A roundabout on each corner

Nice tulips, nice columns, nice flags, nice grass, nice...

Every other road intersection in Portugal has been turned into a roundabout.  This is actually good.  Portugal used to be the country in Europe with most traffic accidents and while there are a lot of accidents in roundabouts they are seldom serious.  They also, usually, make the traffic flow better.

Fascinatingly, every municipality in the country has entered into a contest.  How to make the prettiest (taste is subjective) most impressive roundabout.  It involves expensive landscaping, sculptures, lights, automatic watering of plants, weird colors etc.  Mayors, when they meet, brag about having the biggest one.

There are large number of pictures on this Portuguese blog.

The schools may be falling apart, ruins be found in the middle of city centers, and the poor be living on the streets.  But we will not save on the roundabouts as they show off our prosperity and ability to prioritize.  I suppose it makes sense.  Logically the people running the companies getting the construction and maintenance contracts are friends or family of local authorities.

Consider the advantages. There are many areas where the roundabouts are the only green areas - as the surroundings are covered with concrete.  However, small children fortunately do not go there to play often and rarely repeatedly.  Also, I always used to complain that I could not see where my tax money was spent.

It is alive

Note how a number of sculptures block the visibility in roundabouts.  Interestingly this is supposedly illegal according to Portuguese law and it sure does make the roundabouts a bit less safe.  But also more interesting in an adrenaline provoking manner.  Cars can literally come out of nowhere.  Cool.

Close to where I live in Carcavelos on the coastal road going from Lisbon to Cascais, a couple of roundabouts have been remade at least four times.  The four lane coastal road is a very busy road.  Until a few years ago it was claimed the most dangerous road in Europe.  People have slowed down now, but some still drive very fast using it as if it were a highway - the drugged drunk disco dancer delinquents driving home early mornings are speed record holders.  Hence the proven fact that a car can be wrapped around a mast at 5 meters height and a 3 ton jeep can fly through billboard at 4 meters height.

This is how one of the roundabouts looks now (see here - Google Maps) - the other is similar (see here)

The traffic sign(s) to the right are destroyed once a week - minimum

One of the problems, when the roundabouts were built and replaced intersections, were that people overlooked them.  After all they did not use to be there.  So they would drive right through them.  Often several in one day. That scratched the first two designs as the cars would impact with whatever structures that were on them.  Even the old telephone poles they had put up as barriers were not up to the job.

The third one was rather amusing as it had a hole in the middle (there is an underground pedestrian passing underneath this one roundabout to get safely to the beach).  One day in the morning I saw a car had attempted to cross the roundabout.  The hole had swallowed it.  Good training for golfers perhaps?  I have noticed when putting with too much strength - the ball with too much speed never goes in, even when passing right over the hole.

Finally, we got the design shown above.  Some still claim with tenacity the metal ramps are sculptures - but no.  They are quite functional.  When a car drives across the roundabout they become airborne for quite a distance.  I saw a car proving so another morning.  It taught me two things.  Even while ramping the speed needs to be moderated somewhat - and cars can leave craters in a field.   

The ramps and the hole in the middle would be a nice combination - but the spoilsports have covered the hole with heavy duty grates.  Ah well, the coastal road in Carcavelos can still be put to good use by Darwin Award hopefuls.