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Roundabout Features

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Description of Features
Central island The central island is the raised area in the centre of a roundabout around which traffic circulates. Splitter island A splitter island is a raised or painted area on an approach used to separate entering from exiting traffic, deflect and slow entering traffic, and provide storage space for pedestrians crossing the road in two stages. Circulatory roadway The circulatory roadway is the curved path used by vehicles to travel in a counter clockwise fashion around the central island Apron If required on smaller roundabouts to accommodate the wheel tracking of large vehicles, an apron is the mountable portion of the central island adjacent to the circulatory roadway. Yield line A yield line is a pavement marking used to mark the point of entry from an approach into the circulatory roadway and is generally marked along the inscribed circle. Entering vehicles must yield to any circulating traffic coming from the left before crossing this line into the circulatory roadway.
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Accessible pedestrian crossings Accessible pedestrian crossings should be provided at all roundabouts. The crossing location is set back from the yield line, and the splitter island is cut to allow pedestrians, wheelchairs, strollers, and bicycles to pass through. Bicycle treatments Bicycle treatments at roundabouts provide bicyclists the option of travelling through the roundabout either as a vehicle or as a pedestrian, depending on the bicyclists level of comfort. andscaping buffer Landscaping buffers are provided at most roundabouts to separate vehicular and pedestrian traffic and to encourage pedestrians to cross only at the designated crossing locations. Landscaping buffers can also significantly improve the aesthetics of the intersection.
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Roundabout Dimensions

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Description of Dimensions
Inscribed circle diameter The inscribed circle diameter is the basic parameter used to define the size of a roundabout. It is measured between the outer edges of the circulatory roadway. Circulatory roadway width The circulatory roadway width defines the roadway width for vehicle circulation around the central island. It is measured as the width between the outer edge of this roadway and the central island. It does not include the width of any mountable apron, which is defined to be part of the central island. Approach width The approach width is the width of the roadway used by approaching traffic upstream of any changes in width associated with the roundabout. The approach width is typically no more than half of the total width of the roadway.

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Departure width The departure width is the width of the roadway used by departing traffic downstream of any changes in width associated with the roundabout. The departure width is typically less than or equal to half of the total width of the roadway. Entry width The entry width defines the width of the entry where it meets the inscribed circle. It is measured perpendicularly from the right edge of the entry to the intersection point of the left edge line and the inscribed circle. Exit width The exit width defines the width of the exit where it meets the inscribed circle. It is measured perpendicularly from the right edge of the exit to the intersection point of the left edge line and the inscribed circle. Entry radius The entry radius is the minimum radius of curvature of the outside curb at the entry. Exit radius The exit radius is the minimum radius of curvature of the outside curb at the exit.
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Roundabout Categories
According to size and environment, roundabouts can be categorized in six types,  Mini-roundabouts  Urban compact roundabouts  Urban single-lane roundabouts  Urban double-lane roundabouts  Rural single-lane roundabouts  Rural double-lane roundabouts Next chart summarizes and compares some fundamental design and operational elements for each of the six roundabout categories

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Basic design characteristics for each of the six roundabout categories.

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Flow Rates
Entry flow and circulating flow for each approach are the volumes of interest for roundabout capacity analysis, rather than turning movement volumes. Entry flow is simply the sum of the through, left, and right turn movements on an approach. Circulating flow is the sum of the vehicles from different movements passing in front of the adjacent upstream splitter island. Right turns are included in approach volumes and require capacity, but are not included in the circulating volumes downstream because they exit before the next entrance.
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For proposed or planned four-legged roundabouts, following equations can be applied to determine conflicting (circulating) flow rates, (refer figure on the next slide) VEB,circ = VWB,LT + VSB,LT + VSB,TH + VNB,U-turn + VWB,U-turn + VSB,U-turn VWB,circ = VEB,LT + VSB,LT + VSB,TH + VSB,U-turn + VEB,U-turn + VNB,U-turn VNB,circ = VEB,LT + VEB,TH + VSB,LT + VNB,U-turn + VWB,U-turn + VEB,U-turn VSB,circ = VWB,LT + VWB,TH + VNB,LT + VEB,U-turn + VNB,U-turn + VWB,U-turn Other through movement flow rates can be estimated using a similar relationships: VEB,TH = VEB,entry + VWB,exit - VEB,RT - VNB,RT - VNB,circ VEB,LT = VEB,entry - VEB,TH - VEB,RT

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Traffic flow parameters

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Capacity of Roundabouts
The maximum flow rate that can be accommodated at a roundabout entry depends on two factors:
 the circulating flow on the roundabout that conflicts with the entry flow, and  the geometric elements of the roundabout.

