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Roundabout considered at busy intersection

Posted 4/16/19

A roundabout traffic circle is once again being discussed by the town as an option for the intersection at Avenue of the Fountains and La Montana Drive.

The idea has been brought to the forefront …

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Roundabout considered at busy intersection

Posted

A roundabout traffic circle is once again being discussed by the town as an option for the intersection at Avenue of the Fountains and La Montana Drive.

The idea has been brought to the forefront by an ad-hoc committee focused on traffic and pedestrian safety in Fountain Hills.

The committee has made no formal proposals or recommendations to the Town Council, but there are three council members sitting with the group. A couple of the ideas related to Avenue of the Fountains intersections were discussed recently at a council session on the proposed capital improvement budget for next fiscal year.

One of those is the roundabout proposal, which had been rejected by previous councils as too costly and controversial. A plan to make temporary traffic lane modifications at the intersection was postponed just as the work was expected to begin. Public Works staff has sent the proposal back to an engineering consultant to refine cost estimates.

Councilman Dennis Brown has participated in the committee discussion and said he supports the roundabout and always has. He said he believes a single-lane roundabout at La Montana is the right answer to address driver confusion at the intersection. He said with a roundabout, drivers pulling up to the intersection have only one simple rule to obey and that is yield to vehicles approaching their location in the circle.

There is a history of collisions at the intersection, although mostly minor due to the low speed associated with the four-way stop. There is also significant anecdotal information regarding near misses, though not verifiable.

Mayor Ginny Dickey also supports the round-about idea, and has backed it previously and cites the Downtown Area Specific Plan, which is council approved.

“Traffic calming measures such as crosswalks, additional on-street parking and narrower travel lanes are planned to provide easy and safe access to all areas of the downtown for both vehicles and pedestrians,” the Area Specific Plan states.

Dickey said round-about traffic circles were originally proposed for Saguaro Boulevard at Avenue of the Fountains to “bookend” the Avenue Plaza.

Dickey notes that the town’s voter-adopted General Plan also addresses roundabouts as “traffic calming measures.”

Dickey also cites studies touting roundabout safety.

A study was conducted by an Arizona State University engineering professor and funded by the National Transportation Center at Maryland, one of five such centers that reports to the U.S. Department of Transportation.

That study concludes that “although roundabouts have been used at many locations around the world, the safety of roundabouts under different conditions has not been fully understood in Arizona. In this study, 17 roundabouts in five cities in Arizona were evaluated, which were previously controlled by either stop signs or traffic signals before roundabout conversion.

“The average rates of accidents, damages, injuries and fatalities per year and per million vehicles were evaluated.

“It was found that single-lane roundabouts reduced the accident rate, whereas double-lane roundabouts increased the accident rate. The results also showed that both single- and double-lane roundabout conversions reduced the severity levels of accidents. Considering both accident rate and severity level, warrants need to be developed for roundabout conversion and number of roundabout lanes under different traffic volumes.”

Verde River

Dickey and Brown are also both equally supportive of a proposal to address Verde River Drive at Avenue of the Fountains. That plan closes Verde River Drive to through traffic at the intersection. Motorists approaching the intersection on Verde River Drive would be allowed right-turn only access.

This would be done to address a concern about pedestrians on the Avenue of the Fountains Plaza. Currently, many cross from the middle of the intersection rather than using the crosswalks.

“I support the idea of closing the intersection of Verde River and AOTF because none of the configurations we can come up with will dissuade people from crossing from one linear park area to the other,” Dickey said. “If we stripe it to allow pedestrians to cross, it will remain a very confusing area.

“Adding four-way stop signs will create another intersection just like by the Post Office. Making the entire plaza for pedestrians makes sense for safety and to conform to our downtown district concept.

“The entire Town Center, including Saguaro, could be much more pedestrian-friendly, as described in the General Plan and the Downtown Area Specific Plan.”

Brown also agrees with that proposal to close the street. He said he had been told by a previous town employee that engineering would not allow for a pedestrian crossing at an intersection such as Verde River Drive.

“Closing Verde River Drive at the Avenue and allowing only right turns would not have a huge impact on motorists,” Brown said.

Brown added that the committee is also considering the possibility of reducing Saguaro Boulevard to one lane in each direction between just south of El Lago Boulevard to Palisades Boulevard. He said the effect of that would be to slow traffic and it would also allow for street parking next to the park along Saguaro.

At some point after engineering estimates are updated staff will bring the committee’s proposals to the full council for discussion.