https://archive.li/85L7A
"Josh Wooten used to spend his evenings driving in circles. During his two
years as a pizza delivery driver in Keene, N.H., he would loop around the
town’s recently installed roundabout intersections some 30 to 40 times a night.
He didn’t know it at the time, but this meant each delivery likely caused less
planet-warming pollution.
“All of a sudden I’m like, oh man, I’m getting through these deliveries a lot
faster,” Mr. Wooten said. “Slowly moving is better than waiting at a light any
day.”
In 2023, Keene, a small college town with about 23,000 residents, installed its
seventh and newest roundabout. These circular intersections are easily confused
with rotaries or traffic circles, but are distinctly free of traffic lights.
Instead they require drivers to yield to traffic before entering and are
constructed to be slower-moving while minimizing stopping.
These features make modern roundabouts significantly safer than other
intersections. Because of the position of the cars, they can drastically reduce
the chances of potentially deadly crashes, like T-bones or head-on collisions.
And because cars can generally keep moving without idling at red lights, they
also burn less gasoline.
This means each vehicle spends less time pumping out planet-warming pollutants,
like carbon dioxide. Installing roundabouts also improved Keene’s air quality,
which used to rank among the worst in New England. In a study published in
2018, a former Keene city planner found soot and other small airborne
particulates, which can be harmful to human health, had fallen by up to 40
percent.
“I am an unabashed roundabout evangelist,” said Donald Lussier, the public
works director of Keene who oversaw the installation of the two most recent
roundabouts. By 2031, he said, the city has plans to install four more."
Original at
<
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/21/climate/roundabout-auto-emissions-new-hampshire.html>
Via
Reasons to be Cheerful:
<
https://reasonstobecheerful.world/what-were-reading-denver-flourishing-food-forests/>
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
