There are a couple of contenders for Europe's most expensive roundabouts, with one proving to be a bit of a disappointment.

15:06, Fri, Jan 9, 2026 Updated: 15:08, Fri, Jan 9, 2026

A view of Torre Miramar in Valencia and a tram line station platforms

Valencia's Torre Miramar cost millions of pounds to build (Image: WikiCommons)

A contender for Europe's most expensive roundabout cost £20million to build and features a lookout tower. Officials spent €24m on Torre Miramar in Valencia, with the tower structure designed as a visitor attraction.

But according to Van Dam Estates, it was reportedly closed after just three months of opening and has since become a much maligned symbol of the city in Spain, where it is said to be the most expensive of its kind. Another contender for the title is the Remetinečki Rotor in Zagreb, Croatia.

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A closer view of the lookout tower and a van driving past

The lookout tower is in Valencia's Avinguda de Catalunya. (Image: WikiCommons)

It links Adriatic Bridge, Dubrovnik Avenue and Jadranska Avenue in the Novi Zagreb-Zapad neighbourhood of the Croatian capital. This one cost about €44m (£38m).

Multi-million-pound roundabouts aren't confined to mainland Europe alone, with some UK efforts costing huge sums too.

A Dutch-style roundabout in Hemel Hempstead cost £2m and features a series of zebra crossings, prioritising cyclists and pedestrians. It sowed confusion for some, while others welcomed the focus on more sustainable transport options.

Similar road schemes have been installed in Cambridge and Sheffield - to the bemusement and bewilderment of some motorists.

Modern roundabouts were first developed in the UK in the 1960s, according to the US personal injury law firm Hotard & Hise.

The tight circle design, forcing drivers to slow down, has been copied by other countries around the world. In the US, the first modern roundabouts - or turning circles as they are called across the pond - appeared in Nevada in 1990.

Britain's first rotary junction was built around 1909 in Letchworth at the junction of Broadway, Spring Road, Sollershott East and Sollershott West, according to Roads.org.uk.

Since then, roundabouts have spread and developed, with rules around who takes priority and how they are laid out over the intervening years.

Arguably the most famous, or infamous, roundabout in the UK is Swindon's so-called Magic Roundabout, which risks sending drivers' brains round and round in circles as well as their motors.

The Wiltshire town's ring junction was built in 1972. It consists of five mini-roundabouts arranged in a circle, named after the cult children's TV programme, The Magic Roundabout.