Glastonbury On Track For A Tenth Of Connecticut's Roundabouts

GLASTONBURY, CT — Of the 16 roundabouts in Connecticut Glastonbury has two of them.

And it will eventually be three out of 30.

State Department of Transportation officials were touting the totals Tuesday in observance of National Roundabouts week, which runs from Sept. 18 to Sept. 22.

The local locations are:

• New London Turnpike and Hebron Avenue
• House Street and Hebron Avenue

"Roundabouts improve safety, reduce congestion, and even reduce emissions," DOT officials said Tuesday.

DOT officials went on the say, "After converting an intersection to a roundabout, data shows an 80 percent reduction in severe crashes and a 50 percent reduction in overall crashes."

On the books is another roundabout on New London Turnpike, this time at the Route 17 interchange. It is one of 14 new roundabouts planned in the state, DOT officials said.

When fully operational, that would give Glastonbury one-tenth of the roundabouts in the state.

Here is a roundabout chart provided by the DOT:

According to federal transportation officials, "roundabouts are designed with slow vehicle speeds in mind and their central island and traffic separator islands make drivers react to them and force them to slow down. Rotaries are large circular intersections with wide sweeping lanes that allow vehicles to drive at much higher speeds."