The City of Norwood, Payneham and St Peters in suburban Adelaide is creating a number of “quietways” from the suburbs into the CBD. It’s interesting to see their treatment of roundabouts on these routes: they appear to be adopting the European-style design, narrowing the approach roads, and making them radial rather than tangential to the circulating carriageway. This encourages slower speeds than the traditional Australian design, making it easier for pedestrians to cross, and more comfortable for cyclists to claim the lane through the roundabout.
This example at the intersection of Ninth Ave and Winchester St, Joslin is currently under construction. You can see where the approach roads have been modified so that traffic entering the roundabout is forced to slow.
And earlier and simpler example at the intersection of Beulah Rd and Sydenham Rd, Norwood, helps make Beulah Rd a more comfortable route into the city centre.
Not everyone is happy, but it does seem to slow the motor vehicle traffic. A possible disadvantage to roundabouts like these are that they prevent cyclists from slipping past queued traffic during busy times as is possible when the approach road is wider. It might be daunting to sit in front of traffic on an uphill approach (which is far less common in Adelaide than Brisbane). What do you think?
Space for Cycling Brisbane 