The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
ROUNDABOUT IMPROVES TRAFFIC
Officials and residents discuss effectiveness of roundabout
Nearly four years later, Lake County’s first roundabout in Leroy Township continues to incite discussion. Officials and residents weigh the pros and cons of the circular intersection at the five-point intersection of Vrooman, Painesville-Warren, Huntoon and Leroy Center roads.
A once confusing and dangerous intersection is now methodical and flowing with ease, Leroy Trustee Chuck Klco said.
The Lake County Engineer’s Office decided that constructing a roundabout was the only solution for the congestion and confusion, he said.
The road project of more than $1.4 million was completed in multiple phases.
“It has helped traffic flow so much better,” he said. “It was a major improvement, no doubt about it. There are fewer accidents at this intersection now. There were constant accidents before. People were not stopping at the stop sign and driving too fast.”
The roundabout makes motorists slow down and that was the objective, Klco said.
Geometric features of a roundabout include channelized approaches, geometric curvature that ensures travel speeds within the roundabout are around 30 mph or less, and diameters usually between 80 feet and 200
feet, according to the Ohio Department of Transportation website.
“They are designed to be safer and more efficient than a traditional intersection,” ODOT says. “The geometry creates a low-speed environment inside the circulatory roadway, as well as at the entry and exit locations. The geometry also prevents highangle crashes such as ‘Tbone’ and left-turn angle crashes. Lower-angle, lowspeed crashes tend to be less severe than higher-angle, high-speed crashes.”
Research shows that drivers quickly adapt to the roundabout traffic flow.
“The locals are used to it and it has been really beneficial,” Klco said. “It’s easy to get in and out of the nearby business and it has worked out really well.”
Although Leroy firefighter Joseph Manco has only been with the department for about a year, he said he couldn’t imagine that intersection without the roundabout.
Manco said overall there have been no major incidents that he had to respond to at this site.
“People navigate around it pretty well,” he said.
This highly traveled intersection is less than ½ mile down the road from the Leroy Township Fire Station. On the other hand, Dale Dye, who is a lifelong Leroy Township resident and employee at the Country Store, said there have been no significant changes.
Dye said that traffic flows a little bit better, but there is minimal improvement.
He said that numerous mishaps occur from people trying to read signs and just stopping because they do not know what to do.
“Like any new technology or idea, it is necessary that people understand how roundabouts work and why they are needed,” according to the U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration. “This conversation begins by communicating the magnitude and importance of the intersection safety challenge. With roughly ¼ of all traffic fatalities in the United States associated with intersections, it is critical that safer designs are implemented as widely and routinely as possible. Roundabouts have proven to be a safer and more efficient type of intersection.”
Roundabouts reduce the types of crashes where people are seriously hurt or killed by 78 percent to 82 percent when compared to conventional stop-controlled and signalized intersections, according to the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials.