VISSIM Simulation for Lincoln, NE Roundabout

The City of Lincoln asked Ourston Roundabout Engineering to complete a simulation of a high-capacity roundabout at the intersection of Superior St. and North 14 St. The City was hesitant to implement a roundabout with three lane entries, and requested a visual animation of how the roundabout would operate. The projected 2025 peak hour volumes are around 5,700 vehicles per hour.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Roundabouts
• Traffic
• Engineering
• Modern
• Rotary
• Roundabout
• Ourston

[teahousemoon]

Funny, some of the local folks are afraid to use it... I'd say the engineers did a good job with this roundabout. You don't need it now, but you will in the future. This type of intersection has been around for decades in Europe and statistically speaking they are very safe and have a very good traffic capacity.

[billjoe88]

lincoln isnt that big for a round about this is stupid lincoln drivers should just learn how to drive

[pesphemmi]

Cala108 Traffic is simulation of a large roundabout w/a

[fgossage]

@evernae There are cases when railroad/light rail lines either pass through the roundabout or close to it, and in these cases, traffic lights would probably be a great idea at the roundabout, so they can be interconnected with the railroad crossing signals to provide "track-clearance green" railroad pre-emption. Sadly the majority of the public can't grasp the concept of "Do Not Stop on Tracks", and in cases of high traffic, not signalizing such a roundabout can increase congestion dramatically.

[evernae]

Roundabouts should be free of traffic lights for sure.

[EmmaBeeba]

@tuberlf1 large roundabouts in the UK are generally separated into lanes, is that what you mean? I have not regularly heard of any accidents on roundabouts requiring them to be shut to, actually not sure if I've heard of any. Traffic lights on roundabouts suck, believe me, stick to one or the other.

[samsticka]

At least Omaha isn't plastering these damn things all over the place. They've got some, I'll admit but at least they're being smart with them. Limiting them to roads with speed limits of 25 or less.

[tuberlf1]

At least with the center open you haven't shut down the whole system. Does anyone have a link for one built here in the USA?

Seriously though.....I'm all for change - lets build one in Lincoln and give it a try. Locals will probably learn to love it. My fear is, all the out of town traffic we get, football games etc.. Not being familiar on which lane to be in, could cause people to try and change lanes in the R-A-B.

[tuberlf1]

HelmutVillam - To be fair, I went ahead and searched roundabouts. Found a few videos here on YouTube. Paris had a good video (Not really ;o). It looks like the center of the the ones I could find overseas all had the center area wide open. Is this typical over in Britian? Doesn't look like they have any particular "Flow" direction either, which at least the Lincoln one does. How many accidents occurred weekly? What was the process to clean it up (traffic coming from all directions)

[HelmutVillam]

@tuberlf1

Britain has had thousands of unsignalled roundabouts for decades that have functioned very well with large volumes of traffic. Roundabouts are NOT built for traffic lights. If you put them on one they defeat the purpose and you end up with something worse than the 4 way intersection you started with.