Southern Illinois University – Edwardsville

Name of Subject: CE Tech & Research Proposal Write-CE-492-014-202435

Name of the Assignment: Literature Review on "Switching Signalized Intersections with
Roundabouts"
Date of Submission: Sept. 9, 2024
Name of Student: Abhishek Khatiwada Student ID:800816655

Switching Signalized Intersections with Roundabouts

Introduction:
Intersections present a significant concern accounting for approximately 2.21 million crashes and
6770 fatal crashes in 2009 alone (NTSHA,2009). Thus, National Cooperative Highway Research
Program (NCHRP)500t, vol. 12, identifies safety issues related to signalized intersections and
potential countermeasures to address the safety issues (Antonucci et al., 2004). The objective 17.2
B objective 17.2B identifies several strategies to reduce the frequency and severity of intersection
conflicts through geometric improvements. A specific strategy listed in this section is “construct
special solutions”, which includes conversion of signalized intersections to roundabouts
(Antonucci et al., 2004) [1]. Switching Signalize intersection with Roundabouts can be analyzed
based on Traffic flow efficiency, its Safety outcomes, Implementation Challenge and Cost and
Maintenance of the structure.

Historical Context:
The system of signalized intersection became prevalent in the mid -20 th century as automobile use
surged and there was rapid expansion of the urban areas. (Wegman et al,2012) [2].

The evolution of roundabouts began to reduce the limitation of the signalized intersection by
promoting continuous traffic flow, reducing the number of conflict points and managing speed
though a round layout (Tarsa,2005) [3].

Problem statement:
Signalized intersection has been common practice in the urban road infrastructure, but they often
lead to increase in congestion, safety concern and maintenance cost, causing delays and increase
in travel times especially during the peak hours which can be significantly reduced by using of the
round abouts.

Benefits of Roundabouts:
 Roundabouts have lower operating and maintenance costs than signalized intersections.
One reason is that typical roundabouts don’t have to provide traffic lights power and
maintenance. Another reason is that roundabouts often serve longer lifetime than signalized
intersections. From the perspective of land occupation, roundabouts may need more area
for pavement and the circular but less on the entrances and exits compared to traffic signal
intersections. (Longfei Zhou et.al ,2002) [4].
 Southern Illinois University – Edwardsville
Name of Subject: CE Tech & Research Proposal Write-CE-492-014-202435
Name of the Assignment: Literature Review on "Switching Signalized Intersections with
Roundabouts"
Date of Submission: Sept. 9, 2024
Name of Student: Abhishek Khatiwada Student ID:800816655

 The roundabouts reduce the need for traffic signals and reduces conflict points such as head
on and high-speed right-angle collision causing decline in accidents, especially fatalities.

Challenges and Limitations:

 One thing that should not be neglected about roundabouts is that there are traffic flow
conflicts not only between circular lanes but also between entrance lanes and circular lanes
in a roundabout. (Longfei Zhou et.al ,2002) [5][4].
 The cost of roundabouts is a complex aspect to be evaluated. The construction cost of
roundabouts is usually higher than that of signalized intersection. (Longfei Zhou et.al
,2002) [6][4].

Case studies:
 A study of roundabouts in Maryland contained before–after comparisons of roundabout
conversions that occurred between 1993 and 2000(Cunningham,2007)[7][5]. The study
was comprised of two parts, (1) a before–after comparison of locations where a roundabout
replaced a stop sign or intersection control beacon (15 single-lane roundabouts and three
two-lane roundabouts), and (2) a more detailed analysis of the 15 single-lane roundabout
conversions. For the single-lane roundabout locations, there was a significant reduction in
the total crash rate (1.36 crashes per million entering vehicles (MEV) before to 0.27 crashes
per MEV after) and the injury crash rate (0.79 crashes per MEV to 0.09 crashes per MEV).
For the two-lane roundabout conversions, there was a general reduction in both total and
injury crashes, although one location had a 147 percent increase in total crash frequency.
For the more detailed analysis of the 15 single-lane roundabout conversions, the total crash
rate decreased by 60 percent, the fatal crash rate decreased by 100 percent, the injury crash
rate decreased by 82 percent, and the property-damage-only (PDO) crash rate decreased
by 27percent.Right-angle, rear-end, opposite-direction, sideswipe, left-turn, nighttime, and
wet surface crashes decreased by 91 percent, 11 percent, 100 percent, 75 percent, 95
percent, 5 percent, and 30 percent, respectively. In contrast, the fixed-object crash rate
increased by 724 percent. The reductions in total, fatal, injury, PDO, angle, opposite-
direction, left-turn, and wet surface crash rates were statistically significant at a five percent
level. (Frank G.et .al) [8][6]
 A before–after study of roundabout conversions in the United States employed the
empirical Bayes (EB) methodology to control for regression-to-the-mean and other trends
in crash occurrence (Persaud et al., 2001). The analyses used data from seven states where
a total of 23 intersections were converted to modern roundabouts between 1992 and 1997.
Of the 23 intersections, 19 were previously stop-controlled, and four were signal-
 Southern Illinois University – Edwardsville
Name of Subject: CE Tech & Research Proposal Write-CE-492-014-202435
Name of the Assignment: Literature Review on "Switching Signalized Intersections with
Roundabouts"
Date of Submission: Sept. 9, 2024
Name of Student: Abhishek Khatiwada Student ID:800816655

