed May 19, 2021 13:53
One of the highlights of going to my mates wedding there a few years back.
Spoken like a true Sabristo! :laugh:
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c2R
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Re: Mega Roundabout outside UK?

Post by c2R »

A303Chris wrote: Wed May 19, 2021 13:53 If you really want a large Stackabout, take this one in Plasencia, Extremadura, Spain.

Streetview gives a great impression of it's size.

One of the highlights of going to my mates wedding there a few years back.
The A66 is a great drive if you like your motorways to be long and empty...! And yes, that stackabout is pretty impressive when travelling over it in terms of its sheer scale and emptiness!
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Re: Mega Roundabout outside UK?

Post by Peter Freeman »

c2R wrote: Thu May 20, 2021 11:26 And yes, that stackabout is pretty impressive when travelling over it in terms of its sheer scale and emptiness!
One of Spain's many EU-funded white-elephant extravaganzas?
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c2R
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Re: Mega Roundabout outside UK?

Post by c2R »

Peter Freeman wrote: Thu May 20, 2021 12:48
c2R wrote: Thu May 20, 2021 11:26 And yes, that stackabout is pretty impressive when travelling over it in terms of its sheer scale and emptiness!
One of Spain's many EU-funded white-elephant extravaganzas?

Perhaps... although the EX-A1 could be extended west at some point to provide a better link from Madrid to the centre of Portugal - it also provides better communication links with a relatively economically disadvantaged part of Spain. But yes, traffic levels are pretty low.. as is land cost, so it probably only cost about 20p to build...
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Re: Mega Roundabout outside UK?

Post by Bfivethousand »

Peter Freeman wrote: Thu May 20, 2021 12:48
c2R wrote: Thu May 20, 2021 11:26 And yes, that stackabout is pretty impressive when travelling over it in terms of its sheer scale and emptiness!
One of Spain's many EU-funded white-elephant extravaganzas?
To be fair there's not much difference in size with the likes of Toyota island
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Re: Mega Roundabout outside UK?

Post by Chris5156 »

Bfivethousand wrote: Mon May 24, 2021 02:42
Peter Freeman wrote: Thu May 20, 2021 12:48
c2R wrote: Thu May 20, 2021 11:26 And yes, that stackabout is pretty impressive when travelling over it in terms of its sheer scale and emptiness!
One of Spain's many EU-funded white-elephant extravaganzas?
To be fair there's not much difference in size with the likes of Toyota island
True!

A few minutes with Google Maps suggests that Toyota Island, South Mimms and Coryton are all substantially bigger - all three are oval shaped, but enclose a greater surface area, but even Coryton's smallest dimension is much bigger than the Spanish example.

Lofthouse, Wadworth and Walton Summit are smaller, but not by much - only less by 20 or 30m in diameter.

(Incidentally, I love that one of the roads is the EX-A1 - that might be the daftest bit of Spanish road numbering yet. It's basically a provincial government deciding they want to have an A1 of their own because the national A1 doesn't come their way. What a country for road classification.)
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Re: Mega Roundabout outside UK?

Post by Owain »

This Sardinian example looks like a normal roundabout GSJ, but functions more like a circular carriageway with an overtaking lane in that traffic stays in the nearside lane irrespective of which turn they are taking, while faster traffic overtakes them. No prizes for guessing which lane I liked using....

And then there's this monster!
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Re: Mega Roundabout outside UK?

Post by Chris5156 »

Owain wrote: Mon May 24, 2021 06:42And then there's this monster!
You've posted that before, but I absolutely never tire of seeing it! :laugh:
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Re: Mega Roundabout outside UK?

Post by A303Chris »

Peter Freeman wrote: Thu May 20, 2021 12:48
c2R wrote: Thu May 20, 2021 11:26 And yes, that stackabout is pretty impressive when travelling over it in terms of its sheer scale and emptiness!
One of Spain's many EU-funded white-elephant extravaganzas?
Yes the EX A1 from the A5 at Navalmoral de la Mata to Plasencia is one of the quietist motorways I have ever driven. Left quite a busy A5 at 4pm on a Friday afternoon, passed 6 vehicles over the next 50km. While I accept the old road was bad, a single carriageway road with climbing lanes would have coped.
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Re: Mega Roundabout outside UK?