Roundabouts should be designed to operate at no more than 85 percent of their estimated capacity. Beyond this threshold, delays and queues vary significantly from their mean values.
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Single-lane roundabout capacity

The next fig. shows the expected capacity for a single-lane roundabout for both the urban compact and urban/rural single-lane designs. It shows the variation of maximum entry flow as a function of the circulating flow on the roundabout. The capacity forecast shown in the fig. is valid for single-lane roundabouts with inscribed circle diameters of 25 m to 55 m (80 ft to 180 ft). Circulating flow should not exceed 1,800 veh/h at any point in a single-lane roundabout. Exit flows exceeding 1,200 veh/h may indicate the need for a double-lane exit.
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Approach capacity of a single-lane roundabout

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Double-lane roundabout capacity

The next fig. shows the expected capacity of a double-lane roundabout that is based on the design templates for the urban/rural doublelane roundabouts. The capacity forecast shown in the chart is valid for double-lane roundabouts with inscribed circle diameters of 40 m to 60 m (130 ft to 200 ft). Larger inscribed diameter roundabouts are expected to have slightly higher capacities at moderate to high circulating flows.
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Approach capacity of a double-lane roundabout

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Capacity effect of short lanes at flared entries

By flaring an approach, short lanes may be added at the entry to improve the performance. If an additional short lane is used, it is assumed that the circulatory road width is also increased accordingly. The use of short lanes can nearly double approach capacity, without requiring a twolane roadway prior to the roundabout. The capacity is given by the product of the appropriate factor as shown in next chart and the capacity of a two-lane roundabout.

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Capacity reduction factors for short lanes.

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Comparison of single-lane and double-lane roundabouts

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Pedestrian effects on entry capacity

Pedestrians crossing at a marked crosswalk that gives them priority over entering motor vehicles can have a significant effect on the entry capacity. In such cases, if the pedestrian crossing volume and circulating volume are known, the vehicular capacity should be factored (multiply by M) according to the relationship shown in next figures for single-lane and double-lane roundabouts, respectively. The effects of conflicting pedestrians on approach capacity decrease as conflicting vehicular volumes increase, as entering vehicles become more likely to have to stop regardless of whether pedestrians are present.
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Capacity reduction factor M for a single-lane roundabout assuming pedestrian priority.

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Capacity reduction factor M for a double-lane roundabout assuming pedestrian priority.

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Performance Analysis
Key performance measures for roundabouts:  Degree of saturation  Delay  Queue length Each measure provides a unique perspective on the quality of service at which a roundabout will perform under a given set of traffic and geometric conditions.

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Degree of saturation
Degree of saturation is the ratio of the demand at the roundabout entry to the capacity of the entry. It provides a direct assessment of the sufficiency of a given design. The degree of saturation for an entry lane should be less than a standard value for satisfactory operation. When the degree of saturation exceeds this range, the operation of the roundabout will likely deteriorate rapidly, particularly over short periods of time. Queues may form and delay begins to increase exponentially.
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Delay
Delay is a standard parameter used to measure the performance of an intersection. Control delay is the time that a driver spends queuing and then waiting for an acceptable gap in the circulating flow while at the front of the queue. It is given by:

where: d = average control delay, sec/veh; vx = flow rate for movement x, veh/h; cmx = capacity of movement x, veh/h; and T = analysis time period, h (T = 0.25 for a 15-minute period).
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Next fig. shows how control delay at an entry varies with entry capacity and circulating flow. Each curve for control delay ends at a volume-tocapacity ratio of 1.0, with the curve projected beyond that point as a dashed line. As volumes approach capacity, control delay increases exponentially, with small changes in volume having large effects on delay. Geometric delay is the additional time that a single vehicle with no conflicting flows spends slowing down to the negotiation speed, proceeding through the intersection, and accelerating back to normal operating speed.
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Control delay as a function of capacity and entering flow.

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Queue length
The average queue length (L vehicles) can be calculated by Littles rule: L = v * d / 3600 where: v = entry flow, veh/h d = average delay, seconds/veh Average queue length is equivalent to the vehicle-hours of delay per hour on an approach. For design purposes, next graph shows how the 95th-percentile queue length varies with the degree of saturation of an approach.
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95th-percentile queue length estimation.

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Following equation can be used to approximate the 95thpercentile queue:

where: Q95= 95th percentile queue, veh, vx = flow rate for movement x, veh/h, cm,x= capacity of movement x, veh/h, and T = analysis time period, h (0.25 for 15-minute period). The graph and equation are only valid when the residual queues are negligible.
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Roundabout design process.

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Stopping sight distance

Stopping sight distance is the distance along a roadway required for a driver to perceive and react to an object in the roadway and to brake to a complete stop before reaching that object. It can be estimated by:

d = (0.278)(t)(V) + 0.039(V2/a)
where: d = stopping sight distance, m; t = reaction time, assumed to be 2.5 s; V = initial speed, km/h; and a = driver deceleration, assumed to be 3.4 m/s2.
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Roundabout Interchanges
Freeway ramp junctions with arterial roads are potential candidates for roundabout intersection treatment. Roundabout interchanges are especially used if the subject interchange typically has a high proportion of left-turn flows from the off-ramps and to the onramps during certain peak periods, combined with limited queue storage space on the bridge crossing, off-ramps, or arterial approaches Roundabout Interchanges could be of various types:  Two-bridge roundabout interchange

 One-bridge roundabout interchange

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Two-bridge roundabout interchange

The freeway may go either over or under the circulatory roadway

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One-bridge roundabout interchange

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