For the everyday Kiwi, road traffic roundabouts are probably an often overlooked and underappreciated feature of our road network.
Which is a shame really, as roundabouts have a rich history, with the first modern traffic roundabout generally considered to be the frankly terrifying multi-lane free-for-all that is the Place de l'Étoile (or Place Charles de Gaulle) that surrounds the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, France.
Well in excess of 100 years old, the Place de l'Étoile remains something of an international roundabout icon.
Closer to home though, New Zealand’s own roundabouts have also been acclaimed by such lauded institutions as the UK Roundabout Appreciation Society who named the Titirangi Roundabout the international roundabout of the year in 2017.
If that wasn’t enough excitement, then how about the case for Wellington's Basin Reserve cricket ground being located within the largest roundabout in the Southern Hemisphere..?
More prosaically, but perhaps more importantly, roundabouts are also usually pretty sound mechanisms for improving road safety, reducing congestion and improving the environment (when compared with stop signs or traffic lights).
So, the team at NationalMap thought that it’s perhaps time to shine a light on the humble roundabout, dig into why we have them on our roads, and where you can find them in volume.
5 reasons roundabouts should be celebrated
New Zealand’s top 5 destinations for roundabouts
No, it’s not your imagination, some areas do just have more roundabouts than others. So, if you’re a roundabout enthusiast then you should head for the following roundabout hotspots in rank order of volume of roundabouts as a percentage of their total road network:
NationalMap’s road network contains millions of data points on multiple attributes and that of course includes all roundabouts nationally.
If you believe your business operations can be helped by deploying NationalMap’s road network and routing data then get in touch with us today.