Cedar Rapids getting its first roundabout

CEDAR RAPIDS - Marion, Coralville and Iowa City already have them.

Now Cedar Rapids is planning its first traffic roundabout on a city street, at what is now a four-stop-sign intersection at Cottage Grove Avenue and Forest Drive SE in front of Washington High School.

The city's engineering staff likes the roundabout option because it will allow a continuous flow of traffic through the intersection, reducing delays and vehicle emissions without compromising safety, Doug Wilson, a project manager in the Public Works Department, said Monday.

Wilson said the city has been looking to make improvements at the intersection for years because of backups and delays at peak traffic times and because of the number of accidents at the intersection.

The City Council's Infrastructure Committee has given the go-ahead and the full council is slated to do the same this week to accept a special federal grant through the Iowa Clean Air Attainment Program to help pay for the roundabout. The grant of $514,160 will pay 80 percent of the cost of the construction; the city's share of the project cost is $128,540.

The council will vote later to build or not build the roundabout after a series of public education meetings. The city will forego the grant if the council eventually decides against the project, which now is scheduled for construction in the summer of 2014.

Wilson said studies have shown that residents initially can oppose roundabouts, but in the end they come to favor them because they reduce delays. Pedestrians, he said, cross the street before the roundabout and not through it.