OAK HARBOR – To unsnarl Whidbey Island’s biggest daily traffic jam, cars in Oak Harbor may wind up driving in circles.
Transportation planners think roundabouts are the answer.
They want to install three traffic circles at a key choke point on Island County’s busiest road, Highway 20 in Oak Harbor. Roundabouts are part of a statewide trend to replace stoplights when upgrading intersections.
Design work will soon begin on three dual-lane roundabouts at the intersections of Highway 20 and Swantown Avenue, Erie Street and Beeksma Drive.
The project, which will also feature landscaped medians and bicycle lanes, is expected to cost $13.5 million and be finished by 2009, said Eric Johnston, project engineer for the city of Oak Harbor.
The roundabouts are needed to handle rush-hour backups on a section of the highway where 24,000 vehicles pass each day, Johnston said.
In that area, five lanes reduce to two, squeezing traffic during commuting hours, he said.
Commuters and Oak Harbor residents are not the only ones who need a freer flow of traffic through that area, Johnston said.
“It carries the highest volume of any road in Island County,” Johnston said. “Roughly 60 percent of the volume that goes through this corridor is headed to points south” on Whidbey Island.
That includes a majority of the freight, including groceries and gasoline, he said. Because of that, the project is important to the economic livelihood of the entire island, he said.
The state Department of Transportation has been pushing roundabouts as a solution not only in Oak Harbor but across the state for several reasons, said Todd Carlson, planning and operations manager for the department.
Roundabouts are safer than traffic signals, Carlson said. Stoplights leave the possibility of dangerous T-bone accidents when a driver runs a red light. Roundabout accidents are usually slower sideswipes, he said.
Roundabouts are better at keeping traffic flowing than stop signals, he said. The roundabouts also will improve access to businesses that are cut off to left turns by a safety curb in the median. That curb was installed to prevent T-bone accidents, but with a roundabout, cars could simply drive around the circle to reach the other side of the road, he said.
The roundabouts can also be landscaped, making them more attractive, he said.
Not all drivers are as enamored with roundabouts, said Mike Morton, transportation planner for Island County. State studies have shown that many people don’t favor roundabouts, at least before they are built, Morton said.
“They’re hard to sell to people,” Carlson agreed.
Those same studies, however, found that roundabouts win over a majority of drivers after one year of use, Morton said.
The project is beginning with a $1 million transportation grant the city secured for design work. In the meantime, the city will pursue more grants and lobby for political and financial support for the rest of the project, Johnston said.
If funding proves to be a problem, the project can be phased into smaller pieces, Carlson said. For example, spending about $4 million on one phase would relieve about 70 percent of the congestion problems, he said.
The full $13.5 million project is expected to meet growth projections for the next 30 years, Johnston said.
Reporter Scott Morris: 425-339-3292 or smorris@heraldnet.com.
How to drive in a roundabout
First, remember that traffic moves in only one direction, counterclockwise.
For two-lane roundabouts, get into the proper lane before entering the circle. The right lane is for drivers who want to make an immediate right turn. The left lane is for all other turns.
Drivers entering a roundabout should yield to traffic already in the circle coming from the left. Watch for pedestrians and bikes as well.
Stop if something’s coming. If not, turn right into the circle.
As you approach the exit, use your turn signal and merge into the right lane.
For more details, go to www.wsdot.wa.gov/ projects/roundabouts.
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