Vision - Britannia Roundabout

[Jim]

The main problem in the east is the limited entry points to the CBD, we are trying to funnel all the traffic into North Tce, narrow Pirie St, the now blocked Rundle St or via the Britannica roundabout.
Now Victoria Park is no more lets link some of those eastern suburbs roads to the city to spread the load and make the city a more pleasant place.
Lets join
ï‚€ South Tce to Dulwich Ave
ï‚€ Gilles St to Swaine Ave
ï‚€ Halifax to Grant Ave
ï‚€ Return Rundle road to parklands, but link Rundle Street Kent Town with Grenfell Street. (now the mall has made Rundle a dead end) the traffic would flow much easier through Grenfell and make east Rundle a better place

And of course on the other side I would have to reopen Hawker St Bowden with Mills Tce North Adelaide.

Let’s spread the load and make Adelaide a better place

[AtD]

That won't happen. Both the state and the ACC are actively seeking to reduce the amount of road traffic in the city and encourage people to either bypass the city or seek other means to get in. There's several examples of this, off the top of my head
- Narrowing of Grote Street by removing lanes for bus lanes, bike lanes, wider footpaths and on-street parking, to discourage cross-city traffic,
- Narrowing of North Terrace for a wider footpath and the removal of the slip lane turning left onto Frome Road, again to discourage cross-city traffic,
- The tram line, removal of lanes from North Terrace and King William Street, and the removal of turn left lanes from North Terrace to King William Road,
- Increased pedestrian and bus/tram priority at many key intersections,
- The construction of the Blakewell Underpass to allow the extension of James Congdon Road and widening of East Terrace, Mile End, to give southbound Park Terrace traffic a way to bypass the city and join South Road,
- The upgrade of South Road, in part so it may act as a city bypass,
- All this money for public transport, new buses, trams and trains.

The rational behind this is excess traffic is a burden to the inner city, and public transport is most feasible in the CBD. Melbourne has implemented such an idea and now some areas their CBD are almost void of road traffic and swarming with pedestrians.

Any upgrade of the Britannia Roundabout would probably give more priority to traffic on the city bypass (Dequetteville Terrace and Fullarton Road) and less priority to city-bound traffic.

[drsmith]

Install a 2-phase traffic signal where Wakefield Road eastbound and Dequettiville Tce meet and a Give Way sign on the roundabout itself for right turn movements from Fullarton Road northbound (continuing onto Fullarton Road and Kensington Road eastbound).

The signal phases would be red for Dequettiville Tce northbound/southbound and green for Wakefield Road eastbound and vice-versa. Set the stop lines for the signals far enough back from the roundabout to allow to allow safe entry through the give way sign above when traffic is stopped at the signals.

It should then be possible to partially regulate traffic on the roundabout using the signals including an all-red phase if necessary. It may also be necessary to lengthen the lane into the give way sign (using part of the centre island) to prevent queuing of northbound traffic in the right hand lane from Fullaton Road onto Dequettiville Tce.

I don't know if the above would actually work but the inspiration comes from the way a 3/4 roundabout was configured at the western end of the Causeway just east of the Perth CBD prior to the install of bus lanes on the Causeway itself. While not as complex as Britannia roundabout a similar 2-phase signal regulated the movement of over 100000vpd from the Causeway on/off 3 other feeder roads into/around the Perth CBD.

The 2-phase traffic signal would also provide a means for pedestrians to safely cross Dequettiville Tce during the green phase for Wakefield Road eastbound.

[zap brannigan]

i think the main problem is the shape of the roundabout which is squashed in on one side making the two western roads very close together... this creates a dangerous situation.

they need to expand the roundabout into the parklands even if there is the usual bananas in pyjamas brigade of nay sayers.

traffic lights at peak times would definitely help.

about time this bottle neck was fixed, well done isobel.

[duke]

The roundabout isn't that hard, but the number of accidents show that it is hard for a lot of people. It seems like people take a lot of risks there.
Only based on that I think that it should be upgraded to traffic lights. It will slow traffic but at least it should stop the accidents.

