Skip to main content Skip to Table of Contents
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Notice

The Public Right-of-Way Accessibility Guidelines (PROWAG) rulemaking has concluded. The PROWAG final rule has been published in the Federal Register. Please visit the Access Board’s PROWAG page for the guidelines.

Synthesis of Literature Relevant to Roundabout Signalization to Provide Pedestrian Access

Final Report

January 11, 2007

Prepared by:
Vaughan W. Inman
Science Applications International Corporation
and
Gregory W. Davis
Federal Highway Administration, RD&T
6300 Georgetown Pike
McLean, VA 22101

Objectives

The primary objective of this paper is to review the key issues in signalization of roundabouts, where the purpose of the signals is to provide pedestrian access, with particular attention to access for persons with severe vision loss. Although roundabouts are infrequently signalized to provide access to pedestrians, roundabouts crosswalks have been signalized where heavy pedestrian flow would otherwise cause long vehicle delays, where unbalanced traffic volumes require metering to create gaps for entering vehicles, and where signals were needed to accommodate rail transit. This report summarizes topic areas that address issues of signalization of roundabouts to provide pedestrian access. These topic areas include:

  • Pedestrian crosswalk types.
  • Crosswalk location.
  • Traffic signals configurations at roundabout pedestrian crossings.
  • Crossing requirements of blind pedestrians.
  • Accessible pedestrian signals.
  • Pedestrian signal warrants.
  • The effect of traffic signals on roundabout operations.