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For about a year, I have lived very close to the intersection of Candelaria and Rio Grande Boulevard, where a roundabout is planned for construction beginning early next year. When I heard about this plan, I was thrilled.
Before retiring from the Mid-Region Council of Governments, where I was a transportation planner, I organized a workshop on roundabouts, hoping to encourage their consideration when intersection improvements or new intersections are under study.
It is unfortunate that so many people react negatively to the idea of roundabouts – unfortunate but not unusual. Surveys have shown that public opinion prior to construction is roughly 3:1 against roundabouts, but after construction it flips to 3:1 with positive opinions. That demonstrates clearly that it is mostly fear of the unknown that motivates much of the opposition to roundabouts.
The main thing to understand about roundabouts is that when you are about to enter one, you must yield to traffic already in the roundabout. If you don’t need to stop, you don’t have to. So you will not be sitting there at a red light when there is no traffic, just keep right on going. It’s great!
There are tens of thousands of roundabouts in Europe, and they are common in many places around the world. Currently, there are about 3,400 roundabouts in the U.S. compared to over 30,000 in France. They are building them because they usually work very well, especially with regard to safety.
Arizona’s Department of Transportation has a good web page on roundabouts, and I encourage the skeptics out there to take at look at it: http://www.azdot.gov/CCpartnerships/roundabouts/faq.asp.
For intersections converted from stop control or signals to roundabouts, there is a 90 percent reduction in fatal and incapacitating crashes, and a 75 percent reduction in injury crashes. And this is done even while usually enhancing traffic flow.
There is also a reduction in fuel use, pollution and noise, since there are fewer stops and starts.
So sit back and relax, as most of you who are objecting will change your tune later.
— This article appeared on page 15 of the Albuquerque Journal
