Just north of Indianapolis is a suburban city called Carmel. In a lot of ways, it’s like any other place in America. Visit and you’ll see houses, parks, office buildings, and Chick-fil-A. 

And like many suburbs, Carmel is built around cars. Neighborhoods and businesses are spread out and connected by a sprawling network of roads. Even in its walkable downtown, driving remains a constant presence.

But Carmel has something that sets it apart.

Roundabouts.

Lots of them.

Carmel has more than 150 roundabouts, the most of any city in the United States. Since the late 1990s, they have become a cornerstone of the city’s transportation strategy. One by one, traditional intersections have been replaced with these circular designs, making roundabouts a defining feature of how Carmel moves.

But why would a town go all-in on roundabouts? 

Roundabouts Work

For cities like Carmel, roundabouts offer more than just an alternative way to navigate an intersection. They bring real, measurable benefits.

Let’s start with safety. According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), roundabouts can reduce injury crashes by approximately 75% at intersections that previously used stop signs or traffic signals. This improvement is largely due to the design of roundabouts, which encourages drivers to slow down and travel carefully in a single direction.

Carmel has seen these benefits firsthand. According to an analysis by the city’s engineering department, crash injuries at intersections dropped up to 84% after roundabouts were installed. This is especially impressive considering the population quadrupled in three decades, growing from 25,000 in the 1990s to 100,000 in 2021.

Beyond safety, roundabouts also improve traffic flow. Traditional intersections require vehicles to stop regardless of real-time traffic conditions, leading to longer idle times and unnecessary delays. Roundabouts, by contrast, allow drivers to yield and proceed when it’s safe, which helps reduce both wait times and stop-and-go driving. According to the IIHS, replacing traditional intersections with roundabouts can reduce vehicle delays by up to 89% and cut fuel consumption by approximately 23% to 34%. These benefits are especially noticeable during off-peak hours when traffic moves more freely.

And while roundabouts may cost more to build initially, they’re often less expensive in the long run. They don’t require traffic signals, which means no poles, no software, no maintenance crews fixing broken lights, and no monthly electricity bill. For example, in California’s Monterey County, roundabouts saved them as much as $5,000 a year per intersection in electricity and maintenance costs. 

There are even aesthetic benefits. The center island of a roundabout can be landscaped, decorated, or used for public art. That’s much more appealing than the bare pavement of a four-way stop.

But Roundabouts Are Not Perfect

While roundabouts have a lot going for them, they have their challenges.

For many drivers, especially those unfamiliar with the layout, roundabouts can be confusing. Some come to a complete stop when they should simply yield. Others enter too quickly or hesitate at the wrong moment. In roundabouts with multiple lanes, the confusion increases. Drivers may pick the wrong lane or change lanes mid-circle, which can lead to close calls, honking, or worse.

They also take up more space than a typical four-way stop. On the outskirts of town, where land is easier to come by, that’s less of a problem (like at the new roundabout at Redwine and the end of Peachtree Parkway). But in built-up areas where every foot of space is already spoken for, it becomes a challenge. Making room may involve relocating utilities, acquiring small pieces of private property, or removing trees and landscaping. None of that is simple, and none of it comes cheap.

Pedestrians face a different set of issues. In most designs, crosswalks are set farther back from the central island to reduce conflict with circulating traffic. That improves safety in theory but introduces problems. For example, there are no red lights to encourage drivers to stop.

Also, larger vehicles such as fire trucks, school buses, and delivery trucks require special consideration in roundabout design. To accommodate them, many roundabouts include an apron, which is an elevated ring surrounding the center island. They are built from durable, textured concrete, allowing the rear wheels of long vehicles to safely roll over it during wide turns. However, for aprons to function effectively, they must be carefully integrated into roundabout designs, and drivers must understand their proper use.

Coming Soon: The Crosstown & Peachtree Parkway Roundabout

Peachtree City is getting ready to put roundabouts into practice. Plans are moving forward to replace the four-way stop at Crosstown Drive and Peachtree Parkway South with a multi-lane roundabout.

The intersection just outside Braelinn Village serves as a key connector for neighborhoods, shopping, and other through traffic. It handles more than 10,000 vehicles a day. That kind of volume is not unusual for Peachtree City, but the backups have become harder to ignore, especially for northbound left turns and eastbound through traffic.

If you’ve ever been stuck there during afternoon rush hour, you know the frustration it causes (I’ve seen more than a few disgruntled drivers flick a “one-finger salute”). And without changes, it is expected to worsen. A 2021 traffic study projected that by 2044, peak-hour delays could exceed 15 minutes on some approaches with queues stretching more than 2,000 feet.

But congestion is only part of the issue. In the five-year period reviewed in the study, the intersection saw 32 reported crashes. Half were rear-end collisions, the kind of accidents that tend to happen in stop-and-go traffic when reaction time is limited.

To address this problem, the city considered two solutions: installing a traffic signal with additional turn lanes or building a roundabout. The traffic signal option would have required significant widening of Crosstown Drive and possibly acquiring adjacent properties. Due to the high costs and potential disruption involved, city staff opted to pursue the roundabout solution instead.

The selected design includes two circulating lanes and a dedicated right-turn bypass lane for eastbound traffic. Traffic models show that the roundabout will allow all four approaches to operate at acceptable levels of service through at least 2044. 

As of February 2025, the city is completing the final steps needed before construction can begin. The contractor is finalizing the full design package, and city staff are working to acquire a small parcel of land near Regions Bank to complete the right-of-way process. Additionally, staff are discussing the possibility of adding a rear entrance to Arbor Terrace and meeting with residents from nearby neighborhoods to address concerns about access and potential impacts. Once these steps are completed, the project will proceed.

The current project budget is $3 million. Funding includes $1.5 million from Fayette County SPLOST and an additional $1.65 million contribution from Peachtree City’s own SPLOST funds. The city has spent approximately $194,000 so far.

Will Peachtree City Be The Carmel Of Georgia?

This project is about more than fixing one intersection. If the Crosstown roundabout works as planned, it could set the standard for how Peachtree City tackles traffic challenges in the future.

We’re already known for our unique network of village centers and multi-use paths. A thoughtful look at our intersections could build on that foundation, making our streets safer, smoother, and easier to navigate.

Of course, not every intersection is right for a roundabout. But where the layout fits, they deserve serious reevaluation.

And who knows? If roundabouts take off here, maybe someday Carmel will be known as the Peachtree City of Indiana.