Magic Roundabout (Hemel Hempstead)
Encyclopedia
Hemel Hempstead
Hemel Hempstead is a town in Hertfordshire in the East of England, to the north west of London and part of the Greater London Urban Area. The population at the 2001 Census was 81,143 ....
, Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England. The county town is Hertford.The county is one of the Home Counties and lies inland, bordered by Greater London , Buckinghamshire , Bedfordshire , Cambridgeshire and...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
is the familiar name given to a complex road junction also known as the Moor End or Plough roundabout
Roundabout
A roundabout is the name for a road junction in which traffic moves in one direction around a central island. The word dates from the early 20th century. Roundabouts are common in many countries around the world...
. The familiar name comes from the children's television programme
The Magic Roundabout
The Magic Roundabout was a children's television programme created in France in 1963 by Serge Danot...
of the same name and is also used for a similar junction
Magic Roundabout (Swindon)
The Magic Roundabout in Swindon, England was constructed in 1972 and consists of five mini-roundabouts arranged in a circle. It is located near the County Ground, home of Swindon Town F.C. Its name comes from the popular children's television series The Magic Roundabout...
in Swindon
Swindon
Swindon is a large town within the borough of Swindon and ceremonial county of Wiltshire, in South West England. It is midway between Bristol, west and Reading, east. London is east...
. The official name relates to a former public house
Public house
A public house, informally known as a pub, is a drinking establishment fundamental to the culture of Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. There are approximately 53,500 public houses in the United Kingdom. This number has been declining every year, so that nearly half of the smaller...
which faced the junction between Lawn Lane and Two Waters Road called The Plough, and being at the Boxmoor
Boxmoor
Boxmoor, or Boxmoor Village, is a district of Dacorum in Hertfordshire, England. It is now part of Hemel Hempstead. It is a district of mainly nineteenth century housing and meadowland, repeatedly cut through by transport links from London to the The Midlands....
end of the town.
Description
Despite its name, the magic roundabout is not actually a roundabout.It was constructed in 1973 to reduce the congestion at the original standard layout roundabout where seven roads intersected, it was one of the first bi-directional roundabouts to be constructed in the UK. At the junction of each road with the roundabout a mini-roundabout is present and subject to the normal clockwise direction of travel for all traffic. Between these mini-roundabouts however traffic is permitted to travel clockwise or anti-clockwise around the larger roundabout, the expectation being that drivers would choose the shorter route with less stationary traffic.
The Magic Roundabout in Hemel Hempstead was voted the UK's second-worst roundabout in a 2005 poll held by an insurance company (the winner being its Swindon counterpart).
In 2011 the roundabout was voted the best in Britain by motorists in a competition organised by a car leasing service.
Early history
The original magic roundabout had six exits in total, with the British Petroleum building spanning "Marlowes", the road leading to the town centre, in the approximate position of the earlier railway Viaduct. The BP building was found to be unstable due to defective reinforced concrete and the exit had to be closed. This building was later demolished and the original route not restored, although a newer side exit from the roundabout replaced the junction with Marlowes off a side road.Prior to this design, a number of schemes were tried, including widening some of the entrances to and exits from the roundabout: ultimately a spiral roundabout was trialled. The idea behind this scheme was that drivers were supposed to enter the clockwise only roundabout, go to the center and then, about two exits before their chosen exits get into a lane that would spiral them off. The spiral idea failed, as many drivers ignored the lane markings, while those who followed the spiral tended to accelerate as they went round.
The present scheme opened in June 1973 and caused tailbacks allegedly to Berkhamsted, and up St Alban's Road, almost as far as the M1 in the other direction. A police officer had to be stationed at each of the mini roundabouts to prevent chaos.
When the new junction was first opened, a camera was placed overlooking the roundabout on the roof of the adjacent Kodak HQ building. It was noted many drivers would get 'lost' and make repeated reversals of direction between joining the roundabout and eventually leaving it.
Shortly after the opening the driver of an articulated lorry ended up in the River Gade
River Gade
The River Gade is a river running almost entirely though Hertfordshire. It rises from a spring in the chalk of the Chiltern Hills at Dagnall, Buckinghamshire and flows through Hemel Hempstead, Kings Langley and Croxley Green to Rickmansworth where it joins the The River Colne...
in the centre of the roundabout after brakes failed while travelling down St Albans Road.
Other complex roundabouts
- Magic Roundabout (Swindon)Magic Roundabout (Swindon)The Magic Roundabout in Swindon, England was constructed in 1972 and consists of five mini-roundabouts arranged in a circle. It is located near the County Ground, home of Swindon Town F.C. Its name comes from the popular children's television series The Magic Roundabout...
, one such roundabout in Swindon - Magic Roundabout (Colchester)Magic Roundabout (Colchester)The Magic Roundabout in Colchester, Essex, England, is similar to the roundabouts in Swindon and Hemel Hempstead with the same name. It is a large ring of road composed of five mini roundabouts, with 2 lanes in each direction joining each to its neighbour...
, another such roundabout in Colchester - Sadler's Farm Roundabout, a Magic Roundabout near Southend-on-SeaSouthend-on-SeaSouthend-on-Sea is a unitary authority area, town, and seaside resort in Essex, England. The district has Borough status, and comprises the towns of Chalkwell, Eastwood, Leigh-on-Sea, North Shoebury, Prittlewell, Shoeburyness, Southchurch, Thorpe Bay, and Westcliff-on-Sea. The district is situated...
, Essex