Connecticut’s Struggle With Roundabouts Compared To Neighboring States

Why are there so few roundabouts in Connecticut? You may know them as rotaries or traffic circles also, but I just returned from a trip to Northern New England, and most of the busy intersections in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine, and Vermont have eased the congestion at these pinch points by replacing classic four-way intersections with no-stop sign roundabouts. Did we miss something here?

Massachusetts is littered with roundabouts, in Worcester, Northampton, Chicopee, Holyoke, and Deerfield most of the highway on and off-ramps onto the local roads have roundabouts. New Hampshire has 55MPH two-lane highways crisscrossing the state, and Vermont? I saw no traffic the whole 2 hours I drove through.

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Rotaries/roundabouts are a type of circular intersection that eliminates stop signs and forces motorists to slow down and yield the right of way. The first roundabout in the US, Columbus Circle, was built in 1903 in New York City. Most of New England built traffic circles to ease congestion during the 1940-1960's, but as traffic volume steadily increased, roundabouts disappeared. Here's a tutorial I found on YouTube explaining the process -

I drive through a roundabout in New Milford at the Still River Drive/Picket District Road/Lanesville Road intersection every day, and I'm amazed that there aren't more accidents. Us Connecticut folk aren't used to yielding and giving up the right of way to fellow motorists.

Why aren't there more rotaries/roundabouts in Connecticut?

Population? Not enough land available to expand roadways? Better designs that outperform? Who knows. The Connecticut DOT has a great roundabout info page at ct.gov, which details the last two roundabouts that were installed in Connecticut - Monroe in 2018, and Guilford in 2021. Get ready Norwich, your new roundabout is in the design stage.