controlled. For the signalized intersections, the EB procedure estimated highly significant
reductions of 35 percent for all crashes and 74 percent for injury crashes. Three of these
roundabouts had multilane circulation designs. A later study (Rodeger dts et al., 2007),
applying the same methodology and using these same four sites with an additional five
converted intersections, found highly significant reductions of 48 percent for all crashes
and 78 percent for injury crashes. When broken down by area type, the four suburban sites
had a 67 percent reduction in all crashes, but no results could be obtained for injury crashes
due to a small sample size. The five urban sites had a statistically insignificant one percent
reduction for all crashes and a 60 percent reduction in injury crashes. (Frank G.et .al) [9][6]
 A Danish study found that at signalized dual carriageway intersections there was a 9.2
percent reduction in crashes for two phase signals and a 7.8 percent reduction for three-
phase signals (separate right-turn phase – left-hand driving) when the signals were replaced
with roundabouts (Jørgensen and Jørgensen, 1994) [10][7]. According to Ourston (1996),
another study from the Netherlands investigated the effect of conversion of nine traffic
signals to roundabouts. They found a 27 percent reduction in total crashes and a 33 percent
reduction in casualties [11][8].

Conclusion:

Thus, the above literature emphasizes the significance of converting the signalized intersection
to roundabouts. Roundabouts reduce the conflict points, decrease the frequency of conflicts
and reduces the severity crashes, and Lower long term maintenance costs. Case studies from
United states, Denmark and the Netherlands clearly demonstrate substantial reduction in total
and injury -related crashes following the conversion to roundabouts. Even though Roundabouts
have several advantages, challenges remain, including the higher Initial cost of Construction
and Potential Traffic flow conflicts within the roundabouts itself. Overall, roundabouts are an
effective alternative to signalized intersections, enhancing both safety and efficiency. Thus,
upcoming research must focus on optimization of roundabout design to address traffic flow
conflicts.
 Southern Illinois University – Edwardsville
Name of Subject: CE Tech & Research Proposal Write-CE-492-014-202435
Name of the Assignment: Literature Review on "Switching Signalized Intersections with
Roundabouts"
Date of Submission: Sept. 9, 2024
Name of Student: Abhishek Khatiwada Student ID:800816655

Citation and Reference:

1. Frank Gross a, ∗, Craig Lyonb,1, Bhagwant Persaudc,2, Raghavan Srinivasand,2012, Safety

effectiveness of converting signalized intersections to roundabouts,16 April 2012.

2. N. Wu and W. Brilon, “Roundabout capacity analysis based on conflict technique,” in Proc.

5th Int. Conf. Roundabouts, 2017, pp. 1–24.

3. TARSA. (2005). Roundabouts: Design Guidelines and Best Practices. Transportation

Association of Road Safety Analysts.

4. Wegman, F., Zhang, F., & Dijkstra, A. (2012). Traffic Safety and Roundabouts: A Study of
Accident Patterns and Effectiveness. Traffic Engineering & Control, 53(2), 67-73.

5. Cunningham, R.B., 2007. Maryland’s Roundabouts: Accident Experience and Economic

Evaluation. Maryland Depart

6. Frank Gross a, ∗, Craig Lyonb,1, Bhagwant Persaudc,2, Raghavan Srinivasand,2012. Safety

effectiveness of converting signalized intersections to roundabouts.

7. Jørgensen, E., Jørgensen, N.O., 1994. Trafiksikkerhed i 82 danske rundkørsler—anlagtefter

1985. Rapport 4. IVTB, DTU, 1994.

8. Ourston, L., 1996. Comparative Safety of Modern Roundabouts and Signalized Cross
Intersections, February 26, http://www.roundabouts.com