Summer 2002
PLANS: Butte County Sees Roundabout in Its Future
 Butte
County joins the growing ranks of Valley communities using traffic
calming measures to improve road safety.
In partnership with the City of Chico, the County is in the environmental
review stages for three roundabouts and median treatments along
a one mile stretch on West 8th Avenue in Chico.
Although the County had few accidents on the road, speeds were
high and neighbors were concerned. "With the increasing development
in the area, the County wanted to address the situation proactively
before we had a real problem on our hands," said County engineer
Bryan Graves. After a community presentation by traffic calming
expert Dan Burden, the County began looking more seriously at roundabouts
incorporated into a neighborhood traffic calming program.
A roundabout is a circular intersection, with a raised island and
splitter islands used on arterial or collector streets. Roundabout
intersections show much lower accident and fatality rates than signalized
intersections.
With an eye towards more roundabouts potentially in the future,
the County began developing a geometrical design that could be used
as a template for future roundabout projects.
The County used computer software and field tests to convince the
Chico Fire Department that its largest trucks could traverse the
roundabout. Both the Chico FD and City Council subsequently approved
the traffic calming design utilizing roundabouts.
The County attributes the neighborhood support for the process
to engaging the community from the beginning. "We were willing
to go out on the street and show the community what is being proposed,
and this definitely helped us get a design that everybody likes,"
said County engineer Bryan Graves.
Several Valley local governments, including Davis, Escalon, Farmersville
and Sacramento, are also using mini-roundabouts to calm traffic
on neighborhood streets where right-of-way or budgetary limitations
do not allow roundabouts.
For details: Bryan Graves, Butte County, (530) 538-7681, BGraves@ButteCounty.net
For more information on roundabouts and traffic
calming:
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