Roundabouts
[ Excerpt from SBN-P article 12/28/2005 by Joshua Molina ]
CIRCULAR ISSUE
... In Santa Barbara's St. Francis neighborhoods on the upper Eastside, mini-roundabouts are popping up at highly traveled intersections, to the dismay or delight of people who live and drive in the area.
The city's traffic division, working with many residents, has installed them to slow down traffic. If the city has its way, the four in the St. Francis neighborhood would just be the beginning. The city plans to install dozens of roundabouts and other "traffic-calming" devices in that area and in the Samarkand and Oak Park neighborhoods on the other side of town.
But a movement to kill the roundabouts is gaining momentum. Opponents contend that they are unsafe, in the wrong spots and that there is no real need for them in residential neighborhoods.
The debate over the roundabouts is just the latest reaction to a wave of changes hitting Santa Barbara's neighborhoods. Large house remodels and increased density from a flurry of newly built, and highly lucrative, condos are resulting in more traffic congestion all over town. The increased congestion on Highway 101 forces cars to spill over onto city streets, where drivers take shortcuts.
Longtime Santa Barbara residents believe the city is growing too fast, too big and too dense, wrecking the quaint charm of the "American Riviera."
For some, the roundabouts serve as an attempt to slow people down. The traffic circles, for some, make life easier...
City officials say the roundabouts need time before they can be a success. Drivers have to get used to them and learn to expect them, they say. In addition to the four which have already been set up, the city plans to install 12 more in the area beginning in January.
Browning Allen, the city's supervising transportation planner, said the roundabouts were placed in the neighborhoods not to address a pattern of accidents, but because of complaints about speedy motorists from neighborhoods.
City officials said that the traffic-calming devices have been paid for partly by a $300,000 state grant.
They also claim that 85 percent of about 400 people in the St. Francis neighborhood expressed support for the traffic-calming devices.
"This is a neighborhood-initiated plan," Mr. Allen said. "We worked with them for at least a year at putting together a neighborhood mobility plan. We aren't putting anything in that neighborhood that wasn't approved."
Four intersections have roundabouts: Olive and Sola streets; Alta Vista and Sola streets; Alta Vista and Victoria streets; and Olive and Valerio streets. Three of the roundabouts are in the semi-permanent stage. They have been set in asphalt, but won't be permanent until the city sets them in concrete. The fourth, on Olive and Valerio streets, has not yet been set in asphalt.
City officials say they are examining them to see how the public responds. Tully Clifford, transportation engineer for the city, said that he has received several hundred complaints about the roundabouts, and on the whole the feedback from the public has been evenly split. "If we determine one isn't working, we will pull it," Mr. Clifford said. "We are not going to wait until someone dies."
The city has a mixed track record when it comes to the circles. Last year, it installed a roundabout in front of Santa Barbara High School, on Anapamu and Alta Vista streets. The roundabout was met with fierce opposition from motorists who said they were never informed about the traffic circle and that it was actually creating a safety hazard. In the face of opposition and media attention, the city pulled the roundabout.
Larger roundabouts on Alameda Padre Serra Road and another on Milpas Street were also met with skepticism initially, but officials now consider them successes.
One of the allegations from the roundabout opponents is that city officials aren't listening to their complaints and that the city is blindly pursuing an alternative transportation agenda even when it's not in the best interests of the public...
City Councilman Das Williams, who has met with many of the neighbors in the area personally, said traffic circles can work -- but time will tell whether they are in the right place in Santa Barbara.
"I support them where they work," Mr. Williams said. "There are areas where they really improve circulation. Neighbors like them. I feel like putting them up as a test, before making them permanent, is fine to do. The public's the best judge."
City Councilman Dan Secord said he has received complaints from some residents about roundabouts. He believes if there is a problem with accidents then the roundabout is a good idea. But without factual data to support the need for a roundabout, he wonders how necessary they are.
"I don't know whether it has worked at all in terms of calming traffic," Dr. Secord said. "I am kind of inclined to thinking it's not working very well. I don't know that anybody on the council was in the room when this was decided."
