Look kids...Big Ben, Parliament: City of Woodstock eyes European Vacation

Countries all over Europe have embraced and implemented the roundabout to solve traffic issues for many years and now Woodstock wants to emulate this solution to traffic congestion. While I doubt Chevy Chase will ever get stuck viewing the landmarks from a roundabout in Woodstock, he may find that getting around downtown will be much easier in the future.

The Cherokee Ledger-News recently reported...

The roundabouts tentatively would be located at Mill St. and Towne Lake Parkway, Neese Road and Arnold Mill, and perhaps near Columbia Creek apartments on Arnold Mill.

“We would almost create an east/west main street through the downtown area,” said Richard McLeod, director of planning and economic development for the city.

McLeod presented the council with a conceptual design of what would be an $8 million construction project. The study, prepared by MacTec consultants and presented to the council by Alex Wiley, showed the area from Neese Road east of Woodstock on Arnold Mill Road to Woodstock Parkway west of Woodstock on Towne Lake Parkway. The area would be four-laned, but the outer two lanes would be parallel parking. Roundabouts at intersections would be included to slow traffic down without stopping it up.

“We’ve got a major traffic problem with everybody trying to get to the freeway but you don’t want to build another Highway 92,” Wiley said.

He told the council roundabouts reduce accidents by 46 percent and fatal accidents by 90 percent and they would work with Hedgewood Development’s design.

Personally, I think roundabouts are an excellent solution to traffic flow problems. I like the idea of never having to stop unless yielding. I also think roundabouts are way more attractive than traffic signals at an intersection. What will Woodstock place in the center of the traffic islands?

Having traveled in Italy, Spain and Ireland, I found that roundabouts are extremely easy to learn (even when driving on the wrong side of the car and wrong side of the road in Ireland). Roundabouts USA says, "The roundabout community anticipates that roundabouts will be built in the United States annually by the hundreds in the coming years and by the thousands annually early in the next century, duplicating the trends first in Britain and Australia during the 1970s and 1980s and now being repeated throughout western Europe." The site also features some great reports and analysis, including the comparison of roundabouts vs traffic signals.

Why Use a Roundabout?

Safety--Roundabouts have been shown to reduce fatal and injury accidents as much as 76% in the USA, 75% in Australia and 86% in Great Britain. The reduction in accidents is attributed to slower speeds and reduced number of conflict points (see Figure 2).

 

Pedestrian Safety--All research suggests that modern roundabouts are safer than signalized intersections for pedestrians. This safety advantage has been attributed to the slower traffic speed at roundabouts and the division of the pedestrian crossing into two stages, from the near-side wheelchair ramp out to the splitter island, and then from the splitter island to the far-side wheelchair ramp. In each stage the pedestrian has to look in only one direction to cross a one-way traffic stream. Pedestrian refuges are provided in the areas within the splitter islands.

 

Low Maintenance--Eliminates maintenance costs associated with traffic signals which amount to approximately \\$3,500 per year per intersection. In addition, electricity costs are reduced with a savings of approximately $1,500 per year per intersection.

 

Reduced Delay--By yielding at the entry rather than stopping and waiting for a green light, delay is significantly reduced.

 

Capacity--Intersections with a high volume of left turns are better handled by a roundabout than a multi-phased traffic signal.

 

Aesthetics--A reduction in delay corresponds to a decrease in fuel consumption and air pollution. In addition, the central island provides an opportunity to provide landscaping.