Transportation Safety Webinar Series: Evaluation of Safety and Mobility of Two-Lane Roundabouts

In this presentation, John Hourdos discussed completed and ongoing research conducted by the Minnesota Traffic Observatory (MTO) on the safety of two-lane roundabouts. In 2011, the MTO investigated an ongoing problem at a two-lane roundabout in Richfield, MN—at the time, one of the few modern urban roundabouts in the Twin Cities. Following its construction, although the roundabout did help reduce fatal and severe crashes, there was a substantial increase in property-damage-only crashes. With the assistance of local and national roundabout experts, changes in the signs and lane markings at the roundabout were implemented and evaluated by the MTO. Some of these designs have shown great promise, prompting the continuation of the research with an ongoing project that is analyzing driver violations as surrogate safety measures on four additional roundabouts in Minnesota.