Good News - Higgins Roundabout Delayed
I read with pleasure today that the Higgins Roundabout project in Missoula may be delayed. This is another fad traffic project that will not work. (see Broadway Road Diet) It is being pushed through by the very vocal and well organized bicycle special interests and those who want to see much less or eliminate automobile traffic downtown.
Despite evidence that it will not work, these projects continue to be forced through and once they are finished, will never be reversed. (again, Broadway Road Diet).
Because of the MDT schedules and some other snags, the project could be pushed to this fall instead of summer. Why is this a concern, you may ask? Increased traffic and foul weather.
And that's bad timing. Schools are in session and students from Paxson Elementary and the University of Montana are out and about. Plus, building in the fall means people might be driving the roundabout for the first time in snow.
Ward 3 Councilman Bob Jaffe announced the likely delay in his regular Wednesday e-mail report from Missoula City Council committee meetings.
«I can't tell you how frustrating this is,» Jaffe wrote in part. «At this point it is likely that construction cannot start before October and will take up to two months to complete. There is great concern about the potential for opening up our first high traffic round-a-bout for the first time in foul weather.»
If roundabouts are the greatest intersection traffic management tool device, as we are lead to beleive, why in the world would it matter when the project is complete? It's supposed to move more traffic and is safe and effiecient in foul weather, right? The construction should move forward and it's supporters should encourage the completion in Fall in order to prove the roundabouts true worth.
Instead, whether they know it or not, they are exposing their own doubts about the value of roundabouts in Missoula, MT.
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5 comments
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5 comments
5 months and 3 days ago
Hopping off a plane in the UK, grabbing a manual-transmission right hand drive car, and heading out into MAJOR metropolitan traffic is a really good way to appreciate the utility of roundabouts. Because traffic is mostly always moving, it is harder to make a big mistake with direction. And traffic does not tend to pile up into such long motionless queues as it does here (say, at Reserve and Mullen). The major drawback to roundabouts is that, to function effectively, they must have a very large diameter. This is the real reason why the Higgins roundabout will be a disaster - not enough real estate to provide adequate traffic flow. I think the anti-auto crowd is giving us all a bum deal by insisting on implementing a roundabout that impedes, rather than eases, traffic flow. But that is, by definition, their goal, isn't it?
5 months and 3 days ago
Being forced to ride a bicycle is bad enough, but being forced to wear one of those little Mao caps with the red star, like Jay Stevens, is too much.
5 months and 1 day ago
Billings just opened their first roundabout on King avenue about two blocks from my house. I have driven through it and had no problems. I was suprised at how small it was. I expected something covering a larger area. While I had no problems, there were NO other cars in the vicinity. King is still closed at 32nd west so it hasn't seen real traffic yet. I expect to feel more trepidation entering this thing when there are a glut of other drivers using it who have no clue. Many of them haven't figured out what that stick is which extends from the left side of their steering column. I liked the engineering. I just doubt Billings drivers' abilities.
5 months and 1 day ago
Oh- and it'll be great fun watching what happens on those curves when things get icy!
1 month and 13 days ago
Looks like we will be seeing it this spring so haha! You should stick to blogging your right wing dribble and leave transportation planning to the experts. Have a nice day!
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