Why are the council addicted to adding traffic lights on roundabouts now?
Posted by Classic_Peasant@reddit | miltonkeynes | View on Reddit | 39 comments
The refurbished ones over towards Kingston area and Newport Pagnell now have spiral lanes and lights after each exit.
Doesn't this go against the planning rules of MK and make the ooint of roundabouts redundant if you are forced to stop and wait?
2wongdontmakemewhite@reddit
The council did put out a doc on thr plans, from what I understand the hamburger roundabout idea has been shot down.
There is also a video on broughton and mk parish council Facebook to explain how it would improve traffic flow.
I am sure there is studies and simulation done about the improvement. The other things also worth mentioning is that the Brinklow have a high number of minor accidents that doesnt necessarily get reported, I am sure everyone on here seen plenty of them in person. Having traffic light should mitigate most of those issue
monkston and Brinklow roundabouts improvement
Classic_Peasant@reddit (OP)
Glad the burger option cut shot down, looks even more dangerous and congesting.
People can barely use a normal one let alone that thing!
Glad-Feature-2117@reddit
They aren't so bad once you get used to going into a left hand lane to turn right!
BaldyBaldyBouncer@reddit
The ones at Kingston have made the traffic worse.
Game's gone
Glad-Feature-2117@reddit
Yes, I agree. Mind you, they have at least made people respect the correct lane discipline on that roundabout compared to before the lights (unintended consequence, I'm sure).
Tippedc0w@reddit
I don’t know why they didn’t just paint the lines like this when they resurfaced it last time, might of helped solve the issue a bit!
Glad-Feature-2117@reddit
Good point!
smallaxxe@reddit
Agreed they should turn them off during less busy times and have it function as a standard roundabout I find I’m waiting at the lights when there is no traffic didn’t have to do this before.
Reasonable-Horse1552@reddit
Yes we all sat at a red light when the roundabout was totally clear and not a car in sight.
KingForceHundred@reddit
Traffic on one road might never be able to proceed in reasonable time w/o help of lights.
Ch4rl13_P3pp3r@reddit
The town planners have moved to MK from Warrington would be my guess. In Warrington the planners love their double traffic management. You can always tell when the traffic lights are out of order at Brian Bevan Island, because the traffic isn’t backed up to Stockton Heath.
maciel-BR@reddit
Thanks god they added the traffic lights at the roundabout in Kingston
Toffy82@reddit
too many cars
the-shadow-cat@reddit
I guess you didn't play Cities Skylines. That's the first thing you do when a roundabout has too much traffic.
Gloomy_Bar_5055@reddit
Because the council are on a mission to get rid of cars in the driving city so they continually do ridiculous things and ignore the original plans rather than maintain the plam and demand developers stick to the plan
EUskeptik@reddit
When it gets to the point a roundabout junction becomes chronically congested and no longer works as a roundabout should, two measures are considered. One is adding traffic lights to the roundabout. The other is replacing the roundabout altogether with a traffic light controlled junction.
Either is an admission of defeat. The whole point of a roundabout is to keep traffic moving. Introducing traffic lights means stopping traffic. However, if the roundabout is unable to cope with the volume of traffic at that junction, something needs to change.
At the root of the problem is that the V11 carries heavy traffic because it connects to the M1 J14. The V10 being a single carriageway with more roundabouts cannot relieve the congested V11. The V8 is only useful for congestion relief north of the A421. South of there it peters out into a local road.
Unfortunately, planners have to choose the least worst option to deal with the congestion, and traffic lights it is.
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Projiuk@reddit
To be fair to the lights at Kingston they have improved things at peak times. The traffic does move better, trying to get on that roundabout at 5pm was a nightmare before.
EUskeptik@reddit
I wonder why the lights can’t be turned off outside peak hours. When there is less traffic, the lights aren’t needed.
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Projiuk@reddit
I presume they decided they would be full time from the outset. The problem with that roundabout is that if there are any problems on the M1, a lot of traffic will come off at 13 and go back on at 14. That doesn’t always fit into the peak times so the lights are on in case of unexpected traffic surges
EUskeptik@reddit
True, but I wonder if it would be fairly easy to include a feature where the lights could be turned on in the event of an M1 diversion.
