ALAN FALK ASKS: Why aren't there roundabouts at the intersections of Glenwood Avenue and Brier Creek Parkway, Glenwood and Creedmoor Road, or Strickland and Leesville roads?

DUNLOP RESPONDS: "If it's a two-lane road meeting a two-lane road, roundabouts can work well. If it's a four-lane meeting a four-lane it may not be as good an idea. ... Something like U.S. 70 and Brier Creek, the size of the roundabout in terms of number of lanes would be more than would be practical given our current experience with roundabouts. If you've got three lanes, not every driver is going to know what to do. At U.S. 70 and Brier Creek, we should be looking at an interchange not a roundabout. ... A roundabout is not a fix for every intersection."

CAROLYN ZAHNOW ASKS: "On my way to work ... taking U.S. 1 all the way in ... I tried to analyze where the traffic clogged up. It looks like it starts at the light on Burlington Mills Road, continues at the next light, and then really backs up at the Durant Road intersection (lots of private schools off this road, which necessitates lots of mommy vans on the road!), and then it flows freely into town. So it would be nice if a traffic-type person could look into this stretch of road on [Capital Boulevard] and see if they could synchronize the lights somehow."

DUNLOP RESPONDS: "Durant Road and Capital Boulevard is probably one of the worst intersections in Wake County. The growth out there has outstripped the infrastructure. Durant and Capital ... is one intersection that will ultimately need an interchange. The Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization did a study on U.S. 1 a couple of years ago. That report ultimately called for a freeway out there with interchanges. It's not a funded project right now."

CHRIS ALLEN ASKS: "Why doesn't Raleigh have car-pool lanes like other major cities do (Charlotte, Washington, D.C., for instance)?"

DUNLOP RESPONDS: "We have looked at HOV (or high-occupancy vehicle lanes) in the Triangle, and that is part of the long-term plan, but implementing that right now is not feasible. One of the reasons it worked better in Charlotte is on I-77 we had a clear pattern of traffic, and we also had new construction that added new lanes. In the Triangle, traffic is going to Raleigh or Duke or RTP. ... And you don't want to take an existing lane and convert it into an HOV lane. That's the No. 1 no-no. It'll just make everyone else mad."

WHOM YOU CAN CALL: If you have questions about road design or want to suggest a road improvement, call the N.C. Department of Transportation at (877) 368-4968.