Post by A303Chris »

Owain wrote: Mon May 24, 2021 06:42
And then there's this monster!
That is an absolute beauty. I suppose it is just as well it is quiet otherwise people could be stuck on there for hours.
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Re: Mega Roundabout outside UK?

Post by kiwislark »

Here's some that I know of in New Zealand:

Roundabout motorway/expressway interchanges:

These are all roundabouts above a motorway serving as an interchange with local roads:
- Greenlane Interchange, Auckland (SH1 Southern Motorway)
- Ellerslie Interchange, Auckland (SH1 Southern Motorway)
- Porirua Interchange, Wellington (SH1 Johnsonville-Porirua Motorway)
- Dowse Interchange, Wellington (SH2 Hutt Expressway)
- Haywards Interchange, Wellington (SH2 Hutt Expressway)

- Whenuapai Roundabout, Auckland (SH16 Northwestern Motorway) - serves as the western terminus of the Northwestern Motorway
- Elizabeth Street/SH2, Tauranga (SH2 Takitimu Drive) - a roundabout interrupts the mainline of Tauranga's SH2 expressway to provide access to the CBD

Signalised roundabouts:
- Several in Auckland where only one approach road is metered by traffic signals - Whitford Rd/Somerville Rd/Point View Dr, Mahia Rd/Coxhead Rd, Rosedale Rd/Apollo Dr/Hugh Green Dr, Cascades Rd/Aviemore Dr

- Barkes Corner, Tauranga - two approaches are metered
- Ohauiti Roundabout, Tauranga - everything is signalised, with a separate right turn lane in the middle of the now somewhat butchered roundabout (the layout has changed since the satellite view was taken)
- Maungatapu Roundabout, Tauranga - everything is signalised, with an added road underpass for fun

Other notable/strangely laid-out roundabouts:
- There are several mini roundabouts in Wellington due to the hilly topography and limited space
- Basin Reserve, Wellington - the roads around the Basin Reserve cricket ground essentially form a "squareabout"
- The circle at the centre of the Octagon, Dunedin - a roundabout with a two-way road running through the centre
- Hutt Rd/The Esplanade/SH2 Offramp, Wellington- cars on the roundabout must give way to those entering from a motorway offramp
- This thing in Avalon, Lower Hutt - half a roundabout?


- Royal Oak Roundabout, Auckland - probably the most notorious roundabout in Auckland
- Clendon Roundabout, Auckland - very large, 5 exits, and some pedestrian access through the centre via tunnels
- Don Buck Rd/Universal Dr/Swanson Rd, Auckland - more of an oval shape than round
- Opaheke Rd/Liverpool St/Butterworth Ave, Auckland - has a pedestrian path through the middle for... some reason?
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Owain
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Re: Mega Roundabout outside UK?

Post by Owain »

A303Chris wrote: Mon May 24, 2021 14:15
Owain wrote: Mon May 24, 2021 06:42
And then there's this monster!
That is an absolute beauty. I suppose it is just as well it is quiet otherwise people could be stuck on there for hours.
I got lost on it once, in the middle of the night. The really funny thing was a local followed me off at the wrong exit - even though I had an obviously foreign car - and we both had to U-turn to get back to the correct route!
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Re: Mega Roundabout outside UK?

Post by booshank »

What other countries don't tend to have are the the multi-lane "non-standard" roundabouts that many drivers find confusing if not familiar with them. I'm not sure what the technical term is, if there is one, but the type of roundabout that you cannot go all the way round in the outside lane, but are forced off at a particular exit. For example at Hicks Gate if you are on the A4 westbound in lane 2, the lane forces you off onto the A4 again and you can't carry on round to the A4174 without cutting into another lane.
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