They have enough of Bartlesville’s roundabout constructed that you can actually see how it will look.
I took this picture this morning, and even though it conforms to “The State of the Practice”, I still think it will be hazardous, especially to pedestrians. “The State of the Practice” says that the crosswalk should go through the island about one car length away from the circle, and this crosswalk pretty much conforms. I think it is still way to close, and that a car just leaving the circle will not be expecting a pedestrian, and a tragedy will result.
I first became involved in roundabout design back in my Metroplan days in the mid 1990s in Little Rock, and even designed several. Back then, the practice was to put the crossing beyond the island, not through the middle of it. In the 2000 edition of the MUTCD, the crosswalk is shown as beyond the island.
Interestingly enough, the 2003 version of the manual showed the crosswalks going through the islands.
So, what is currently “State of the Practice” wasn’t always state of the practice, or at least not prior to 2003. In my opinion, the pre-2003 practice was the right practice. And I am not a lone voice.
The Clearwater Beach Roundabout is called “The Mother of all Florida Roundabouts” on the RoundaboutsUSA.com website. http://www.roundaboutsusa.com/ Interestingly enough, this major roundabout moved the crosswalks back away from the circle, which means that the current “State of the Practice” is flawed.
In this photo of the Clearwater Beach Roundabout, the area highlighted in red is where the crosswalk used to be. Notice how cars are stopped over the old crosswalk. Hmm. Seems like the old standard was the best standard.
So, hundreds of thousands of dollars were spent on this roundabout, only to have to spend tens of thousands more to “improve” it because it was dangerous to pedestrians. Perhaps a bit more thought should have been used in the original design. We are, after all, engineers, and we should be using engineering judgment, not just jumping on the bandwagon of another engineer’s judgment. Unfortunately, my fellow engineers have gotten lazy and can’t think for themselves anymore, and tend to grab onto whatever “fad” is out there instead of fully vetting the idea BEFORE spending the public dollar. But hey, it’s the public’s money, so who cares, right?
The citizens of Bartlesville have been told time and again have safe and wonderful the roundabout will be, how it will be the cure to all our woes. Shoot, it will even bathe the kids!
Bill Baranowski, the administration of the RoundaboutsUSA is an expert on the subject, and even he has given talks (I have attended some of them) and written papers expressing some skepticism. Here is an excellent paper about pedestrian safety issues-
http://www.k-state.edu/roundabouts/news/Baranowskipaperfinal.pdf
He also has some great links articles about roundabouts, both pro and con. One recent one from California–
NEW ROUNDABOUT IN SANTA CRUZ BEACH AREA DOES LITTLE TO EASE TRAFFIC
Posted: 06/02/2011 09:03:22 PM PDT
Click photo to enlarge
The new beach roundabout at Pacific Avenue and Center Street is problematic… (Dan Coyro/Sentinel)
SANTA CRUZ – The recently reconfigured beach area intersection that filters traffic to Main Beach and the Municipal Wharf was hardly the surefire solution to making the drive a breeze during the first busy weekend of the summer season.
Many motorists and nearby business owners complained that the roundabout at Center Street and Pacific Avenue was often extremely congested with cars at a standstill during Memorial Day weekend – even more jammed than the old four-way stop sign intersection that had been there.
They say the intersection was particularly bad on Sunday with motorists lined up, sometimes all the way to Laurel Street, trying to make their way to the beach.
“Cars were stopped dead in front of the store,” said Daniel Strawn, owner of Pacific Avenue Cycles. “It was pretty packed down here. No matter how fast the roundabout goes, it still backs up here.”
Santa Cruz Public Works officials completed the $1 million roundabout in front of Depot Park earlier this year, replacing the stop signs. A second roundabout is planned later this year at Beach Street in front of the wharf.
Public Works Director Mark Dettle said the roundabout “worked well,” but conceded that the intersection did become overwhelmed with heavy traffic during the weekend afternoons.
Dettle said he drove through the intersection several times during the weekend to drop off and pick up his daughter at the wharf. On Sunday afternoon, he said it took almost 10 minutes to drive from the Police Department on Center Street to the wharf, about half a mile.
“It worked fine,” Dettle said. “The whole beach area was overwhelmed. There was just way too much traffic.”
Santa Cruz police officers took video of the weekend traffic jams to share with Public Works officials so they can come up with plans to improve traffic flow for summer tourists.
Deputy Chief Steve Clark said the roundabout was packed with cars unable to move through the circular drive quickly primarily because traffic was tied up at Beach Street.
The elimination of the stop sign on Pacific Avenue in front of the Las Palmas Taco Bar made it difficult for drivers to turn off Second Street, which added to the beach area’s overall traffic headaches during the weekend, Clark said.
“Sunday was just one of those days. It’s not the roundabout’s fault,” he said. “We just get more cars than our roads can handle. It’s a blessing and a curse.”
Keith Hodgson, who has owned Electric Sierra Cycles for 12 years on the corner of Pacific Avenue and Center Street, believes the new configuration is more dangerous than before because cars don’t have to stop before turning right onto Pacific. He said cars now fly by at 20 mph, which he says poses a threat for pedestrians and cyclists.
