When the city opened its first roundabout two years ago near Emporia High School, Steve Loewen was sure it was a mistake.
“Actually, I was vocally opposed,” said Loewen, who has three sons at the high school and works at Flint Hills Technical College across 18th Avenue to the south of the high school. “I just thought it was not going to work with the high school here and younger drivers. Would they take their turn in the roundabout or just jump on in? It looked like a bunch of accidents waiting to happen.”
To his surprise, the accidents haven’t materialized. In fact, since the roundabout opened in July 2005, only three accidents have happened at or near the intersection of 18th Avenue and Graphic Arts Road and none of them has been serious, according to the Emporia Police Department. One involved only a single car, a driver who failed to take the turn properly and took out a yield sign.
Those are the sort of figures that have been very satisfying for City Engineer Keith Beatty. Before the roundabout’s construction, Beatty spent a fair amount of time explaining how it worked, or answering concerns on the phone, or even laying out a mock roundabout at the Lyon County Fairgrounds for people to drive through. Two years later, phone calls have fallen off and some have even told Beatty how well it seems to work.
“I’m not a roundabout advocate,” Beatty said. “I think there’s a good place for it, just like there’s a good place for four-way stops and a good place for traffic signals. Eighteenth and Graphic Arts Road is a good place for a roundabout.”
To some detractors, the roundabout seemed like overkill, especially during the quiet summer months when little is happening at the high school and technical college or at Emporia Middle School just up Graphic Arts Road to the north. But at its busiest, the intersection can see an average of 8,000 vehicles a day, a figure calculated during the hustle and bustle of the first month of school.
Before the roundabout, that many cars in one spot could add up to impatience. A driver stuck on 18th Avenue just a little too long might be tempted to jump onto Graphic Arts Road before there was a good opening. And every so often, the result was a T-bone collision, an accident where the front of one car would run into the side of another.
At the time, the city estimated that the intersection had about six accidents a year, most of them T-bones. That included 11 T-bone crashes between 2001 and 2003, when the roundabout was first pitched to the city as a safety measure.
In a roundabout, the intersection is shaped like a circle instead of a cross. Drivers enter at one point of the intersection, follow the curve and then ease off onto the street they want. The result in most cities has been a lower number of collisions — one Maryland study found that intersections with roundabouts had 75 percent fewer accidents than intersections without them.
Still, the project didn’t win many fans in Emporia when its price tag came in heavily over initial estimates. In 2005, the roundabout work was bid at $639,000 instead of the $516,000 that had been forecast the year before. Of the final cost, $160,000 was paid by the city and the rest by the Kansas Department of Transportation.
That summer, “roundabout” described the measures drivers had to take to avoid the construction. A number tried shortcutting through the technical college’s parking lot until warned off by Emporia police.
Since it actually opened, though, traffic patterns seemed to have settled down. In fact, some of the biggest complaints came from the lack of landscaping in the roundabout’s center. The city had a thick patch of weeds growing there before an EHS senior class adopted the roundabout and arranged for the head of “Charlie Spartan,” the high school mascot, to be outlined in brick and stone. Even that wasn’t trouble-free. Charlie, it turned out, could only be seen clearly from the air. On the ground, it mostly just looked like random brick.
But if that’s the worst Beatty hears about the intersection, he’ll be satisfied with that. So far, it’s been able to handle everything from cars to buses and farm equipment. And as far as he’s concerned, it’s well-placed to deal with future growth in the west.
“When we plan an intersection, we typically plan 20 years out because that’s how long they last,” Beatty said. “Intersections last a long time.”
Within a couple of years, the high school’s roundabout will have a couple of siblings, built to handle the traffic between U.S. Highway 50, Interstate 35 and the Kansas Turnpike. For about the next year, that construction means the Graphic Arts Road bridge between 15th and 18th avenues will be out of service, removing some of the traffic that would normally feed into the roundabout from the south. But it may find its way back in from the east, after joining the influx of traffic forced onto Industrial Road by the construction projects.
“Come November, we’ll have the off-ramp (at 18th and Industrial) opened up and that’ll open up Industrial Road,” Beatty said. “That’ll definitely help with the traffic flow for a few months until we have the Graphic Arts Road bridge open.”
One concern — that the high-school students would use the roundabout for “spinning doughnuts” — has been somewhat realized, as evidenced by the occasional rubber track left behind by a car that’s just made a rapid turn. But Beatty isn’t overly concerned.
“It happens around a high school anyway,” he said. “That’s the nature of high schools. ... If you put in a traffic signal and the kids aren’t patient enough, instead of doing 20 mph in a roundabout and negotiating the curve, they’re doing 30 or 40 through a yellow light or a red light.”