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Lonely-Speed9943@reddit
When lights were first put on the M4/M32 roundabout in Bristol they were part time with signs on them saying part time signals and only operated in morning and evening rush hours. Can't remember when they changed to full time but there's no reason why it can't be done.
StickyPurpleSauce@reddit
Great effortpost. I do think that adding an extra flow lane for the left-turning people is also a pleasant way of improving roundabouts. But I feel that lane needs to start a bit further back or it wouldn’t really reduce congestion in the roundabout queue. Also, Milton Keynes it’s quite square, and I don’t know that it has much capacity for rounding off the corners
EUskeptik@reddit
Thanks. You make good points, especially about the left-turning lane.
mattcosmith@reddit
The new ones on the roundabout at Newport Pagnell are there because there are now pedestrian crossings on the bypass.
Although I do agree it is against the design and an underpass would have been better for pedestrians. Locals are saying with the traffic lights it does help with the flow of traffic when queing.
error_9873@reddit
Pedestrian crossing right after a roundabout exit on a busy dual carriage.... Genius. Once the first child is hit, the road will become a 40mph limit.
Hidden_But_Here@reddit
The underpass/bridge used to be one of the things the council made the developers pay for, back when they were competent.
Now instead they take a nice cash deposit and the promise that at the end of it all a parcel of land will have a playing field or scout hut built... At the end of it all that parcel of land gets sold to another developer and a few grand of the profits gets bunged to an existing facility as a bit of good will.
It's all a swindle
Tomoki967@reddit
I think the new road markings were enough before they turned them on to be honest.
MrTibee@reddit
All they needed to do at the Kingston one is paint the lines so dumb people know which lane they have to be in.
The traffic lights are there bc someones friend at council probably started a traffic light business
Brutos08@reddit
Drove through Newport Pagnell yesterday and I was surprised that they added traffic lights. It’s counter productive but whoever made that decision probably thinks it’s a great idea.
Notagelding@reddit
They've took the traffic lights away from the Redmoor/A5 turning
2JagsPrescott@reddit
I sometimes do wonder whether the people who make these decisions have ever passed their driving test - and if they have, are they the same people who hog the middle lane of the motorway at 62mph? Because they seem to have no clue about keeping traffic moving and reducing delays.
Djan-Seriy-Anaplian@reddit
One more nail in the coffin of the marvellous grid system.
gentlepersuasion420@reddit
Thats Pete Marland's Milton Keynes for you!
Xaerob@reddit
I noticed there is no intelligence in these lights too. They are just done on timers. It doesn't seem to regard peak times, traffic in any particular lane, etc. They are just all treated equally whether it's congested or empty. Quite frustrating as clearly they've gone for a cheaper option than necessary.
There was a leaflet from the council recently announcing the traffic lights as 'we all know MK has problems with traffic and the new lights fix it'.
Compare to any other city in the country and you realise MK has one of the best traffic situations. The new bus, sorry 'trams on rubber wheels' lanes will amplify these issues once they come in too and cut down lots of dual carriageways to single lanes.
A_J_H1979@reddit
With the absolute rabbit warren of houses about to spring up between NP and Willen it’ll be f**ked whether light controlled or not.
txdas12@reddit
When I first saw them I thought the same thing, but both those roundabouts can get really congested. Would be great if they improve traffic flow when it’s busy and then switch them off when they don’t need them on.
Classic_Peasant@reddit (OP)
They dont, they're on all the time from what ive seen and its made it worse.
Noiisy@reddit
Everything’s going against the original idea of Milton Keynes, might as well forget it because the council clearly don’t care anymore. It’s just about cramming everything in as cheap as possible until it breaks, this city will be a totally different place in 30 years.
As for the roundabouts you mentioned they both needed improvement, it was total chaos at peak times on both of those, sadly the easiest and cheapest way is to pop up some lights and paint some lines, took them 10 years.
BaldyBaldyBouncer@reddit
Gotta justify their jobs and budgets somehow. The ones at Kingston have made the traffic much worse.