“This intersection is going to be a disaster this summer,” Hodgson said. “The city basically turned this into a freeway. This is wrong.”
I loved the comment from the Public Works Director – “It worked fine”. Apparently, it didn’t, but who can blame him for denying the obvious? One million dollars worth of crow is a lot of crow to eat!
Here’s another one from Washington state-
WOODLAND ROAD PLAN SHOCKS BUSINESSES
Narrower pavement, approved two years ago, changes traffic
Photo by Gordon Oliver Darlene Johnson, co-owner of Woodland Truck Line, examines a Schurman Road reconstruction project that reduces the roadway’s width by six feet. Business owners in the industrial area have protested the road-narrowing project, but city officials say it’s too late to change course.
By Gordon Oliver
Columbian Staff Reporter Sunday, June 5, 2011
WOODLAND — The way Darlene Johnson sees things, narrowing a road in an industrial area and building roundabouts that are difficult for trucks to maneuver is no way to attract new businesses or keep existing ones happy.
But Johnson, co-owner with her husband of Woodland Truck Line Inc. on Schurman Way in Woodland, is irritated by the small details as well as the large. The city’s decision to narrow Schurman Way, which came as a surprise to Johnson and other business owners, also eliminates a shoulder that she and others used as a bike lane.
“It’s just crazy,” Johnson said last week, eyeing newly installed curbs that cut six feet off a roadway just off Interstate 5 that serves distribution companies. “Who would have thought something like this could happen?”
Johnson and her business neighbors on Schurman Way learned the size-shrinking details of the road project when an employee of PDM Steel Service Center asked a road construction worker about the job. Word spread quickly. A petition circulated among business owners in the Woodland Industrial Park on May 20, and a rushed meeting was set for a week later with Mayor Chuck Blum.
But already it was too late. Blum did not respond to requests for comment, but in a May 26 letter to Woodland Industrial Park business owners, he wrote that reconstructing the road at 44 feet would add $450,000 to the project’s cost, of which the city would pay an estimated $364,000. The project as it now stands will cost $1.86 million, including $622,000 for a new roundabout at Schurman Way and Dike Access Road.
Schurman Way has certainly been a wide street, covering 44 feet. Its lanes, one in each direction and a center lane, are 14 feet wide, with a 1-foot shoulder, or fog line, on each side. The reconstruction, required in part because of deteriorating pavement, reduces the roadway to 36 feet and the travel lanes to 13 feet. The reclaimed space between the old and new curbs was being filled with dirt last week.
Johnson says that the extra width now allows long trucks to enter and exit driveways without having to swing into opposite-direction lanes. The one-foot shoulder on each side also offered a measure of safety for bicyclists. Cyclists often used Schurman Way on their way from town to the Columbia River.
Then there are those roundabouts. The Washington State Department of Transportation constructed two of them on Dike Access Road to improve traffic flow between the freeway and Walmart, which opened in February. The new roundabout will be at the junction of Dike Access Road and Schurman Way.
Tough for trucks
The roundabouts are designed with a low-rise section, elevated 3 inches above the paved surface, designed to accommodate truck wheels. But Nelson Holmberg, the Port of Woodland’s executive director, says truckers complain that top-heavy loads are unstable when trucks climb the 3-inch rise, while low-lying trucks bottom out. The port was trying to recruit one tenant that would have brought an new company to the area, but “when they found out about roundabouts decided not to come here,” Holmberg said.
Chris Tams, WSDOT’s Columbia Gorge area engineer, said the agency’s regional administrator was concerned that the roundabouts are rough on truck tires and a “pretty significant bump” for truckers. The pavement around the roundabouts, installed in winter weather to accommodate Walmart’s opening, is already deteriorating and will need to be replaced at no cost to the state, Tams said. WSDOT will ask the contractor to modify the pavement to shrink the 3-inch height difference, he said. Tams said he believed the roundabouts were working well overall.
Steve Branz, Woodland’s public works director, said city officials scoped the Schurman Way project early in 2009. Woodland’s public works committee, which includes three City Council members, approved the narrowing of the street at that time as a way to trim costs, he said. “It was brought to the (city) council’s attention that this was the course we wanted to go,” he said.
The engineer still feels the project is a good one, but acknowledges that the city should have talked to the property owners.
While Johnson appreciates an acknowledgement of errors along the way, she’s irate that nothing will change as a result.
“Everybody makes mistakes, but a business goes out of business if it doesn’t correct its mistakes,” she said. “Government will leave the mistake, and we have to live with it.”
xSo, despite the facts that the businesses hate the roundabout, businesses are staying away because of the roundabout, and trucks have issues with the roundabout, the engineer still thinks the project is a good one. Another city official unwilling to admit that his idea may just be a mistake.
So, my fellow Bartians, we are not alone! I predict that when the roundabout turns out to be the disaster I think it will be, your city officials will deny the obvious and say that “it works” and that “the project was a good one.” And we will suffer the consequences!
