Roundabout, traffic circle, rotary… whatever it is, Highland Village has a construction plan to put one in at the intersection of Highland Shores Blvd. and Hillside Drive.
The single-lane roundabout is part of the Highland Shores Blvd Reconstruction Project, which was still in the design phase, as of the June 10 City Council meeting.
When the project was presented at the meeting, there was a mix of concerns.
“Have y’all seen pedestrians navigate these traffic circles or roundabouts,” said council member Rhonda Hurst. “It’s like Frogger.”
According to the rendering of the proposed roundabout, the crosswalks will be far from the actual circle. It allows pedestrians to cross onto a median and then to the other side of the street before vehicles enter the roundabout.
The issue of bicycles going through the roundabout came up as, well. But, according to the neon green on the rendering, the bike lane will merge onto the sidewalk and would cross at the pedestrian crosswalk before the bike lane starts again on the road.
One of the other concerns was what would go in the middle of the roundabout. It will be raised and unpaved. Council brought up the idea of putting a fountain, monument, art piece or a flower bed in the middle.
Council has hopes of putting something that would identify with Highland Village. However, Mayor Charlotte Wilcox brought up a worst case scenario that comes with roundabouts.
“That’s what will happen with this thing,” she said. “They’re going to knock it down and we’re going to be out there replacing it constantly.”
The speed limit on Highland Shores Blvd. is 30 mph and, normally, 15 mph while in the roundabout.
A concern from one of the citizens of Highland Village was about pedestrians crossing at the roundabout, especially with where it is located.
“A lot of kids living on the Hillside loop already have a dangerous time crossing Highland Shores and I think a roundabout will just make it worse,” she said. “When cars come west on Highland Shores, they come over a hill and, if they don’t have to stop, I’m worried about the timing of trying to cross to get to the other side.”
She added that her son knew to stop at the intersection until the car came to a full stop and saw him, then he could cross.
Hurst recommended an enhanced lighting system to bring as much attention as possible to pedestrians attempting to cross the road.
“Because the nature of the road is changing, I think safety should be our utmost concern,” she said. “If we don’t have stops, we should have something more than just signs.”
The presentation at the meeting laid out data that said traffic flow increases and speed at roundabouts decrease, preventing fatal crashes because it takes away T-bone crashes and accidents that occur from running stop signs.
“It decreases major traffic accidents, but it increases ‘slow, I don’t know what I’m doing, bumping into your neighbor’ crashes,” said Hurst. “We don’t have [fatal] accidents here.”
The presenter confirmed that the police chief did not report any fatal accident at this intersection.
It also increases the efficiency of emergency service vehicles trying to respond to an emergency because they won’t have to stop at a stop sign.
The presenter also said the roundabout could be taken out of the plans and it could be left as it is with no additional engineering cost.
Wilcox did want to put it on the record at the meeting that she was not present at the first meeting when the roundabout was discussed.
