Traffic in and around Hamilton Place can be a hassle, and in an effort to make travel smoother, TDOT has unveiled their plans to widen Shallowford Road. The work would begin, at the earliest, at the end of next year.
According to plans unveiled at a recent public hearing, Shallowford Road would go from a two-lane roadway to a five-lane from Gunbarrel Road to the Home Depot entrance, then transition down to a three-lane up to Jenkins Road, where a roundabout would replace a now-existing traffic light. Nobody would have to leave their homes, but the edges of some homeowners’ property might be slightly affected by the widened lanes.
Feelings were mixed on the issue, with most people noticeably unhappy at the thought of having to…um…drive around in a circle.
I don’t like stop signs or stoplights. I like to continue driving, even if it means that I have to occasionally slow down and (God forbid) use my steering wheel to turn through a roundabout. Of course, I grew up in a small Connecticut town that’s had a roundabout for over thirty years, so I’m used to it. Our roundabout was called a “traffic circle,” and I never, ever heard anyone complain about it. Neither have I heard anyone complain about the roundabout at the foot of the “W” road, which seems to be working quite nicely. But to watch some of the folks interviewed on the news about the Shallowford Road roundabout, you’d think that someone had just shot their dog.
One area resident said that roundabouts are something “brought over here from England” and were a bad idea because people “don’t know how to use them.”
For TDOT to give in to this sentiment would be catering to ignorance. Just because people “don’t know how to use” something doesn’t mean they shouldn’t learn. It’s a good thing that this way of thinking didn’t stop other useful ideas from happening. When the automobile, the airplane, and the motorcycle were invented, people were opposed to them, too, because they didn’t “know how to use them.” I think we can all say, now, that all three ideas improved travel. Roundabouts can improve travel, as well.
Look folks, it’s a circle. When you approach it, slow down and yield to any cars coming towards you from the left. Then, when it’s all clear, proceed to your right around the circle and back out onto the road. I know you can do this.
Posted by colrus at February 1, 2004 01:33 AM | TrackBackActually, traffic lights vs. roundabouts is an open question. Roundabouts are a lot cheaper to install and maintain, and they keep light to medium traffic moving better, but traffic lights take up a lot less space, are much safer for pedestrians and cyclists, and guarantee that traffic coming from every direction will eventually be able to move, no matter the level of traffic. Additionally, UK reports indicate that roundabouts are 2-3 times as dangerous as traffic lights.
Posted by: ryan at February 1, 2004 09:04 AMI can cite you oodles of reports of roundabouts greatly reducing accidents in areas where previously stop signs and stop lights were previously used. Interestingly, these are all cases in the US and Canada. I would bet that some of the UK reports have to do with the fact that there are just more roundabouts, in general, in the UK.
The English also drive on the wrong side of the road, so they're messed up to begin with. Just kidding.
My point wasn't so much wanting roundabouts (though the one at the bottom of the "W" road has helped me immensly) but rather to comment on the exaggerated panic I witnessed in people's eyes when they were interviewed by the news.
Shallowford Road has traffic backup problems. The key is to keep traffic moving. Also, shopping creates hysteria, which leads to people driving like fools (running stop signs, running traffic lights) and the force at which accidents happen when a moving car hits a stopped car is more than two moving cars that clip each other.
Posted by: bill colrus at February 1, 2004 11:58 AMI think they need a roundabout at the mall itself -- specifically, at the intersection of the road that goes around the mall and the road that exits onto Gunbarrel... you know, the one that takes you directly across to Wal-Mart. Thet's possibly the most congested area of the mall during any peak shopping time.
Posted by: podge at February 1, 2004 04:02 PMFrankly I'm not a huge fan of the single lane roundabout like the one encountered on Mtn. Creek Road. These single laner's take the fun from the multi-laned roundabout. In a multi-laned roundabout the inner lane can be driven around and around and around while the rest of the world can use the outer lane. Driving this inner lane is very handy when a direction or a choice is hard to come by, thus delaying the choices in life... really its a procrastination lane.
Posted by: holton at February 1, 2004 11:17 PMBig Ben... Parliament...
I wanted to be first with that one.
Posted by: podge at February 2, 2004 07:47 AMYou think regular roundabouts are scary, check out the magic roundabout.
Posted by: Christin at February 2, 2004 12:11 PM