Now It’s Personal, Mister Mayor Man
Tuesday, June 7th, 2011Mister Mayor Man, two things that people observed about your behavior last night when I was commenting – first, your attempt to turn my microphone off, and second, that you lost your cool with me and basically told me to shut up. Way to go, Mister Mayor Man! You surely are a great representative of the City of Bartlesville!
My elderly father nearly had his ear ripped off because you and your cronies on the BRTA didn’t do your job and allowed a brand new hotel to be built and opened that does not comply with the ADA. It is galling that millions of taxpayer dollars were spent to subsidize this hotel that deoes not comply with the ADA. The ADA is FEDERAL LAW, and has been around for 20 years – there is absolutely no excuse for any new facility to be built that does not comply. Just because you are Tom Gorman does not mean that you and your cronies can just ignore FEDERAL law. Like I said last night in public before you tried to cut me off and shout me down, whomever had the oversight responsibility to make sure that a facility open to the public and built with public dollars was ADA compliant either was corrupt, and knowingly turned a blind-eye to shoddy construction for a quid pro quo (such as job security), or a nitwit that didn’t know a thing about the ADA. Sorry if you found that to be insulting to city staff, but the reality is what it is – either the person for oversight was on the take or was not competent to do the job. Honestly, I don’t know which is worse – a corrupt official or a stupid one. But the ultimate responsibility rests with you, Mister Mayor Man, as you were, and are still on, the BRTA, and the BRTA funded the project and was supposed to provide oversight. Some oversight.
My father harmed no one. No, he was trying to bathe himself when he slipped on the slippery bathtub, and reached for the grab bars, only to find that one of the required grab bars wasn’t there. He then grabbed the shower curtain to break his fall, and fell against the commode, which, according to ADA shouldn’t have been so close to the tub, and almost ripped his ear off as his head smashed against the porcelain. And then, incredibly, my father being the decent man that he is, apologized to the front desk as we were transporting him to the hospital for making a mess. Think about that, Mister Mayor Man – my father, the builder and engineer, falls and almost rips his ear off because on a project you and your cronies were overseeing someone decided that it would be okay to leave off a grab bar, and instead of being angry over the damage done to him, feels sorry for the damage he did to the room. You hurt him, yet he apologized.
You lost your patience with me because I was a little upset. How would you feel if it had been your father that had been hurt? I guarantee you, you would have had lawyers filing suits before the blood even dried. How you could sit there with that smug look on your face knowing that a project you are your cronies oversaw hurt somebody was beyond me. I’ve heard the rumors throughout town about how shortcuts were taken when the hotel was built; now we know what they were. Who needs the required slip-proof flooring, when you can get the slick stuff so much cheaper. No one will ever know; no one will ever be the wiser. After all, when someone does fall, we can just blame it on them, right? I almost fell in the lobby one day when it was raining, and the solution was that the hotel put up a “CAUTION – SLIPPERY” sign, which everyone knows is actually a transformer that will grab you when you slip on the non-ADA compliant floor. Who needs the extra grab bar in the bathtub, right? They are just handicapped people, just a bunch of whiny crybabies. Why should the commode be the proper distance away from the bathtub? After all, you shouldn’t be falling out of the bathtub to begin with; it’s all your fault!
When I complained to the front desk, I was told it was my father’s fault that he fell because he should have been in a “handicapped” room. Yes, the hotel built with taxpayer money is non-ADA compliant, but yet it is my father’s fault because he didn’t request one of the five (out of 150) “handicapped” rooms with a roll-in shower. My father is not in a wheelchair, so a roll-in shower is not needed. Oh, and apparently, all of the “handicapped” rooms only have a king bed, and when my parents travel, they travel with one of my sisters, and they need two beds, not one. But, none of the “handicapped” rooms had two beds, which is also a violation of the ADA, which clearly states that handicapped people must have access to the same type of facilities as non-handicapped people. Given that the “handicapped” rooms would not work, I asked for a shower mat for my father, and was told that they didn’t have any. What? Pay all that money for a hotel room, and the hotel can’t even afford to buy some shower mats for guests to use? Un-freakin’-believable!
My father just had his stitches removed, and we don’t know yet what kind of permanent damage was done to his ear or his hearing. He is a good man, who has always done right by others, and he doesn’t deserve this indignity. I blame you, Mister Mayor Man. A lot of people were upset how you and your cronies on the BRTA crammed this new hotel down our throats, and then poked us in the eye by using millions of taxpayer dollars to subsidize it. I blame your cronies in the City for not obviously not inspecting the hotel thoroughly enough to make sure it complies with FEDERAL LAW such as the ADA before declaring it safe for public use and issuing a CO. There is no excuse, absolutely none, for issuing a CO for a non-ADA compliant building, and like I said, I want to know exactly who issued it and who was responsible for oversight, because apparently there was none. One of the primary functions of government is to promote the common good, and with regards to this project, the government, and all those working on its behalf, failed miserably. And a good man was harmed.
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