Sprawled Out: The Search for Community in the American Suburb: Time for leadership on 27th street roundabouts

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 ....

WHEREAS, the Wisconsin DOT has been evaluating the use of roundabouts in all state highway projects, including the South 27th Street Corridor reconstruction; and,

WHEREAS, roundabouts have proven to be a method of increasing both traffic flow and safety at intersections; and,

WHEREAS, the access management plan proposed and adopted for the South 27th Street Corridor will limit or eliminate left-hand, cross-traffic turns; and,

WHEREAS, roundabouts would significantly improve access to properties on both sides of the South 27th Street Corridor; and,

WHEREAS, roundabouts would result in a substantial financial savings on the reconstruction of the South 27th Street Corridor; and,

WHEREAS, roundabouts show a high level of progressive and forward thinking to the local and international development communities;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, by the Mayor and Common Council of the City of ________________, Wisconsin, that the City hereby publicly expresses its support for the installation of roundabouts in the reconstructed South 27th Street Corridor, and hereby urges WisDOT to adopt and use the same in its projects plans for the
reconstruction of the Corridor.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Mayor and City Clerk be and the same are hereby authorized to execute and deliver a copy of this Resolution to WisDOT as evidence of the City’s support of the use of roundabouts in the South 27th Street Corridor.

Introduced at a regular meeting of the Common Council of the City of ________ this ______ day of ____________, 2009.

Passed and adopted at a regular meeting of the Common Council of the City of
_______________ this _______ day of ____________, 2009.

Comments

I rather like the roundabout on S. 6th St. by Conejito's Place, now that I am used to it. It is not, however, pedestrian-friendly, despite its proximity to that really cool walkable bridge. My real point is that, your story highlights the need to always be alert when driving, both for your safety and that of others. More roundabouts and bumpouts are going in, like them or not.

Posted by: The River Otter | June 14, 2009 at 12:46 PM