A Roundabout of Applause

By: Mr. Wilson on August 28, 2012
Wow:
...due to the great efficiency in which the [new 14th & Superior] roundabout handles traffic, I navigate this intersection without delay. Lincoln Public Works engineers should be commended for their design work in creating a "Superior" way of moving traffic.
Raise your hand if you expected to read letters to the editor like that once the 14th & Superior roundabout opened. If you're raising your hand you're either a liar or you don't understand how the Journal Star's letters to the editor work. This isn't the first praise I've heard for the intersection and I'm sure it won't be the last. One thing I haven't heard a peep about is the pedestrian aspect of the intersection. Are pedestrians using the sidewalks correctly, or are they just cheating their way across the intersection? I assume things are going ok or I figure I would've heard more fuss. I'd love to hear about it either way.

Comments

See what your friends and neighbors have to say about this.

Fletch
August 28, 2012 at 1:51PM

People have a way of coming around on these things.

Mr. Wilson
August 28, 2012 at 2:14PM

You always run circles around me in these pun threads.

Nikkidemas
August 28, 2012 at 2:14PM

People have a way of coming around, and others come around another way…

Tweet from @kevinsjuts yesterday:

“The 14th & Superior roundabout is at a stand still. Because someone went the wrong way!”

Mr. Wilson
August 28, 2012 at 2:17PM

How does that ... I don’t even ...

Fletch
August 28, 2012 at 3:36PM

It’s not just roundabouts. Streets and driveways (like at retail centers) with islands between the lanes are throwing people off. Saw 3 going down the wrong side of islands in the last week, including the big one in front of Lowe’s. That’s hard to do. You have to be a special kind of stupid.

George
August 29, 2012 at 12:49AM

Well don’t expect a happy go lucky letter from me about that roundabout.  I hate it. 

They have placed the instructions for which lane you need to be in to close to where you need to stop.  It needs to be further back so that people have ample time to get into the lane they need to be in before they come to a stop.

People don’t know how to use it.  A car almost creamed into me (I was in the correct lane, they were not).

I actually changed my pharmacy as I won’t use the roundabout anymore.  They still don’t have 14th street done (how do they get the roundabout done but not 14th street?!)

DJ
August 29, 2012 at 1:40AM

One has to wonder about the demographics of those that like/dislike and find easy/difficult these roundabouts.

If there were to be a pattern in that data, I would hypothesize that it would not correlate well with number of years of driving or with IQ (or less than would be expected).  Perhaps it might correlate with uniq intersections_driven.log|wc -l, or an index of rurality for total miles driven. 

Maybe if traffic engineers could put their finger on what quality in people makes them dislike roundabouts, they could learn to market them better.

meatball
August 30, 2012 at 7:56AM

Noticed there’s now a no-left turn sign as you approach. Probably was there before the above noted incident.

meatball
August 30, 2012 at 7:58AM

Sailed through it over the lunch hour yesterday for the first time since it fully opened. Piece o’ cake.

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