I guess my point is that, all else equal, a roundabout is not better than a traffic signal from a pedestrian standpoint. Its main benefit is that it allows smoother traffic flow, and secondarily that the island in the middle can be a feature/landmark…
I’ll certainly allow that the current intersection, as built, is pretty bad, but even preserving the four lane traffic on Glenwood, I fear/think that there may be a far more conventional, far simpler, and yet far more exciting (and far more boring at the same time), solution to this problem. Rebuilding it as a modern signalized intersection would be MUCH MORE of an upgrade for all users: motorists, pedestrians, transit riders, and cyclists alike.
I dub it: The End of Five Points.
It’s not drawn in microstation - but there it is. Five points is no more; gone is an interesting “quirk” of 1920s-1950s era traffic engineering in Raleigh: it’s now a boring old four-legged intersection. But look at all that new pedestrian space!! The intersection can breathe now! Good riddance, I say.
The city acquiring the Walgreens to realign Fairview would be an awesome opportunity for a mixed use redevelopment, including a public parking facility.
This is the sort of thing that big cities (Washington DC, Chicago, New York, London, etc etc etc) do when presented with a situation such as this one: Don’t make it way way more complex with some crazy two laned roundabout, or underpass, or any such nonsense.
Just. Simplify. It.