When Louisiana roadways begin to experience significant congestion among the options to keep the flow of traffic continuous is a roundabout. While roundabouts are the norm in Europe and New England, DOTD Spokesperson Rodney Mallett said they are a successful alternative here also, even though there’s usually resistance at first.
“Everybody hates it, people in our area can’t drive it, and then in about six months, those same people like it, and they want more,” said Mallett.
Since 2003, 174 roundabouts have been constructed in Louisiana.
Mallett said according to a survey they conducted after the Sorrento roundabout, 85% say there are fewer wrecks, 88% say traffic flows better and 90% say they’d like to see another one in their community.
“When you combine that with all the roundabouts that we’ve done, we’re still running at about 68% of the people who responded out of more than 2,000, would like to see future roundabouts in the area,” said Mallett.
While many are hesitant to embrace them at first, Mallett said if you can yield and use a blinker you can adapt to a roundabout. He said when you compare them to other intersections, you’re less likely to be involved in a serious accident like being t-boned or a high-speed rear-end.
“Which you don’t get at a roundabout because there’s constant movement, and you have to slow down and yield to get into the roundabout. So, we’re going to see less serious crashes at a roundabout,” said Mallett
DOTD considers roundabouts as one of the options to be evaluated when they are looking at intersections and other capacity improvements.
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