Traffic circles have been effective calming solutions in Sacramento, as in many other cities, for a long time.

A traffic circle is typically installed on intersecting two-lane streets, otherwise the number of lanes are reduced to one on approaches to the intersection.

Traffic circles are primarily installed to help reduce speeding, and to reduce head-on and broadside collisions.

Some cities remove stop controls at traffic circles, and like at a roundabout, use only yield control. In Sacramento, so far, all traffic circles are stop controlled on the minor street.

Since traffic circles are typically installed on neighborhood streets, or mid-town areas with heavy foot traffic, pedestrian safety has to play a big role in the design process. A traffic circle may, like a roundabout, have median islands associated with it. If so, they are constructed as pedestrian islands, with a refuge island. (For more information on pedestrian island design, see the sample drawing in the next section.)

There were a number of traffic circles in Midtown Sacramento and other neighborhoods since many years before my career with the City. Many more were built in new neighborhoods by developers in the early 2000s.

I was tasked to design a series of new traffic circles, mostly as part of NTMP, from my early years up until the last project I worked on before retirement. My goal with each project was, besides function and safety, to create something unique, in contrast with the cookie-cutter approach of the past, especially those done by the developers. I will share more details about some of these traffic circles in later chapters.

Like the roundabout sample drawing, I saw the need for a drawing sheet that pointed out standards and best practices in design of traffic circles.