To the editor:

I’d like to commend the Town Council for their affirmative vote on proceeding with RIDOT’s plan for a roundabout at the East Main/Turnpike Avenue intersection. Roundabouts, common in the UK but rare in the USA outside of New England, are a proven way to improve intersection safety, ease congestion, lower vehicle pollution and improve streetscape aesthetics.

Roundabouts improve safety for all street users, walkers, bikers and motor vehicles. Unlike a standard four-way intersection, vehicles entering a roundabout need only to look left to check for traffic conflicts, and no vehicle ever turns across oncoming traffic. Cyclists flow in the same path as vehicles, and pedestrians have fewer directions to check for approaching cars. Eliminating the sign and light poles required at a signalized intersection also reduces the number of objects an auto can accidentally hit, further reducing both vehicle and infrastructure damage. And unlike traffic lights, roundabouts function as designed if power goes out or electronic controls fail.

Roundabouts ease congestion. Unlike a standard intersection with stop signs or traffic lights, no traffic ever needs stop for an empty intersection. Traffic flows, at a calmed rate, around the roundabout at exactly the rate it arrives. No faster, and no slower. This will actually enhance access to the Clements’ plaza as autos on Turnpike won’t need to wait to cross East Main, nor will southbound traffic on East Main need to wait for the (currently unprotected) left.

Roundabouts ease pollution. The constant flow means no vehicles idling at the intersection, and eliminates the bulk of the noise created by trucks and other loud vehicles stopping at a light and then accelerating away from the stop.

Properly scaled and landscaped, roundabouts improve the streetscape both through the design of the center island and more importantly by eliminating the visual clutter caused by the poles and stanchions required by a signalized intersection, along with the elimination of “no turn on red” signs and other related traffic information signage. Eliminating this visual clutter also further enhances intersection safety by allowing drivers to focus on the other vehicles, bikes and pedestrians using the intersection.

These are the reasons transportation departments and their engineers throughout New England have been embracing roundabouts as a preferred solution to challenging intersections in a variety of settings. We should all look forward to this project as both a much needed improvement and a demonstration of roundabouts’ effectiveness.

Gordon Alexander

125 Sea Meadow Drive

Portsmouth