Study: Roundabouts are Primarily in Wealthier Neighborhoods

A new study from UNC Chapel Hill reveals that roundabouts, the circular intersection design shown to reduce injury crashes by 80 percent, are disproportionately sited in wealthy neighborhoods in North Carolina. 

According to an article by Kea Wilson in Streetsblog USA, the study’s authors wanted to assess whether patterns of inequity are reproduced in transportation planning. “But for study author Matthew Bhagat-Conway, the distribution of roundabouts is only an example of larger inequalities in transportation planning, albeit one that's particularly easy to study in statewide databases – and it likely extends beyond the college-town streets that initially inspired the study.”

The inequity stems in part from the way transportation funding is allocated. Safety innovations are more likely to be implemented when new roads are built or existing roads are expanded. “And since policymakers don't always pay the same attention to the safety concerns from the very poor as they do to, say, rich campaign donors, low-income residents tend to remain stuck in aging neighborhoods with the same kind of traffic signals and signs they've always had, rather than cutting-edge safety initiatives like roundabouts — even though their neighborhoods tend to have the highest crash rates, particularly for pedestrians.”