Let it go, people. Roundabouts are here to stay — in Modesto and everywhere else
The man who called me to complain bitterly about roundabouts under construction on Modesto’s beloved La Loma Avenue made several provocative claims.
With contempt and disdain, this fellow ranted about City Hall installing these roundabouts at the behest of “a couple of rich guys who want it,” and nearly everyone else in the neighborhood doesn’t. He said nobody was notified of any meetings about the roundabouts. They are dangerous, he said, and buses, firetrucks and other emergency vehicles will not be able to negotiate the turns.
But everything he said just isn’t true.
No doubt some well-off people favor traffic circles. That’s not surprising because they appeal to many open-minded folks regardless of income or social status.
It’s more true to say City Hall is installing the roundabouts because City Hall wants them. Traffic engineers love them because they’re safer than two- or four-way stops, they’re more efficient and they’re better for the environment. And once drivers and pedestrians get used to them, they flat-out work.
I know, I know — many people hate them, and many will be more than eager to tell me why. Most arguments will boil down to the fact that they’re just different.
Well, yeah. And sometimes different is better, and this is one of those times.
Fewer people get killed in accidents at roundabouts because vehicles usually strike glancing blows at angles instead of T-boning each other or the head-on collisions you see at traditional intersections. Fewer casualties equals safer.
Cars and trucks move more quickly around traffic circles, on average, because although they slow down, often they don’t have to yield or stop because no other car is immediately on their left and they simply keep moving. They never have to wait for the signal light to change. Less waiting equals more efficiency.
And less idling at stop signs or signals produces less exhaust, which means less air pollution.
Remember when the only roundabout in the entire region was the giant, iconic one at the entrance to Patterson?
Now they’re everywhere, in almost every city, for good reason. Mostly, because they work — for emergency vehicles and everyone else. And as people get used to them, they like roundabouts.
Not initially. But with time and practice.
Modesto warms to roundabouts — eventually
Neighbors came unglued when traffic engineers planned a series of roundabouts on Sylvan Avenue near Enochs High School, and in northeast Modesto’s Village I, and at the mouth of La Loma itself where it meets James and G streets at the edge of downtown. Years later, complaints are rare.
People frothed with fear and anger when crews turned a four-way stop into a temporary roundabout between Modesto and Escalon during reconstruction of the nearby McHenry Avenue bridge over the Stanislaus River. It took about nine seconds for everyone to see how previously long lines of traffic every single day quickly gave way to a manageable, smooth flow with the temporary roundabout.
The permanent signal light replacing it isn’t nearly as bad as the old four-way stop, but neither is it as good as the funky temporary roundabout with orange cones. The same people who cried to high heaven before soon asked if they could get their old roundabout back. It’s unfortunate that government inflexibility won’t allow it.
As for the La Loma roundabouts nearing completion at Buena Vista Drive and Santa Ana Avenue, Modesto City Manager Joe Lopez said they are a result of years of inquiry by, and several meetings with, La Loma-area residents asking for traffic-calming measures. City Hall continues consulting with several neighbors, he said, on ideas for “some art or a landscape feature in the center.”
Lopez said the city has “heard from a few who are not favorable toward roundabouts, but overall, there is overwhelming support.”
Because, obviously, they work.
This story was originally published May 17, 2021 at 4:00 AM.
