The Magic Roundabout

A ring of five mini-roundabouts in a circle — allegedly the most confusing junction in Britain

Five mini-roundabouts arranged in a circle, with traffic flowing around the ring clockwise and around each individual mini-roundabout clockwise as well. It sounds impossible until you try it — and then it mostly makes sense, though first-timers tend to brake, stare, and inch forward nervously.

The Magic Roundabout is not a tourist attraction in the traditional sense, but it has genuine cult status among road enthusiasts and has appeared in television programmes about unusual British infrastructure. It's also reasonably effective: traffic moves through it faster than it would through a conventional large roundabout or a set of traffic lights. Worth a drive-through or a walk over to observe, particularly at busy times.

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A story
The roundabout was built in 1972 at the junction of five roads in Swindon's Cheney Manor area. It was officially nicknamed "The Magic Roundabout" after the popular BBC children's show — a name that has stuck firmly. Transport engineers call it a "ring junction" and consider it an efficient solution to a complex multi-road intersection; most drivers approaching it for the first time consider it an elaborate joke.