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After 35 years in public education as a university administrator and a high school English teacher, I began my second life as a freelance writer, winning San Diego Society of Professional Journalists awards for my opinion columns in the former San Diego daily North County Times and the San Diego Free Press.

Wednesday, July 6, 2016

Grading on the Curve

Carlsbad's Intersection Circumspection


Carlsbad's elected officials took the city's vision of "a small town feel and beach community character" and twisted it into a developer-friendly General Plan. Fortunately, their questionable integrity and patronizing "we know best" attitude are not reflected in the leadership and staff of Carlsbad's talented, courteous and responsive city employees.

The 2009 public opinion survey that led to the development of the city's Community Vision produced statistically sound results. But Mayor Hall and his council colleagues used them to justify land use changes allowing shopping centers and multi-use commercial/residential housing near the beach and lagoon.

The most recent online survey, developed by city staff for the Tamarack Area Coastal Improvements Project, asks respondents to choose from three options designed to improve safety, beach access and traffic flow at the intersection of Carlsbad Boulevard and Tamarack. After careful consideration, I chose the Roundabout Plan for the reasons listed in the staff's comparative summary.

Improve pedestrian and cyclist safety and access:
The Roundabout Plan would widen the sidewalk on the west side of Carlsbad Boulevard, over the bridge, from 4 ft. to 16 ft; the safety buffer for bikes from 5 ft. to 8 ft. alongside Carlsbad Boulevard, and from 0 to 2 ft. along Tamarack.

Reduce air pollution, improve parking and landscaping:
It's the only option that would reduce air pollution and traffic noise. It would also add fourteen new parking spaces and provide larger gathering and viewing areas than the other two options.

Improve safety without sacrificing traffic flow:
Finally, the roundabout is the best way to improve safety for drivers, bikers and walkers without increasing drive through time. (See below)

 

To trust, but verify the staff report, I researched the results of studies comparing standard intersections vs. roundabouts nationwide. Here's what I found in an April 2016 report by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) and Federal Highway Administration.

Safety:
Roundabouts typically achieve a 37 percent reduction in overall collisions, a 75 percent reduction in injury collisions, a 90 percent reduction in fatality collisions, and a 40 percent reduction in pedestrian collisions. Serious crashes are essentially eliminated because vehicles travel in the same direction and at low speeds, generally less than 20 mph in urban areas. They also reduce the likelihood of rear-end crashes by removing the incentive for drivers to speed up to beat light changes and by reducing abrupt stops at red lights.

Traffic flow
Several studies have reported significant improvements in traffic flow with conversion to roundabouts. Most research focused on single-lane roundabouts, as proposed for Carlsbad Boulevard/Tamarack. A study of three locations in New Hampshire, New York and Washington state, where roundabouts replaced traffic signals, found an 89 percent average reduction in vehicle delays and a 56 percent average reduction in vehicle stops.

Public opinion
Drivers may be skeptical of or opposed to roundabouts. But several Institute studies show opinions quickly change when drivers become familiar with them. In several studies, 36 percent of drivers supported the roundabouts before construction compared with 50 percent shortly after. Follow-up surveys after they had been in place for more than a year found public support increased to about 70 percent on average.

My first experience with roundabouts, called traffic circles at the time, occurred at DuPont Circle in Washington, D.C. It was a multi-lane nightmare. It took me several rounds of terror before getting the hang of it and exiting without incident. I swore off future encounters with the beast.

But a few years ago, when confronted with a single lane roundabout in Encinitas, I discovered their benefits of safety and convenience. So I welcomed Carlsbad's new version north of the village. I often cursed the yield sign as I drove south on Coast Highway, approaching the intersection intending to make a left turn. It forced me to estimate the speed of an oncoming car heading north on a collision course as it crested the hill ahead. The new roundabout has put an end to my flashbacks of games of chicken.

I've been critical of the city's elected officials for deferring to developers the shaping of Carlsbad's future. But with 22,000 additional residents expected to move into town over the next 20 years, decisions on traffic projects such as this one need to be made on their merits alone, despite the lingering distrust of the city's current elected leaders.

I think the Roundabout Plan is the best way to improve public safety, beach access and traffic flow. But citizen activists have shown the importance of being informed, involved and engaged in political action. So I'm hoping there will be a record number of respondents to this survey.

