Roundabouts with Brainerd’s proposed College Drive reconstruction project brought up debate at Tuesday’s Crow Wing County Board meeting.
“Being a good American that I am and thinking we fought a war with Europe over some things, this is one of those things that seems to me to be European,” Thiede said. “... What are we accomplishing and if it doesn’t work what is the corrective action?”
Tim Bray, county highway engineer, said he wasn’t sure what the corrective action is.
“I’m confident they will work,” Bray said.
Commissioner Rachel Reabe Nystrom asked what the benefit was to the roundabout. Bray replied traffic light intersections come with assumptions that crossing traffic will stop and when that doesn’t happen a catastrophic crash is possible. Roundabouts, Bray said, virtually remove the catastrophic crash with a 90 percent reduction in crashes overall and essential elimination of fatal crashes.
“Quite frankly, I have great aversion to roundabouts myself,” Thiede said, agreeing with the desire for safety on urban streets. “I just want to be on record because I’m not sure this is going to work like you engineers designed it because I’ve traveled these things.”
Thiede said he drives the College Drive corridor a few times a week and he is skeptical of the pattern. Nystrom said she is on the College Drive intersection four times a day.
“I can help you,” Nystrom told Thiede. “I can get you through a couple of roundabouts.”
Nystrom noted new roundabouts in St. Cloud and said they were effective and efficient. She added new things are frightening and the decision about their use here isn’t really the county’s “bee’s wax.”
Bray said the county’s first roundabout will be in Nisswa in 2012. Bray noted there is no shortage of skepticism for roundabouts.
“It’s kind of fear of the unknown,” Bray said. “If you haven’t driven them a lot you may be uncomfortable with them.”
Thiede said he’s driven on many roundabouts and it’s definitely not fear of the unknown. Bray said the use of roundabouts is a tool. Thiede said he’d rather it not be a tool that is used too often.
Comments (9)
Add commentRoundabouts
Mr. Theide, if you cannot handle roundabouts surely either your driving skills, or ability to master a motorized vehicle should be called in to question?
We are not talking about the North Yungus Road in Bolivia here, it is a simple traffic device that is commonly used around the world to great effect. The reason it is so common is its success.
Also, get over yourself on this whole European thing! As C.S. Lewis (coincidently a European) said about pride:-
“A proud man is always looking down on things and people; and, of course, as long as you're looking down, you can't see something that's above you.”
It's a roundabout for goodness sakes!
these roundabouts = wasted tax money
$8,400,000 or $600,000? Since we have an extra zero laying around for something not needed, maybe the city should have used it towards something useful and for safety, say PLOWING THE ROADS.
Put in the roundabouts if you think they are so needed, which they are not, but keep the spending to the minimum, which will not happen. We dont need millions in landscaping for the roundabouts to work or fail. Much of this money will be used to make it look "beautiful."
I have travelled roundabouts in many states and in other countries, and I have seen the accidents on them. But they were only minute accidents so who cares right?
Putting these things in will not only be superior waste of tax payers dollars in a town that cant afford to plow roads, but it will also be a disaster full of "minute" accidents.
When was the last person killed at the college road/highland scenic intersection? For that matter, when was the last accident? I am not sure since I havent noticed one and I travel it at least 2 times a day.
My two cents
I am very good at using roundabouts and it is not the actual roundabout that concerns me. It is the inabillity of the typical driver in Brainerd to make a timely decision when driving. I can almost guarantee, there will be lines of cars stopped at the roundabouts waiting for their turn to get in. A roundabout is no place to be polite. The drivers in Brainerd/Baxter cannot even figure out whos turn it is at a four way stop. Eventually it will straighten itself out, but stay away from them in the beginning if you are in a hurry. BTW small fender benders will shut down a roundabout in a hurry.
Roundabouts up north?
I have been on roundabouts in many, many places but it has always been in warm southern climates, I'm worried about them in icy, snowy climates.
worried about them?
Lifelong, why?
Roundabouts work
Modern roundabouts are the safest form of intersection in the world. Visit www.iihs.org for safety facts. The safety comes from the ‘slow and go’ operation instead of the ‘stop or go fast’ way a stop light works. This is the #1 reason there are over 2,100 modern roundabouts in the US today and many more on the way. Slow and go also means less delay than a stop light, especially the other 20 hours a day people aren’t driving to or from work.
The first cost of any two choices (even ‘do nothing’) is a poor way to compare. Life-cycle cost is the best. For intersections, 20-years is a common period to compare. When comparing modern roundabouts to signals for a 20-year time period, modern roundabouts usually win. Factors to consider: first cost (construction), operation and maintenance (electricity, re-striping, etc.), crash reduction, daily delay, daily fuel consumption, pollution, area insurance rates. Each of these things, and others, can be estimated for any two choices and everyone near or using the intersection will pay some portion of all of these costs.
Snowy Roundabouts
There are plenty of examples of roundabouts working in cold snowy
environments. In Minnesota that are over 80 roundabouts already built with many more coming according to MNDOT. Canada has extensive roundabouts.
http://www.ourston.com/index.php?id=66
Link to a roundabout webcam in snowy Canada.
Vail, Colorado has numerous roundabouts and they
get lots of snow.
Snowy Roundabouts
http://www.ourston.com/index.php?id=66
Roundabouts
I live in a town where 3 roundabouts have been built in the last 3 years. I love them. It beats waiting for a long line of cars at a stop sign at busy times of the day. Once you navigate the roundabout a few times, you will love them too.
no, i wont love them
I have been on many of them, more than most, frankly and I do not like them, especially at the cost of $8.4 million dollars.