I remember the first time I encountered a roundabout. My wife and I were en route to IKEA, and I recall releasing an expletive under my breath as, suddenly jolted from my semi-autopilot revelry, I navigated through to the other side. Whereupon I reengaged the autopilot.
To the uninitiated driver, roundabouts seem to be little more than a nuisance. For one thing, a roundabout creates the sudden (and unfamiliar) need to re-engage with one's surroundings rather than simply obey a light. It's a sad fact of human nature that we would rather have a little red light grind us to a dead stop than proceed unimpeded through a traffic innovation that demands little more from us than our attention.
Ask the average person who hasn't used a roundabout regularly, and they will likely wrinkle their nose at the notion. We do not like what we do not know.
It's unfortunate that Franklin's initial impression of roundabouts is formed by a faux-roundabout - - actually a roundabout in miniature - - built in front of Shoppes at Wyndham Village as an effort to allay the thru-traffic fears of the residential subdivision across the street. Some drivers may have traveled the roundabout in New Berlin, which is complicated by its interaction with the freeway ramps (though still fairly easy to deal with).
And it doesn't help that we have a state senator pouring sand in the gears with specious reasoning and reactionary concerns clouding her judgment. State Senator Mary Lazich's complaint that "I've had constituents [who have no experience with roundabouts] voice their concerns to me" does not stack up against the voluminous hard data that supports roundabouts as superior on multiple levels - safety foremost - to traditional intersections.
The Franklin-Oak Creek Joint 27th Street Steering Committee discussed the benefits of roundabouts vs. intersections at their June 10th meeting. Though the Wisconsin Department of Transportation will ultimately make the decision as to whether a newly-constructed 27th Street will feature roundabouts, the committee's chairman, Franklin Alderman Steve Olson, hoped to bring to the Oak Creek and Franklin Common Councils a recommendation that they endorse via resolution the installation of roundabouts (resolution language after the jump).
I attended the meeting in order to comment in support of roundabouts on 27th; my experience discussing them with my colleagues on the Economic Development Commission convinced me that many of Franklin's decision makers were approaching the issue on a purely intuitive level (my recording of the discussion features Alderman [and EDC chairman] Ken Skowronski stating: "Roundabouts are a disaster.") rather than based on hard facts and real data.
I needn't have worried. At the direction of the the Joint 27th Street Steering Committee, HNTB, construction and design consultant for Oak Creek and Franklin, prepared a roundabout-vs.-intersection report to facilitate the discussion (Download HNTB Roundabout Report pdf).
Any points I made in my comments to the Steering Committee were only amplified by the HNTB report - - and then further amplified by Franklin's city engineer Jack Bennett in his pro-roundabout comments. Click on the summary page below to enlarge:
While the points above are discussed at much further length in the actual report, this evaluation matrix is a pretty powerful statement in support of roundabouts on 27th Street.
And that's even before the introduction of mitigating information provided by the two HNTB consultants as they discussed the document: It turns out that the only "non-up" arrows on the matrix in the roundabout column could easily be changed to "up" arrows; HNTB admitted that they were extremely conservative in their measurements for "Construction Costs," "Aesthetics," and, particularly, "Community Acceptance." (They went so far as to suggest changing the direction of these arrows, but Chairman Olson did not want to compromise their report).
After fruitful discussion, the Franklin-Oak Creek Joint 27th Street Steering Committee unanimously voted to recommend to the Common Councils of their respective cities that they pass a resolution in favor of roundabouts on 27th Street.
Oak Creek will vote on it at their next meeting; in Franklin, however, the item was removed from this Tuesday's agenda.
In Part 2 of this post, I'll discuss that removal and the "Community Acceptance" aspect of roundabouts. I'll also address the need to exercise some real leadership in reassuring the electorate that the benefits of properly designed roundabouts are beyond the realm of THEORY, and that they are in fact safer, more economical, provide faster transit, and will drive economic development more effectively than intersections.
And there will be charts and graphs ....
