Homer Watson and Ottawa Three Lane Roundabouts

[Markster]

It's really interesting hearing the comments about the walking thing - so, what do you propose?  Sidewalks cannot be placed closer to roundabouts.  It is not safe.  Look at how other cities, everyone does it this way.  It is not a case of "Cars first! So unfair!", it's a case of... it's the best design for the goals at hand.

It's the best design for vehicular throughput and convenience, with the best design for pedestrian safety (but not convenience) given that initial constraint.

Look at this:
   

Why did the pedestrian crossing on that northbound right turn lane go there?  And cause that zig-zag in that tiny pedestrian island?  Almost certainly because they followed the design book of "set back pedestrian crossing X metres from intersection", and not because that's where one would make sense.  They could have pushed back the pedestrian crossing for that right turn lane a few more metres and made the design much more accessible for people on mobility devices.

The zig-zag is also caused by the heavy flaring of the driving approaches to the circle.  Roundabout approaches don't need to flare out the way they do in our city. Many cities have them approach in a more direct fashion. The straight-through lane going north here almost seems designed to encourage and support right turns.

A bunch of the extra walking created by the roundabout crossings could also be reduced by just paving some trivial desire lines. These go through large grassy fields, and cut off a big chunk of the walk. There was no design from a pedestrian perspective.

   

I biked an extra 6 km last night, making my 24 km bike ride home from work 30 km, because Fountain St. is crap right now, and I didn't care at all - it was a beautiful day and I loved it.

That's wonderful that you feel that way, and I don't doubt that there are others who do, but when it gets down to it, for permanent civil infrastructure, I don't.