Thanks to citizen activism, a regional shopping center will not despoil a city lagoon, a puppy mill store has left town, and five candidates are challenging the two city council incumbents in the November election.

9 comments:

  1. Thank you for the stats on roundabouts. I trust you to give us a thoughtful, fact-based critique of the proposals, and I value the input. The more I hear about roundabouts from credible sources (not City spin!), the more I have to consider changing my knee-jerk reaction of NO WAY, NO CHANGE.

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    1. edited: The pedestrian component and right of way rules have to be analyzed more. Any non-metered stream of pedestrians crossing the roadway within fifty feet of an roundabout entrance/exit will bring an otherwise efficient roundabout to a standstill. It would have the same effect as pedestrians trying to cross a signal controlled intersection, in moderate traffic, on a red light. Maybe tunnels or bridges? If not, to whom is the right of way given?

      It's hard to imagine a Carlsbad Blvd./Tamarack Ave. roundabout, as pictured in the rendering above, being anything but a free for all. More power to the traffic engineers for solving this challenge.

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  3. Excellent analysis and we agree yet again.

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  4. Absolutely no way will a roundabout work at this intersection, unless you are ok with gridlock. Traffic will be a mess with pedestrians crossing continuously. Case in point, North Lake Tahoe has put in three roundabouts between Kings Beach and Incline Village. It's a total failure. Traffic is much worse, backed up so badly that speed cushions have been placed on every side street because drivers are taking back streets to avoid the congestion. They only work where pedestrian traffic is light. A beach area would be high traffic. The renderings are no better then the measure A water colors. Deceptive and unrealistic. Recently a sea side town in New Jersey just took out roundabouts because they impede traffic not improve it. The other roundabout in Carlsbad is in a low pedestrian crossing area, this new one will be trouble.

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    1. Agree 100% Linda! The amount of pedestrian traffic is a total game changer here!

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  5. Linda,

    According to news reports last July from North Lake Tahoe (http://tinyurl.com/zb5mcmp) and New Jersey (http://tinyurl.com/h9hl9vb), roundabouts are not being removed at either place.

    In North Tahoe the two roundabouts at Kings Beach had to be renovated because of an oversight in how portions of them were constructed. A heavy snowstorm the previous year revealed the need to upgrade them.

    In New Jersey roundabouts are replacing aging traffic circles, which are larger, designed for multiple lanes at higher speeds. That became a safety problem as NJ traffic increased over the years. Roundabouts are smaller and require slower speeds.

    As for pedestrians at the Tamarack/C'bad Blvd. roundabout, the crosswalks will be set back on the cross streets, allowing walkers to cross one lane at a time, looking out for traffic coming from one direction only, with an island in the middle.

    It appears to me the Tamarack roundabout will produce a steadier and safer flow of traffic.

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  6. Richard, I have a home here in Kings Beach unfortunately we here at the lake are not in control of our fate as the county of Placer makes these decisions. No one likes the roundabouts. Highway 28 is the main highway that circles the lake, trucks must use this highway to deliver goods to restaurants and businesses. What used to be occasionally heavy traffic with a 4 lane road and 2 lighted intersections is now a horrible mess. Businesses are hurt by the inability of people to get in or out of their driveways, locals go out of their way to avoid those businesses. Of course they won't take them out, the county is still working on them and it's going on 3 years! It's typical bureaucratic and egotistical administrators who can never admit they are wrong. But hey, they don't live anywhere near here as the county offices are 50 or so miles away down the hill. They don't have speed bumps on their side streets and every single residential street. The intersection at Tamarack works just fine. I live off Tamarack, I drive through that intersection on a regular basis. Why spend such huge amounts of money for this boondoggle? It's justification for more developers and their fees. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Spend that money on the trails or towards acquiring more open space.

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  7. Linda, I'm sure roundabouts are not the answer everywhere, and your description of how it's affecting your life and businesses there sounds like a strong argument against it. We used to live off Tamarack, as well, and were frequent walkers near that intersection, barely escaping being hit by speeding bikers on occasion. So I do think it is broke and needs fixing. Can't see its connection with developers. And, as I'm sure you know, I'm not at all fond of them. The city already has plenty of money for trails and acquiring open space. That's why we need new faces on the council, to get the city's priorities straight.

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