Continue reading "Time for leadership on 27th street roundabouts" »
PART 2: Time for leadership on 27th street roundabouts
In yesterday's post I spoke of the need for leadership in ensuring that the best possible traffic features are installed on 27th Street.
To recap a bit: Roundabouts provide continuous movement of vehicles through an intersection at lowered speeds without any full stops. Unlike traditional intersections with stoplights, vehicles in roundabouts slow to yield to other vehicles in the circle and then merge into the flow. This continuous movement saves time, fuel, and money.
After reviewing a report comparing intersections to roundabouts (as prepared by consultants HNTB), the Franklin-Oak Creek Joint 27th Street Steering Committee unanimously voted to recommend to the Common Councils of their respective cities that they pass a resolution in favor of roundabouts on 27th Street.
Oak Creek will vote on it at their next meeting (tomorrow night); in Franklin, however, the item was removed from this Tuesday's agenda by Alderman Ken Skowronski and Mayor Tom Taylor.
Alderman Skowronski feels that the 27th Street Steering Committee is a “sub-committee” of the Franklin Economic Development Committee (which he chairs and of which I am a member), and that the EDC should take it up before it goes to council.
Mayor Taylor has said that he's heard anti-roundabout sentiment from constituents, and is therefor against them.
I doubt that I can change Alderman Skowronski's predisposition against roundabouts. He is under the erroneous impression that they may slow traffic, when in fact studies show that traffic proceeds more efficiently and indeed faster from point to point while maintaining slightly slower (safer) speeds enroute - - not coming to a full stop and waiting for people to turn in front of you really helps move things along.
I sent an email to Mayor Taylor asking that we discuss his contention that "anti-roundabout sentiment from constituents" should indeed stop him from ensuring the best outcome for 27th Street by endorsing - - or allowing to be endorsed via common council vote - - construction of roundabouts.
This is where LEADERSHIP comes in - with more than a little help from cold, hard facts.
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) performed a study titled Crash Reductions Following Installation of Roundabouts in the United States in 2000 on 24 U.S. intersections that had been converted both signalized intersections
and stop-controlled intersections to modern roundabouts. Similarly, the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) also completed a related study in 2002. The U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration (FHWA)
also produced Roundabouts: An Information Guide in 2000 with safety statistics contained.
Some of their findings:
roundabout location and existing pedestrian volumes)
But there are a few members of the public who are wary of roundabouts; it's human nature to fear the unknown. Others are annoyed by them; how they cause you to have to think for a bit while driving. It's also human nature for those with fears, apprehensions and/or anger to become the squeaky wheels, while those content to participate in change generally remain silent.
So, on the one hand you have overwhelming statistics indicating the safety and efficiency superiority of roundabouts, and on the other hand you have... people who might be annoyed?
If the potential displeasure of a segment of the electorate is the "problem," rest assured that I have your answer below. I brought these charts to the Joint 27th Street Steering Committee meeting, but it turned out that I didn't need them; HNTB incorporated these findings (published by the Washington State Department of Transportation) into their explanation that "Community Acceptance" could in fact be a positive in favor of roundabouts over intersections - - favorable opinion of roundabouts DOUBLED after drivers used them, and those strongly opposed shrank enormously from 41% to 11%.
Click on each chart to embiggen.
ABOVE: Public Opinion BEFORE driving roundabouts
ABOVE: Public Opinion AFTER driving roundabouts
On the "After" chart, see that blue line in favor of roundabouts STRETCH skyward? And the green "Strongly Oppose" line is receding like an earthworm into the ground.
So, the mayor can rest assurred that the "negative feedback" he is experiencing now will indeed flip to the positive side once drivers experience roundabouts regularly. And, as this community's leader, it falls to Mayor Taylor to ensure that we attend to facts and legitimate research before succumbing to the frailities of mere intuition and human nature.
At the very least, that means making sure it roundabouts are discussed by our common council.
Posted at 02:06 PM in Close to Home, Commentary, Current Affairs, Economic Development Commission, Politics, Problems, Traffic/Transportation, Transparency | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
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