Santa Barbara News-Press
CIRCULAR ISSUE
... In Santa Barbara's St. Francis neighborhoods on the upper Eastside, mini-roundabouts are popping up at highly traveled intersections, to the dismay or delight of people who live and drive in the area.
The city's traffic division, working with many residents, has installed them to slow down traffic. If the city has its way, the four in the St. Francis neighborhood would just be the beginning. The city plans to install dozens of roundabouts and other "traffic-calming" devices in that area and in the Samarkand and Oak Park neighborhoods on the other side of town.
But a movement to kill the roundabouts is gaining momentum. Opponents contend that they are unsafe, in the wrong spots and that there is no real need for them in residential neighborhoods.
The debate over the roundabouts is just the latest reaction to a wave of changes hitting Santa Barbara's neighborhoods. Large house remodels and increased density from a flurry of newly built, and highly lucrative, condos are resulting in more traffic congestion all over town. The increased congestion on Highway 101 forces cars to spill over onto city streets, where drivers take shortcuts.
Longtime Santa Barbara residents believe the city is growing too fast, too big and too dense, wrecking the quaint charm of the "American Riviera."
For some, the roundabouts serve as an attempt to slow people down. The traffic circles, for some, make life easier...
City officials say the roundabouts need time before they can be a success. Drivers have to get used to them and learn to expect them, they say. In addition to the four which have already been set up, the city plans to install 12 more in the area beginning in January.
Browning Allen, the city's supervising transportation planner, said the roundabouts were placed in the neighborhoods not to address a pattern of accidents, but because of complaints about speedy motorists from neighborhoods.
City officials said that the traffic-calming devices have been paid for partly by a $300,000 state grant.
They also claim that 85 percent of about 400 people in the St. Francis neighborhood expressed support for the traffic-calming devices.
"This is a neighborhood-initiated plan," Mr. Allen said. "We worked with them for at least a year at putting together a neighborhood mobility plan. We aren't putting anything in that neighborhood that wasn't approved."
Four intersections have roundabouts: Olive and Sola streets; Alta Vista and Sola streets; Alta Vista and Victoria streets; and Olive and Valerio streets. Three of the roundabouts are in the semi-permanent stage. They have been set in asphalt, but won't be permanent until the city sets them in concrete. The fourth, on Olive and Valerio streets, has not yet been set in asphalt.
City officials say they are examining them to see how the public responds. Tully Clifford, transportation engineer for the city, said that he has received several hundred complaints about the roundabouts, and on the whole the feedback from the public has been evenly split. "If we determine one isn't working, we will pull it," Mr. Clifford said. "We are not going to wait until someone dies."
The city has a mixed track record when it comes to the circles. Last year, it installed a roundabout in front of Santa Barbara High School, on Anapamu and Alta Vista streets. The roundabout was met with fierce opposition from motorists who said they were never informed about the traffic circle and that it was actually creating a safety hazard. In the face of opposition and media attention, the city pulled the roundabout.
Larger roundabouts on Alameda Padre Serra Road and another on Milpas Street were also met with skepticism initially, but officials now consider them successes.
One of the allegations from the roundabout opponents is that city officials aren't listening to their complaints and that the city is blindly pursuing an alternative transportation agenda even when it's not in the best interests of the public...
City Councilman Das Williams, who has met with many of the neighbors in the area personally, said traffic circles can work -- but time will tell whether they are in the right place in Santa Barbara.
"I support them where they work," Mr. Williams said. "There are areas where they really improve circulation. Neighbors like them. I feel like putting them up as a test, before making them permanent, is fine to do. The public's the best judge."
City Councilman Dan Secord said he has received complaints from some residents about roundabouts. He believes if there is a problem with accidents then the roundabout is a good idea. But without factual data to support the need for a roundabout, he wonders how necessary they are.
"I don't know whether it has worked at all in terms of calming traffic," Dr. Secord said. "I am kind of inclined to thinking it's not working very well. I don't know that anybody on the council was in the room when this was decided."
Santa Barbara News-Press
Posted by Malcolm on
1/02/2006
Subscribe to RSS Feed
0 Comments
Post a Comment
Links
Create a Link
<< Home