| Round the Roundabout |
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| Written by Pete Theisen |
| Sunday, 08 February 2009 22:10 |
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Several years ago, eight years, in fact, a celebrated Miami urban planner named Andrés Duany came to town and got paid more money than a fair number of working folks can even imagine to put on one of his "Charrettes". Various local celebrities, socialites and commentators were blown-away impressed with his images and lectures and decided among themselves to remake Sarasota after the model he presented. Isolated examples of Duany's ideas have actually been adopted in various places around town, where they mean a lot to influential people. But mostly, it has been an expensive paper exercise so far. Previous urban planner proposals for Sarasota were similarly well received but not completely adopted even over many years. One of the hottest hits of the Duany hit parade is the roundabout - a traffic intersection arrangement that replaces a traffic light intersection with a system of circular merges that depend on drivers' collective good will to keep things moving smoothly. Certain civic groups want to replace traffic lights all around town with these. There even is an almost new roundabout on Hillview street between Osprey and 41, although it is only one lane. St. Armands Circle is not a roundabout, nor is that arrangement at Tuttle and Siesta Drive. It is not commonly talked about, but traffic lights are periodically replaced. They corrode inside, suffer metal deterioration at support points, get old or just start looking shabby and one day there is a new one where the old one was. The claim is that when the replacement cost is added to the cost of the electricity to run the lights the roundabout and its maintenance is more cost effective. I suppose that could even be true. Mayor Lou Ann Palmer has told me that if the power goes out, the lights stop working but the roundabout is not affected. That is obviously true. One unanswered question, though, is whether or not roundabouts are safe for the traffic mix that will use them. There is a concern that there will be an inordinate number of bicycle fatalities with this type of traffic arrangement. The Department of Transportation has not completed a study on this potential problem. If the DOT signs off on the roundabout idea, I think we should try one for a decent period of time and see if it is safe and effective. If we like the first one, it will be easy to decide on more of them. |
| Last Updated on Sunday, 08 February 2009 22:15 |
Political Advertisement paid for and Approved by Pete Theisen for City Commissioner.
