Editing Roundabout (section)

=== Origins and demise of traffic circles ===
Circular junctions existed before roundabouts, including:
* 1768 [[United Kingdom]]: The [[Circus (Bath)|Circus]] in the city of [[Bath, Somerset]] was completed. This was constructed based on architectural considerations and not for traffic purposes.
* 1780 (ca.) [[France]]: The [[Place de l'Étoile]] around the [[Arc de Triomphe]] in Paris.
* 1791 [[US]]: [[Pierre Charles L'Enfant]] (who came to America in 1776) designed a [[Pierre Charles L'Enfant#Plan for Federal City|plan of Washington, D.C.]], which was then being planned. This design contained several large places/street crossings. Many of them had a rectangular outer outline, but within each was a place, around which the streets should be built, thus reducing the number of arms/legs of each crossing.
* 1821 US: The Governor's Circle (later renamed [[Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument (Indianapolis)#Monument Circle|Monument Circle]]) of [[Indianapolis]], Indiana (which gave the city the nickname "The Circle City");
* 1877 France: The French architect [[Eugène Hénard]] was designing one-way circular intersections.<ref>P. M. Wolf, ''Eugene Henard and the Beginning of Urbanism in Paris, 1900–1914'', International Federation for Housing and Planning, The Hague, 1969, cited by Ben Hamilton-Baillie and Phil Jones, ''Improving traffic behaviour and safety through urban design'', Proceedings of ICE – Civil Engineering| volume=158 Issue 5 May 2005 p. 41 {{cite web|url=http://www.hamilton-baillie.co.uk/papers/ICE_paper_April05.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=10 October 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070730130826/http://www.hamilton-baillie.co.uk/papers/ICE_paper_April05.pdf |archive-date=30 July 2007 }}</ref>
* 1879 [[Netherlands]]: The Keizer Karelplein in [[Nijmegen]].<ref name="Verhoeven">{{Cite book |last=Verhoeven |first=Dolly (red.) |date=2009 |title=De Canon van Nijmegen |location=Nijmegen |publisher=Uitgeverij Vantilt |page=131 |isbn=9789460040351}}</ref>
* 1899 [[Germany]]: Brautwiesenplatz (Bride Meadow('s) Place) in [[Görlitz]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.alles-lausitz.de/was-alles-in-goerlitz-erfunden-wurde.html|title=Was alles in Görlitz erfunden wurde – Alles-Lausitz.de|website=Alles-Lausitz.de|language=de|access-date=5 June 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170807120730/http://www.alles-lausitz.de/was-alles-in-goerlitz-erfunden-wurde.html|archive-date=7 August 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref>
* 1904 US: [[Columbus Circle]] in [[Manhattan]], New York.
* 1905 US: American architect [[William Phelps Eno]] favoured small traffic circles.<br>He re-designed New York City's famous Columbus Circle, which was finished in 1905.
* 1907 US: Architect John McLaren designed one of the first American traffic circles for both autos and streetcars (trams) in the [[Shasta/Hanchett Park, San Jose, California|Hanchett Residence Park]] in what is now [[San Jose, California]].<ref>http://twofeet.weebly.com/walking-blog/the-five-circles-of-hanchett-park The Five Circles of Hanchett Park, 7 June 2014</ref>
* 1909 United Kingdom: The first British circular junction was built in [[Letchworth Garden City]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/3972979.stm|author=BBC News|title=Roundabout Magic|access-date=13 May 2007 | date=2 November 2004}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.letchworthgc.com/cgi-bin/news_fullstory.cgi?newsid=72 |author=Letchworth Garden City Heritage Foundation |title=Sign of the Times |access-date=14 December 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061016113507/http://www.letchworthgc.com/cgi-bin/news_fullstory.cgi?newsid=72 |archive-date=16 October 2006 |url-status=usurped}}</ref>

Although some may still be referred to as ''roundabouts'', the operating and entry characteristics of these traffic circles differed considerably from modern roundabouts.<ref name="NAP"/>

Circular intersections were built in the United States, though many were large-diameter 'rotaries' that enabled high-speed merge and weave manoeuvres. Older-style traffic circles may control entering traffic by stop signs or traffic lights. Many allow entry at higher speeds without deflection, or require a stop and a 90-degree turn to enter. Because these circumstances caused a lot of vehicle collisions, construction of traffic circles and rotaries ceased in the 1950s, and some were removed.<ref name="Beldon">{{Cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqcyRxZJCXc|archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/AqcyRxZJCXc| archive-date=11 December 2021 |url-status=live|title=Why The U.S. Hates Roundabouts |author=Christine Beldon |work=[[Cheddar (TV channel)|Cheddar]] |date=17 December 2019 |access-date=18 April 2021}}{{cbignore}}</ref>{{rp|at=3:02}}
<gallery widths="200" heights="160" class="center">
File:South-Yarmouth-MA-US rotary plaque.JPG|[[National Register of Historic Places]] plaque on the first traffic circle in the United States, at the intersection of River and Pleasant streets in [[Yarmouth, Massachusetts]]
File:Thomas-Circle Washington-DC 1922.jpg|Thomas Circle in Washington, D.C., 1922
File:Place Charles-de-Gaulle from the Arc de Triomphe, July 2001.jpg|Traffic ten abreast traverses the ''[[Place de l'Étoile]]''. This traffic circle surrounds the ''[[Arc de Triomphe]]'' at the intersection of ten two-way and two one-way streets. It has no lane markings.
</gallery>