The right tool for the job

Many pro and con letters have addressed the Barclay Drive and Highway 20 proposed roundabout, and I feel compelled to share a few observations after another trip through Bend yesterday.

The East Empire, Butler Market, and Olney roundabouts are workable in the neighborhoods in which they occur because of flow demands that they handle and speeds of traffic prior to entry. The larger roundabout at Brookswood and Reed Market Road has some serious problems. The following are a couple of the causes observed and shared by workers using it daily:

1. At certain times of morning, noon, and especially 3 to 5 p.m., Reed Market heavy traffic dominates with bumper-to-bumper flows that make Brookswood plug. Employees from BMC, businesses, and Old Mill traffic sit, and many cannot exit from side streets even to escape and go north to avoid the roundabout to the north.

2.

The crosswalk for bikes and pedestrians that exist a short distance from the roundabout on Reed Market brings an abrupt stoppage of traffic flow when a courteous, law-abiding driver stops just after exiting the circle.

This results in an instant bumper-to-bumper plug during high flow demand times, and does not even allow for cross traffic to flow.

Unfortunately, the bike-and-pedestrian need for the crosswalk is about the same time the traffic needs full flow.

The heavy volume flow cause vehicles to bunch closer to each other and the sudden, unexpected stoppage invites bumper-benders.

It is also a given that during high flow times on this roundabout the sun becomes a blinder in the morning and evening.

3. As the design diameter of the circle is increased due to traffic demands on the roundabout, it allows drivers less visibility of conditions that are affecting the exits. Smaller roundabouts give full peripheral view of what the dynamics are when approaching and entering.

So how does the above relate to OUR intersection at Barclay Drive and Highway 20? The volume of traffic and higher peak loads are complicated beyond what Bend's Reed Market experiences because of high truck volumes. The design to get bikes and pedestrians across the highway is the same and the sudden plug up into the circle will be the same halting, except with trucks added in. The cross traffic of Barclay Drive will be halted during pedestrian lane usage because of solid bumper-to-bumper stoppage.

This year's quilt show had traffic creep well back beyond Tollgate with McDonald's, Bi-Mart's and Les Schwab's roads all depending on Highway 20 drivers to create an occasional opening. ODOT should think about porta-potties east and west of Sisters as some of the roundabout's added needs.

Roundabouts are workable tools for smaller diameters matching smaller, lower speed usage but are not efficient to get pedestrians and bikes crossing any streets exiting the circle. They do nothing to provide timed pulses that allow cross traffic at the same time that foot traffic flows in the same direction. Consider the additional land required: The lack of traffic pulses that help other cross streets and later pedestrian crossings in town.

Now, why not choose the right tool for this job; a simple programmable traffic light. It did prove itself for months.