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Published Tuesday, May 05, 2009 in Opinion
City, county should consider roundabouts when planning intersection improvements
Editorial
After years of talking, planning, taking bids and rejecting bids, the Newnan City Council approved a roundabout at the Greison Trail and Broad Street/Lower Fayetteville Road intersection.
Six months later, just about everyone is ecstatic with the results. The best part of the news is the safety factor. Newnan Police Chief Buster Meadows says there has not been a major accident reported at the roundabout.
Even two of the council members who voted against the roundabout say they are pleased with the results.
Motorists are also happy -- primarily because there are no longer traffic delays at the intersection, which previously had a four-way stop. In the four-way days, it was not uncommon for traffic to back up more than a quarter of a mile during morning and afternoon drives to and from work. All that's changed -- no more congestion, no more backups.
Cleatus Phillips, the city's director of community development, has long been the chief proponent of the roundabout. He says he has tried to find traffic backups at the roundabout, but there haven't been any.
"We knew it was going to improve the traffic flow in rush hour, but we didn't expect it to completely wipe out the delays," said Phillips.
But it has.
The roundabout must be one of our community's biggest intersection improvement success stories. The roundabout was a near perfect solution to the Greison/Broad/Lower Fayetteville intersection -- much, much better than a traffic signal. There's always delays in two directions with a traffic light.
We hope our officials continue to consider roundabouts when making intersection improvements. A roundabout is not always the answer, but in some locations it is the answer -- the best answer.
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