This is not an American invention, nor is it interchangeable with a roundabout.
The main priority of roundabouts is safe traffic flow for cars, but they can (sometimes) still be very hostile to pedestrians. This type of intersection is meant to prioritize pedestrians as much as possible. The narrow street slows vehicles, and the sidewalk bump outs make people trying to cross the street extra visible and minimize the time they need to be vulnerable in the middle of the road.
Which isn’t to say that roundabouts are necessarily bad, they just serve different purposes
Am I the only one who thinks that the design decision to eliminate the ability for cars to both cross Dexter or make left turns anywhere is a deliberate choice to create driver frustration and reduce favorable attitudes towards building more of these?
Normal protected intersections are terrific and allow automotive traffic to flow in all directions. What was the thought process here?
Just a guess (looking at the sharrows at the end of the other street) but it's probably a deliberate design to reduce the flow of car traffic on the street.
I’m confused about what is street level and what is curb level but I do like how it appears to prioritize safety of pedestrians and cyclists over everything