“I think the kids have adapted well,” Beatty said. “And I think a roundabout works very well on this street.”
Much to his own surprise, Loewen has found himself agreeing.
“I was very much a skeptic,” he said. “But it seems like it works well.”
rmbcollege (anonymous) says...
I have to agree. I have only come to Emporia to go to ESU but I have lived at Chapel Ridge apartments and I really hated the road construction when they were building that round about, but I do have to say that it has helped tremendously. The traffic flow is better! Good job Emporia!
July 21, 2007 at 4:24 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
UserName (anonymous) says...
I would be willng to bet that adding two additional stop signs (there were already two stop signs there) at the intersection would have been just as effective in reducing accidents, and would have cost the taxpayers several hundred thousand dollars less.
July 21, 2007 at 9:54 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Doug (anonymous) says...
Username, You should search the topic before you make a losing bet.
July 22, 2007 at 12:12 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
UserName (anonymous) says...
So Doug....you are saying that making the intersection a 4-way stop would have resulted in more accidents and cost the taxpayers more money than a roundabout?
Please elaborate and feel free to quote sources.
July 23, 2007 at 8:10 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
wookdog13 (anonymous) says...
Why did they not put in a 4 way stopligh? Much cheaper.
July 23, 2007 at 9:26 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
admireed (anonymous) says...
Kstre.... you are right on. More difficult for idiots to run a roundabout that a 4 way
July 23, 2007 at 10:41 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
47hclwym (anonymous) says...
Good job kstre.... A comment that makes sense....
July 23, 2007 at 1:33 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
UserName (anonymous) says...
Good post, Kstrebuchet and good points.
The thing about statistics (such as "Roundabouts have been shown to reduce fatal and injury accidents as much as 76% in the USA") is that they don't always give you the whole story.
For example, 76% as compared to what? Compared to no traffic controls? Compared to a two-way stop? At low-speed (25 miles per hour or less) intersections?
Another statistic that I would have like to see is how many fatal and injury accidents occurred at that particular intersection. Granted, I haven't lived in Emporia for very long, but I don't recall ever reading about a fatal accident at that intersection.
Although I don't have any statistics to back up this claim, I feel confident in saying that a four-way intersecction is measurably safer than a two-way intersection. Would a four-way have been safer than a roundabout? Possibly, but we'll never know for sure since that option was never tried.
I don't hate our city government - I know they have a tough job and I readily admit that I don't think I could do any better. I also don't hate the roundabout, but I do wish the less expensive option had been tried first.
Anyway, good points. Thanks for offering them.
July 23, 2007 at 9:22 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Doug (anonymous) says...
Username, Use any search engine and type in roundabout vs four way stop and you'll get all the sources you care to read, Don't be so lazy you can find any topic you want on the internet.
July 23, 2007 at 9:50 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
MelissaE (anonymous) says...
Aesthetically speaking, the roundabout isn't that pretty--I mean, look at all the tire marks all over it. I suppose the fact that it's located right next to the high school doesn't help that aspect--how fun must it be to drive ROUND AND ROUND AND ROUND just to block traffic?
And, do 18-wheelers have to go that way? I can't imagine that being very good for traffic flow.
JMO
M
July 24, 2007 at 10:16 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Weltha (anonymous) says...
Thanks kstre, I'm not trying to step on anyone's toes here but... My husband drives an 18 wheeler and he hasn't had any complaints about roundabouts. He accually says it makes the intersections more user friendly for the trucks in that they don't have to come to a complete stop like in a fourway. In not having to stop every time (we all know it takes the rigs longer to get going) it helps the flow. Big trucks really don't use our little roundabout. The only problem I see with the one out by the High School is that the aesthetics in the center blocks the view for "scanning ahead." It was a nice try by the High School kids don't get me wrong.
July 24, 2007 at 12:45 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
siamesefred (anonymous) says...
I agree about blocking the view. I felt better being able to see to the other side and judging my distance if someone was coming from the opposite direction. When I heard Charlie Spartan was going in the middle, I guess I expected some kind of vertical statue which wouldn't have obstructed the view as much.
And I think I feel better having high school students driving a roundabout than getting frustrated with waiting at a 4-way stop, trying to decide who goes next. Maybe not fatalities but LOTS of fender benders possible, which only would increase insurance rates.
July 24, 2007 at 3:46 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Sanford (anonymous) says...
Wow, tire marks on a city street. That is a crazy concept. Melissa, next time you have a thought.... just let it go!
July 24, 2007 at 9:36 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
MelissaE (anonymous) says...
Now that was so productive. :)
Tire marks on THE ROUNDABOUT, not the street around THE ROUNDABOUT.
It's a tough concept.
M
July 24, 2007 at 10:07 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )