East 38th Street and Broadway Avenue. Photos: Courtesy of Alec Davis
If you want to rileIowa drivers — talk about roundabouts.
Driving the news: Last week, crews started removing a roundabout in Altoona that caused issues for drivers of larger vehicles.
Zoom in: One busy roundabout in Waukee has been the subject of multiple accidents involving students.
Meanwhile, some cities are dealing with driver roundabout frustrations and have informational billboards to explain them.
Yes, but: It's not all around-the-clock bad news here.
State of play: Alec Davis of Momentum DSM, which advocates for safer street designs, wanted to share an example of a well-designed roundabout at East 38th Street and Broadway Avenue in Des Moines.
The "radius" is big enough that it forces drivers to slow down.
The crossings are also set back far enough to allow drivers to approach more head-on and have more visibility.
There's also a slight turn on the sidewalk to slow cyclists and pedestrians before they reach the intersection.
The bottom line: Love em' or hate em', roundabouts aren't going anywhere anytime soon.
There's currently a "roundabout revolution" nationwide and Des Moines plans on building them at Hickman, Merle Hay and East Army Post roads.
