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Super quick question! Is there a term for the feature highlighted in blue on the map below?
I've thought about gore and diverge, but are those instances are if there are two lanes of the same direction being split, rather than the joining of two differing directions.
Hope you can help!
Cheers,
Skerm
Last edited by Skermington on Thu Feb 15, 2024 08:17, edited 1 time in total.
It's also a term used colloquially to mean "roundabout" in Staffordshire and Cheshire (and surrounding areas), so the term does need to be used carefully.
Steven
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An island or traffic island is a raised area in the centre of a road, usually intended as either a place to allow pedestrians to more easily cross the road; or simply to divide traffic.
The term is also used colloquially in Staffordshire and Cheshire (as well as other parts of the English Midlands) to refer to a roundabout.
Perhaps the less common of the two main uses of Islands is as a refuge for pedestrians in the middle of a busy road or junction. They come in a
It's also a term used colloquially to mean "roundabout" in Staffordshire and Cheshire (and surrounding areas), so the term does need to be used carefully.
I would use the term "splitter island" to differentiate. (It was also "island" south of Birmingham)
An island or traffic island is a raised area in the centre of a road, usually intended as either a place to allow pedestrians to more easily cross the road; or simply to divide traffic.
The term is also used colloquially in Staffordshire and Cheshire (as well as other parts of the English Midlands) to refer to a roundabout.
Perhaps the less common of the two main uses of Islands is as a refuge for pedestrians in the middle of a busy road or junction. They come in a
I always refer to these as splitter islands too as opposed to central island for the circular (normally) object you travel around on the main roundabout itself.
And as any fule no it's a Circus
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Island for the whole intersection is used in Leicestershire as well, with "Pork Pie Island" being a particularly eyecatching example of the name.
Having grown up around Wolverhampton I didn't know that "island" was non-standard in this usage until I moved elsewhere. When I later moved to Leicestershire, "island" became normal again
I'm very unfamiliar with the North West in general, but I have at least heard of both Switch Island and Simister Island. Are these one-offs, or is "island" used in the same sense there as in the Midlands, or does it mean "gert big roundabout" with "roundabout" being used for normal ones?
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FosseWay wrote: ↑Wed Feb 14, 2024 14:31
Island for the whole intersection is used in Leicestershire as well, with "Pork Pie Island" being a particularly eyecatching example of the name.
Having grown up around Wolverhampton I didn't know that "island" was non-standard in this usage until I moved elsewhere. When I later moved to Leicestershire, "island" became normal again
I'm very unfamiliar with the North West in general, but I have at least heard of both Switch Island and Simister Island. Are these one-offs, or is "island" used in the same sense there as in the Midlands, or does it mean "gert big roundabout" with "roundabout" being used for normal ones?
Tarbock, Haydock, Windle (no island these days), Mossborough, Golborne are other examples, some better known than others! Mossborough (A570 near Rainford) and Golborne (A580) are the smallest I can think of and I would say are definitely a roundabouts, the others generally fit your 'big roundabout' category.
I was brought up around Manchester (first Salford then Cheadle) and in general don't use "island" for roundabouts. I was a bit surprised to read above that it's used in Cheshire. but I have relatives from Walsall who always use it.
Edit: just to clarify, I use "splitter island" for the islands that are the subject of the thread.
Last edited by wrinkly on Wed Feb 14, 2024 23:06, edited 1 time in total.
WHBM wrote: ↑Wed Feb 14, 2024 20:23
Splitter island.
But bollards in the middle of the road, which pedestrians can use to cross in two parts, I have always called a pedestrian refuge, not an island.
Island for a roundabout is surely a West Midlands colloquialism. Or more precisely "Oylond".
Not just West Midlands, as said above. It's alive and kicking in the East Midlands and, apparently, Cheshire, too.
On pedestrian refuge vs island - is this a technical vs everyday thing? In other words, highways engineers, council planners, possibly the police and road safety organisations, will call them "refuges", while the ordinary punter on the street will call them "islands"?
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Splitter Island is the technical term, regardless of whether there are crossing facilities or not, when it's on a roundabout.
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Splitter island. They used to line up quite nicely to the edge of the roundabout island. Nowadays they point towards the roundabout island.
This means that the entry path isn’t straight it’s curved, often tightly and on multi lane roundabouts when drivers tend to prefer to pull out in a straight line, it’s not good for people turning right, having nowhere to go when the actual entry paths of the left lane driver overlaps into the path of the right lane driver.
This may also be a reason why you get the odd person driving the wrong way around a roundabout, something I witnessed last night when driving home from work. The approach angle being more towards the perpendicular must make some people think they can turn right only to end up going the wrong way around the roundabout.
The angle of the splitter matters, it should be able to slow traffic on the approach then point them on a correct and direct path onto the correct lane on the roundabout.
In a road context, island has only ever meant the pedestrian refuge halfway across a road. I think it probably is a public/planner difference. I've always said footpath but the official name is footway for some reason.
SteveA30 wrote: ↑Thu Feb 15, 2024 07:30..I've always said footpath but the official name is footway for some reason.
It was laid out in the Highways Act and it's about whether the route is exclusively for pedestrians remote from a carriageway (e.g. across field) = footpath or within the same highway curtilage with a carriageway near or adjacent = footway
HA 1980 definitions:
“footpath” means a highway over which the public have a right of way on foot only, not being a footway;
“footway” means a way comprised in a highway which also comprises a carriageway, being a way over which the public have a right of way on foot only;
“carriageway” means a way constituting or comprised in a highway, being a way (other than a cycle track) over which the public have a right of way for the passage of vehicles;
SteveA30 wrote: ↑Thu Feb 15, 2024 07:30
In a road context, island has only ever meant the pedestrian refuge halfway across a road. I think it probably is a public/planner difference. I've always said footpath but the official name is footway for some reason.
I've always known "island" and "roundabout" as interchangeable in common usage, with no noticeable regional variation
SteveA30 wrote: ↑Thu Feb 15, 2024 07:30
In a road context, island has only ever meant the pedestrian refuge halfway across a road. I think it probably is a public/planner difference. I've always said footpath but the official name is footway for some reason.
I've always known "island" and "roundabout" as interchangeable in common usage, with no noticeable regional variation
I have a friend in ‘umberside that would like to throw “circle” into the island/roundabout conversation.
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The Gaelic for Roundabout is Cearcail-Rathaid which I believe translates as circle road. Maybe Dundonians are half Gaelic? Not so sure about Humbderside though!
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