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Conversion of Existing Roundabouts into Turbo-Roundabouts: Case Studies from Real World



Author(s)

Orazio Giuffrè, Marco Guerrieri and Anna Granà

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DOI:10.17265/1934-7359/2012.08.003

Department of Civil Environmental, Aerospace, Materials Engineering, Università degli Studi di Palermo, Palermo90128, Italy

Compared with roundabouts the main advantages of turbo-roundabouts are the reduction in the number of potential conflicting points and the lower speed of vehicles passing through the intersection, they both can improve safety conditions at the junction. Moreover, the physical delimitation among lanes limits the side-by-side accident risk. These aspects make turbo-roundabouts more appropriate than roundabouts when a higher level of safety has to be guaranteed, particularly in presence of relevant pedestrian and two-wheels traffic volumes. The present paper has three main objectives: (1) to discuss general design criteria and functional principles of turbo roundabouts, (2) to give the geometric design principles of the central island and circulating lanes and (3) to present three case studies from real world concerning the conversion of existing roundabouts into turbo roundabouts.

Roundabout, turbo roundabout, capacity.