Councilor rejects roundabout proposal

And this round goes to the opponents of a proposed roundabout at the intersection of Rio Grande and Candelaria.

Newly appointed District 2 City Councilor Roxanna Meyers said she has decided not to move forward with plans to install a roundabout at the intersection, and the city administration said Wednesday it will abide by her wishes.

The proposed $1.5 million project calls for taking out the stoplights at that intersection and installing a roundabout instead. Supporters wanted the roundabout, saying it would improve safety at an intersection plagued by speeding, making it dangerous for not only drivers but pedestrian and cyclists.

In a news release issued Wednesday, Meyers said she has based her decision on a recent online survey she conducted as well as “a careful re-examination of all studies provided” by the city’s planning and traffic departments. She said 60 percent of those responding to her survey opposed the roundabout.

She added that speed radar detection signs already have helped reduce speeding and traffic incidents at the intersection.

In a Journal interview, Meyers said she was concerned the roundabout will cause a traffic backup because drivers must slow to 15 to 20 mph and flow into one lane to go through the roundabout. “I’m not against roundabouts,” she said. “I don’t have an issue with them, but there would be a traffic build-up and it would flow into other streets in the area.”

But roundabout supporters say the decision to install the roundabout was made after years of research, discussion and conversations with the public.

Jack Taylor, president of the Rio Grande Boulevard Neighborhood Association, emailed a statement to the Journal. He said Meyers was showing “enormous disrespect for a legitimate public process.” He said the roundabout proposal was a seven-year process that involved not only time and effort but opportunity for “involvement, discussion and the weighing of alternatives” and that her decision should not stand.

The city held at least one meeting in 2009 to discuss the proposal and there were two workshops in 2010 to discuss plans for the entire Rio Grande Boulevard corridor, and the roundabout was part of that discussion.

Last year, the city held two public forums to gather comment.

The city had secured $1 million in federal funding and earmarked $500,000 in city bond money for the project. Meyers said the $1 million would be returned, and $500,000 would go back into the city budget for use on other city projects.

Meyers’ predecessor, Debbie O’Malley, was an integral part of the process and a supporter of the project.

According to the Mid-Region Council of Governments, there were 49 crashes at Rio Grande and Candelaria between 2004 and 2009.

Those numbers include vehicles, pedestrians and bicyclists. There were eight crashes there in 2008 but none included a pedestrian or bicyclist.

In addition, the city’s Department of Municipal Development said, 85 percent of people traveling on those two roads go at least 10 mph over the speed limit.

The Federal Highway Administration has said roundabouts improve safety at intersections.