Roundabout Planned At Falls Church Intersection Near Bowling Alley

FALLS CHURCH, VA — Roundabout intersections have been used in the United Kingdom and across Europe as a standard tool for traffic control over the past 100 years.

These circular intersections have been gaining in popularity in the United States in recent years, with the City of Falls Church expecting to complete its first roundabout in about a year.

City planners are working on a traffic roundabout at the intersection of Annandale Road and S. Maple Ave., near the Bowl America and the rear of the Harris Teeter. The roundabout will replace signals that currently control traffic and pedestrian crossings at the intersection.

In a video describing its Capital Improvements Program, Falls Church said the new roundabout has an advertised completion date of March 1, 2023, and is one of the city's planned neighborhood traffic-calming projects.

In 2021, Falls Church completed nine traffic-calming projects that helped to decrease vehicle speed and increase pedestrian safety, the city said.

According to research by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, roundabouts reduce crashes by 38 percent. Roundabouts are also believed to be safer for pedestrians, as people walking across an intersection only have to watch for traffic coming from one direction. Roundabouts also are less costly to maintain than traffic light-controlled intersections, according to research.

Arlington has integrated roundabouts into some of its neighborhoods, primarily as traffic-calming measures. Other jurisdictions in the D.C. area are installing roundabouts as more cost-effective alternatives to traffic light-controlled intersections.