Roundabouts: Coming to a road near you

Many drivers glide through and onto their destination with ease. But for others, the roundabout in the heart of Chaska’s Clover Ridge neighborhood is a foreign and curious sight.

Cars slow dramatically, approaching with caution. Entering the circle, drivers lean forward, grasping the steering wheel tightly and eyeing the roadway quizzically. Finally, they spy their street of choice and exit, breathing a sigh of relief after successfully navigating the odd intersection.

A staple of European and East Coast roadways, the roundabout is a relatively new option for the Midwest. But more and more, engineers are turning to the circular roadway to solve dangerous intersection problems.

Earlier this month, the Chaska City Council approved a reconstruction project for Bavaria Road that could include two roundabouts in its final plan. City engineer Bill Monk believes roundabouts are the best option to handle traffic loads on Bavaria Road and Pioneer Trail. Some neighbors thought otherwise, though, shaking their heads over concerns of safety.

Safety

But Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) project engineer Paul Kachelmyer says that roundabouts are all about safety.

“The No. 1 reason MnDOT does roundabouts is safety, safety, safety, safety,” said Kachelmyer.

Kachelmyer has been a project manager at MnDOT for 20 years and was the engineer who solved New Prague’s accident-prone intersection problem.

The intersection of Highway 13 and County Road 2 in New Prague was once the scene of so many accidents that over a five-year period, 50 people had been injured and two had died at the site.

“These were horrific accidents, happening during the middle of the day with good visibility,” noted Kachelmyer.

The two-way stop clearly wasn’t controlling traffic very effectively. And the addition of signs, striping and even flashing lights wasn’t helping matters.

“There wasn’t an awful lot we could do then,” said Kachelmeyer, who added that four-way stops and signal lights were not going to work either.

Kachelmyer learned that Maryland had solved a similar intersection problem using a roundabout. After installation, they were able to reduce accidents by 90 percent.

So Kachelmyer proposed a roundabout for New Prague’s intersection. Two-and-a-half years after the intersection’s reconstruction, he reports that they have had only two minor accidents, both a result of motorcyclists going too fast.

“Even if there are accidents, they are slower,” he commented. “Very rarely is there serious injury at roundabouts.”

A study done by the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety reported that looking at 23 intersections that had been converted to roundabouts revealed a reduction in total crashes by 39 percent. Injury crashes dropped by 76 percent while fatal accidents declined by 89 percent.

Gaining popularity

MnDOT is installing four or five roundabouts on highways this year, and have more than a dozen planned in the metro area over the next few years.

Two of those will be on Highway 7, near Hutchinson and St. Bonifacius. Another will be on Highway 284 near Waconia.

And county engineers are hopping on the roundabout bandwagon, too, proposing roundabouts on busy roads in Chaska, Savage and Shakopee.

Kachelmyer said that not only do the roundabouts prove to be safer, they improve traffic flow. Many times, roundabouts reduce an intersection “experience” to half the time spent at a signalized crossing, he said.

They are also cheaper, up to 75 percent the cost of signalized intersections, because they often require less pavement and fewer maintenance costs, Kachelmyer said.

Resistance

That doesn’t mean that roundabout projects are being welcomed with open arms, though.

Kachelmyer said that he heard it all when he proposed the New Prague highway roundabout.

“I got one huge amount of opposition to this idea,” he said. “People were saying ‘How can we put this out in the middle of nowhere?’ ‘There are going to be accidents,’ etc.”

But roundabouts, while unfamiliar, don’t have to be frightening, Kachelmyer said. Their design should help ease drivers’ worries.

“They should be designed for the person that’s never been through them before,” he said.

Kachelmyer said that a well-designed roundabout should give drivers a clear indication that they aren’t going to be able to keep going straight. They should also include a roadway that curves into the roundabout.

As for signage, roundabouts in Minnesota are new enough that there are no set standards yet, Kachelmyer said. “That section of the manual is still being written.”

-Mollee Francisco, staff writer

Roundabout rules for drivers

Slow down when approaching roundabout.

Yield to pedestrians in crosswalk.

When entering, yield to vehicles in the roundabout.

Merge when safe.

Continue through roundabout until you reach your exit. Do not stop or pass in roundabout.

When exiting, signal turn.

If an emergency vehicle approaches, exit roundabout immediately and then pull over.

Source: Minnesota Department of Transportation

TELL US: Are you a fan of roundabouts? Have you successfully navigated through one before? Do you have concerns about adding roundabouts to highways?