Plenty of positives for roundabout
The City of Lindsay is moving ahead with plans to build a roundabout at the intersection of Hermosa and Westwood this summer.
At Thursday’s informational meeting, signatures of more than 800 people were collected and submitted to city staff all indicating they were not in favor of the project.
We suspect there are many others that if given the chance would also feel the same.
Hermosa is a busy artery off of Highway 65 in Lindsay and the intersection with Westwood is congested due to Jefferson Elementary sitting on the northwest corner.
Roundabouts are not popular here, not sure they are very popular anywhere, but they are fairly common in other parts of the nation and world.
They are more expensive to put in place when compared to the cost of turning the intersection into a four-way stop or installing signal lights.
Generally, roundabouts are safer for drivers and pedestrians, and do help with lowering emissions than the other options.
Depending on the design, they require less maintenance and are not impacted by the loss of power.
The other thing that this project has going for it is that the city will be getting a roundabout basically for free.
Self-help Enterprises has secured the grant funding for the project and it does not require a match from the city.
Really the only costs are going to be staff time related to moving a project of this magnitude through to completion — all costs the city would normally have — and future upkeep of the roundabout.
If the city council decides against the roundabout, the money can not be used for something else. And if the money is not used by a certain time it goes away, which is why the city is not wasting any time.
When everything is considered it’s hard to side against the project.
It was pretty clear at the informational meeting that the two council members in attendance were leaning toward approval of the project, which means only one more yes vote is needed.
There are still some hurdles to jump over before the project is given final approval and some time for residents opposed to the project to be heard.
It’s important they continue to be active — attend meetings, speak when given an opportunity and reach out to the council members with their concerns.