Another example

Monday, the City Council approved a plan to install roundabout near the intersection of Cornhusker Highway and N. 14th Street. That's a bad location, particularly for northbound traffic trying to merge onto Cornhusker. It definitely needs something, and I think a roundabout would work well. Lincoln was awfully chilly to the concept when the City installed the first two roundabouts that served busy intersections, but there is no arguing with the results--a topic I've written about before.

The concerns I've heard about a roundabout at 14th and Cornhusker usually revolve around the perception that since it's a larger street with a higher speed limit, it won't work. If you've ever been to, say, Cape Cod, and encountered the giant highway rotaries, you've seen that it really can work.

Another good example of a high-volume intersection re-engineering project that worked can be found at the dual intersections of S. 9th St., S. 10th St. and Van Dorn Street.


When the project was proposed, there were a lot of raised eyebrows--mine included. It was hard to visualize how this would work, but work it has. The northbound traffic (especially truck traffic) flows smoothly onto the West Bypass at Van Dorn Street, and the accidents have fallen precipitously since the segment opened last July. These intersections and the approaches have averaged about 28 traffic crashes per year since 2000. Although 2008 hit that average on the nose, 24 of these crashes happened prior to the opening of the redesigned segment in July, and only four occurred in the second half of the year after the redesign. Eight injury crashes in 2008 all occurred prior to the re-engineering of the intersection.

Traffic engineers know their business, and deserve a lot more respect than they receive for some of these projects that represent nice improvements in public safety.