Alert: The following services will be unavailable on Saturday, January 5, 2013 from 12 a.m. (midnight) to 6 a.m. CST due to system maintenance.
Roundabouts
Aerial view of a roundabout
Modern roundabouts are among the newer forms of intersection control in the U.S. along with the J-turn, Echelon, diverging diamond, and others. Wisconsin has over 200 roundabouts installed and operating at this time. Several others are in the planning stages around the state. The modern roundabouts are much smaller than the "traffic circles" of earlier years.
Roundabouts provide safe and efficient traffic flow. A number of safety studies have been researched by the University of Wisconsin Traffic Operations and Safety laboratory (UW TOPS lab), the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and others internationally.
Roundabouts move traffic safely through an intersection because of:
- Slower speeds
- Fewer conflict points
- Easier decision-making
The safety studies by the UW TOPS lab shows that roundabouts provide a:
- 52 percent reduction in fatal and injury crashes
- 9 percent reduction for all crashes
Roundabouts are also bringing about a significant decrease in severe crashes.
Questions about the content of this page:
Pat Fleming, patrick.fleming@dot.wi.gov
Last modified: April 5, 2013
All external hyperlinks are provided for your information and for the benefit of the general public. The Wisconsin Department of Transportation does not testify to, sponsor or endorse the accuracy of the information provided on externally linked pages. Some pages contain links to other documents and media types (PDF, Word, Flash, Video, etc.) and require free plugins to work. Visit our software information page for assistance.