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The State Department of Transportation may seek to build a roundabout intersection at Highway 45 and Highway K in Bristol as part of a future road project, Randy Kerkman, Bristol village administrator, reported to the Village Board Monday night.
Kerkman said a recent conversation he had with a DOT official included the plan for a roundabout. It would be part of work slated for 2016.
Roundabouts, says Wikipedia, are “a type of circular junction in which road traffic must travel in one direction around a central island. Signs usually direct traffic entering the circle to slow down and give the right of way to drivers already in the circle.†Traffic engineers say they are significantly safer than intersections that require some of the traffic to stop.
The state official told Kerkman that research showed the intersection was a good candidate for a roundabout because of its high number of serious crashes and large amounts of truck traffic due to the Pheasant Run landfill being located just east of the intersection, Kerkman said.
However, Kerkman pointed out that both of those premises may be flawed.
Changes to the intersection, including flashing stop signs on Highway K, have decreased the number of crashes.
“Those flashing signs have helped,” Kerkman said.
In addition, the state’s large increase in landfill tipping fees has greatly decreased business at the landfill, which used to see much of its business from Illinois.
“There is no truck traffic to the landfill anymore,” Kerkman.
Given a chance to weigh-in on the roundabout at K and 45, it’s likely the current board would come down against it. Last month, they took a position against the state locating roundabouts at three other Highway 45 intersections.
After looking into the Roundabouts.. There is no hard data that says they are any safer, it just depends on how you look at the surveys. I disagree with roundabouts and since I live close to this intersection and go thru it all the time, I agree it should stay as is. The changes made recently have helped and I believe are enough. Why are we trying so hard to be like Europe? Roundabouts don’t work period, they just take up space and those (like me) will take other routes and create busy streets and intersections that other wise would not have much traffic. I hope Kerkman and others help keep these things out of our back yards!
A lot of large trucks go through and turn at this intersection. I would guess it would create more accidents.