Project Summary
Roundabout are an emerging type of intersection design, and are relatively new addition to the transportation system transportation system in the United States. As a result, guidelines for roundabout design and construction are very broad and leave much room for subjectivity. This can result in roundabout designs with performance and safety well below the level that was anticipated. Peer review of roundabout designs is one way of controlling this. As the peer review of designs becomes more popular, it is apparent that there is a need to develop a proper procedure for and identification of critical elements that should be checked during this review process. Without such standards, the effectiveness of these reviews may be compromised. Further, the application and design of roundabouts is still evolving. As such, it is critically important that planners and engineers are kept up-to-date with the “state-of-the-art” and “best practices” for roundabout design so that these intersections will positively contribute to the transportation system.