The issue I have is that the whole thing keeps being bought up and scrapped over pissy issues like 66 trees. Get over it. Dig them up, cut them down and plant 100 trees somewhere else.
Thousands of trees get destroyed each year for resources and in natural disasters. Trees are not worth saving in this case when they can be replaced in other areas.

Adelaide is the only city that I can think of where debate on the same intersection keeps going for 20 years. This state is an absolute joke.

[deetee]

I agree with you all.
It is a very dangerous roundabout and needs to be dealt with promptly. Due to the trees and shape of the roundabout its quite hazardous especially at night during peak time.
A lot of blind spots.
I know first hand since I was just in accident there but all passengers and drivers from both vehicles were fine.
However, I believe it could have been more serious and perhaps there already has been such incidents.

Point of the message! This roundabout needs fixing ASAP!

[iTouch]

if you all had any clue, you'd know that Melbourne's got many round-about's like this one. Why do we complain when we've got just 1?

[crawf]

Probably because it's one of the busiest intersections in the inner metro area and most Adelaide drivers suck

Hopefully one day a future State Government will have the balls to finally fix this mess, eg underpasses.

[rhino]

Probably because it's one of the busiest intersections in the inner metro area and most Adelaide drivers suck

Have you not been through the Flemington Road roundabout in North Melbourne, 1km out of the CBD?

http://maps.google.com.au/maps?q=GOOGLE ... CBMQ8gEwAA

[metro]

oh please, Britannia Roundabout is simple, as Crawf said, most Adelaide drivers suck and i believe the government is not obliged in any way to build expensive solutions here to make life easier on people who dont really know how to drive a car through a simple roundabout like Britannia.

and that Melbourne example, while more complex than Britannia is nothing compared to the Arc De Triomphe in Paris

[Zills]

if you all had any clue, you'd know that Melbourne's got many round-about's like this one. Why do we complain when we've got just 1?

It's not about Melbourne...! Put up traffic lights already

[Nathan]

oh please, Britannia Roundabout is simple, as Crawf said, most Adelaide drivers suck and i believe the government is not obliged in any way to build expensive solutions here to make life easier on people who dont really know how to drive a car through a simple roundabout like Britannia.

My thoughts exactly. All the problems at Britannia are caused by people who can't understand how to negotiate a simple roundabout.

[AG]

One of Melbourne's most notorious roundabouts has been recently upgraded with... you guessed it, traffic signals! A $2.4 million upgrade of the Haymarket roundabout in North Melbourne has altered the lane layouts and added traffic signals to this intersection.

[rhino]

I wonder if peak-hour-only, red-and-yellow-only traffic lights would ease the situation. They seem to work quite well at the roundabout at Blythewood Road and Old Belair Road. If you don't have a red light, the usual roundabout rules apply, as there is no green light giving you a right of way.

[Aidan]

oh please, Britannia Roundabout is simple, as Crawf said, most Adelaide drivers suck and i believe the government is not obliged in any way to build expensive solutions here to make life easier on people who dont really know how to drive a car through a simple roundabout like Britannia.

My thoughts exactly. All the problems at Britannia are caused by people who can't understand how to negotiate a simple roundabout.

It's only a simple roundabout in the sense that it isn't a compound roundabout. But though the Britannia Roundabout isn't compound, it is complicated because there is a conflict adjacent to the roundabout: Wakefield Road (entering the roundabout) crosses Dequetteville Terrace (exiting).

'Tis the second worst roundabout I've seen, and the worst (the tadpolabout at Firq, near Nizwa, Oman) was replaced by a conventional roundabout many years ago.

I wonder if peak-hour-only, red-and-yellow-only traffic lights would ease the situation. They seem to work quite well at the roundabout at Blythewood Road and Old Belair Road. If you don't have a red light, the usual roundabout rules apply, as there is no green light giving you a right of way.

They would help a bit, and my own solution involved a fully signalized roundabout, which would help a bit more. However I now think AtD's solution is much better than mine, especially if the northbound bus lane is moved to the extreme left.