Hamlin roundabout approved

By Linda Shepard
C & G Staff Writer
   
ROCHESTER HILLS  — The city has been a leader in the construction of circular intersections, called roundabouts.
   
“You have six roundabouts in the city, more than any other community in Michigan,” said engineering design consultant Stephen Dearing, of Orchard, Hiltz and McCliment.
   
Dearing said there has been rapid development in the area of roundabouts in the past several years, and they boast of major safety advantages.
   
“Roads are the most dangerous public facility on the face of the Earth,” Dearing said. Nationally, 800 people a week die as a result of car crashes, he said. Roundabouts deliver a 76 percent reduction in accidents over traditional intersections and a 90 percent reduction in fatalities, Dearing said.
   
By a 5-2 vote on Dec. 13, the Rochester Hills City Council approved construction of a roundabout at the Hamlin and Livernois intersection — part of the widening of Hamlin Road between Crooks and Livernois.
   
The roundabout will save the city money by reducing the amount of land needed for the intersection project. Original estimates of $19.5 million will be reduced to $17.8 million, with 23 fewer parcels of land purchased. A traffic signal and its maintenance will also be eliminated.
   
Hamlin will be widened to five lanes during 2008 for a cost of $13.6 million, paid for with federal and county funds.
   
“We are widening the road because of congestion,” said Roger Rousse, Rochester Hills Department of Public Services director.
   
Resident reports of rush hour backups of a mile or more initiated the project, he said. The Road Commission for Oakland County has plans to widen Livernois to a five-lane road from Long Lake to Avon Road within the next few years.
   
Rochester Hills City Council members Erik Ambrozaitis and Barbara Holder voted against approval of the roundabout design. “I’m still trying to figure out why we need this,” Ambroazaitis said.      
   
Holder said roundabouts are unfamiliar to many drivers. “There are a lot of confused people who stop in them,” she said.
   
But the majority of the council concurred that the design was safer, cheaper and more efficient. “I really think this will work,” Council member Jim Duistermars said, “and get the traffic through.”
   
“If it cost more, it would be a good idea,” Mayor Bryan Barnett said. “It is safer with a better level of service and saves cost — which is a wonderful byproduct. The arguments against it are emotional. There is a lot of misconception about a new concept.”  

You can reach Linda Shepard at lshepard@candgnews.com