Opinion: Roundabouts Turning Up Around Wisconsin
By Dale Shultz • Aug 20th, 2009 • Category: PdCToday Life
Column by State Senator Dale Shultz (District 17). His district includes Grant County.
Roundabouts are appearing in more communities around Wisconsin. Traffic safety studies show that roundabouts compare well with traditional intersections, resulting in fewer crashes and less severe crashes with fewer serious injuries and fatalities.
The design of a roundabout forces vehicles to slow down, reducing the severity of crashes. The shape of a roundabout basically eliminates the head-on crashes and ‘T-bone’ crashes that occur at traditional intersections, too often resulting in serious injuries and fatalities. Drivers of any age have no difficulty negotiating a roundabout after driving through one the first time or two.
A recently built roundabout on USH 18 and Bennett Road in Dodgeville where the speed limit on USH 18 is 55 mile per hour, has seen fewer and less serious crashes than the intersection it replaced, according to Craig Hardy, the Iowa County Highway Commissioner. Hardy said driver comments include that the roundabout forces all vehicles to slow down, vehicles have less of a wait than with a stop-light intersection, and there is a definite decline in the amount of and seriousness of accidents and injuries.
A brochure by the Wisconsin Department of Transportation reports that roundabouts are often less expensive to construct than a signalized intersection and roundabouts are usually less expensive to maintain.
In some communities, when a roundabout has been proposed as an alternative to consider, concerns have arisen because the roundabout may take more real estate than a reconstructed intersection. A roundabout may have more impact on nearby businesses, homes and other property improvements.
Fortunately, in Wisconsin, we have state laws that require multiple alternative designs to be considered and, thanks to the practice of “community sensitive design”, community members have the opportunity to participate in the decision making process on whether a roundabout or a new intersection makes sense for a neighborhood.
Because of safety and cost advantages, roundabouts are proving to be a viable design choice in a growing number of Wisconsin communities. To receive the free DOT brochure on roundabouts, contact me via email or call my office at 800.978.8008. The brochure is also available on the web at http://www.dot.wisconsin.gov.
Dale Shultz is Wisconsin's 17th District Senator. Dale was elected to the Assembly in 1982 and to the State Senate in 1991. He and his wife, Rachel, own and manage their family’s farm, which became a Wisconsin Century Farm in 1998. He is a member of the Wisconsin Farm Bureau, the Masons, and the Lions.
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Dodgeville’s roundabout doesn’t normally have anything close to the traffic that Marquette Road does. Whenever I have gone through the Dodgeville roundabout, I am usually the ONLY vehicle at the intersection. Imagine the chaos on PdC’s roundabout with dozens of cars per minute trying to maneuver it. Not to mention the senior citizens getting confused. I for one would be taking an alternate route. Imagine that…an “improvement” to our roadways forcing locals to use alternate roads. Say no to PdC roundabouts!!!
I just went thru the Dodgeville roundabout Sunday and almost got in an accident. The person ahead of me decided they were in the wrong lane….and abruptly stopped with several cars right behind them. After being stopped for several seconds, they suddenly veered to the outside lane (instead of just going around the circle again) and got off the roundabout. Luckily all drivers were paying attention to the traffic flow and all were unharmed! Imagine this happening OVER and OVER again in PDC. I can. I second that NO.
Senator Shultz, thank you for the positive article on roundabouts in the State of Wisconsin. As a roundabout design firm we are always happy to see government officials taking an interest in a way to make intersections safer for the traveling public. Kudos!