Magic Roundabout

The Magic Roundabout in Swindon, England, was constructed in 1972 and consists of five mini-roundabouts arranged around a sixth central, anticlockwise roundabout. 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 2009 it was voted the fourth scariest junction in Britain, in a poll by Britannia Rescue.HistoryConceptThe roundabout was constructed according to the design of Frank Blackmore, of the British Transport and Road Research Laboratory. Traffic flow around the larger, inner roundabout is anticlockwise, and traffic flows in the usual clockwise manner around the five mini-roundabouts and the outer loop.The roundaboutThe complex junction offers multiple paths between feeder roads. The outer circle carries traffic in a clockwise direction, like a normal roundabout (in places where traffic drives on the left hand side of the road), and less proficient users may choose to use only the outer circle. The inner circle carries traffic in a anticlockwise direction, and more proficient users may choose to use the alternative paths.Virtually the same overall configuration has been in place for years.When the roundabout complex was first opened, the mini-roundabouts were not permanently marked out and could be reconfigured while the layout was fine tuned. A police officer was stationed at each mini roundabout during this pilot phase to oversee how drivers coped with the unique arrangement.