City to test roundabouts

The one test roundabout that two city commissioners have suggested at U.S. 41 and 10th Street may not be single much longer.

Commissioner Terry Turner said the information he’s received about roundabouts is that they work best in pairs or as part of a network of roundabouts.

“I think it’s important we show (roundabouts) can work in a pair for our citizens,” he said.
Turner is suggesting building a roundabout at 14th Street to couple with the one the city is planning at 10th Street.

Vice Mayor Kelly Kirschner, the other commissioner who, in June, advocated the 10th Street test roundabout, suggested building the second roundabout further south.

“Where I see the real low-hanging fruit for a unique investment is in the cultural district,” Kirschner said. “If you want to have two roundabouts, I would suggest 10th Street and the (U.S. 41 and) Boulevard of the Arts intersection.”

But the majority of the commission decided that the residents near 14th Street needed some traffic relief, so commissioners designated that intersection to be the place of the second roundabout.

As detailed in the connectivity plan the city commissioned, a widening and landscaping of the median between 10th Street and 14th Street was also requested to provide a more attractive boulevard between the two intersections.

The idea for a test roundabout was to get drivers used to driving in a roundabout and to demonstrate that the proposed connectivity plan would work.

The 10th Street roundabout is estimated to cost $2.9 million. There is no estimate yet for a roundabout at 14th Street.