Highway 30 roundabout? Suggestion polarizes opinion

Solutions considered to solve congestion and safety problems on Highway 30 in Mount Vernon are dividing residents into pro-roundabout and pro-traffic-signal camps.

When plans for a Highway 30 bypass were taken out of the state's highway plan about five years ago, city leaders realized they'd have to do something about rush-hour congestion at the intersection of Highways 30 and 1.

Safety and congestion concerns also surfaced at the intersection of Highway 30 and 10th Avenue just to the west after a new high school opened in the area.

The city was able to get speed limits lowered on Highway 30 in 2008, but “it certainly isn't as slow as people want it through there,” City Engineer Dan Boggs said.

He expects a blizzard of public opinion at a Jan. 17 public hearing, when the Mount Vernon City Council gets down to earnest discussions about how to improve the roadway and intersections. The roadway surface is also deteriorating.

Roundabouts on a highway?

Roundabouts are traffic circles in which vehicles merge into traffic rather than stopping before turning. They have been used on a few state highways in Iowa, but in the Corridor have been used only on city thoroughfares.

Roundabouts at the intersections with Highway 1 and 10th Avenue have the support of the Iowa Department of Transportation, because they would tackle two leading problems, said Cathy Cutler, a transportation planner for the District 6 DOT office in Cedar Rapids.

Motorists slow down for roundabouts, because they have to negotiate turns and merge with other traffic, Cutler said. That reduces traffic speeds and makes for fewer serious collisions involving injuries.

Roundabouts also tackle the congestion problem, because they allow a continuous flow of traffic that increases capacity, Cutler said.

Mount Vernon Mayor Paul Tuerler said feelings run high about roundabouts.

“There are people on polar opposites when it comes to roundabouts. There are those who think they're the worst thing in the world and those who have looked at them in other places, studied them and think they're great,” he said.

An engineering study by Shive-Hattery Inc. of Cedar Rapids came up with three possible solutions for the stretch of Highway 30 from just west of 10th Avenue to just east of Highway 1. They ranged in price from more than $3 million to less than $5 million.

The least pricey alternative would add a center turn lane along that entire stretch of Highway 30 and traffic signals at the intersection with Highway 1. With the exception of adding “shared accesses” for some properties along Highway 30, it would otherwise change little.

The priciest option also would add signals at Highway 1 but would entirely change the look of the highway to an “urban three-lane.” The project would add curbs, gutters, storm sewers, sidewalks and perhaps a recreational trail. The study said it would calm traffic, because motorists automatically slow down when entering an urban environment.

The preferred option incorporates the urban three-lane and two roundabouts. It is only slightly less expensive than the priciest option. The state recently awarded the city $884,150 in Traffic Safety Improvement Program funds that can be used only for roundabouts. Most of the award - $500,000 - was for the 10th Avenue intersection, where the state won't permit a traffic signal because a study determined that it is not warranted.

Business owners skeptical

Some businesses along that stretch of Highway 30 say they don't understand why the state and engineering consultants are pushing the roundabouts.

Lange's Sinclair station sits immediately northwest of the busy Highway 30/Highway 1 intersection, where about 12,000 vehicles per day pass by.

“They keep talking about uniqueness; it'd make Mount Vernon unique,” said owner Bill Lange. “A roundabout will just make it more congested than it already is.”

Lange said a roundabout could interfere with direct pull-in, pullout access to his business. That would discourage many truck drivers from stopping, he said.

Lynch Ford Chevy is on the south side of Highway 30, west of the intersection with Highway 1 and close to the intersection with 10th Avenue. Auto dealer Dan Lynch said he supports traffic signals, because a roundabout would not solve the problem of employees and customers getting in and out of the dealership from Highway 30 at peak hours.

With a traffic signal, Lynch said, there would be breaks in traffic that could be used by motorists to turn. He said with a roundabout, traffic would be a steady drumbeat with no openings at peak rush hour.

Engineers say a roundabout solves the turning problem, because motorists could turn around 360 degrees in the roundabout and come back in the other direction.

Lynch and dealership Vice President Joe Kirby say many motorists are intimidated by roundabouts and won't want to use them at all.

Something needs to be done, though, Kirby said.

“We're seeing too many accidents, usually caused by people turning,” he said. “The cars are just going by too fast.”

Lynch also wonders how large farm equipment and massive wind-turbine loads that sometimes use Highway 30 would navigate the roundabouts.

While many roundabouts are designed with sculpture or landscaping in the middle for beautification, the DOT's Cutler said engineers also can design “mountable” roundabouts that large vehicles can drive over if necessary.

Improvements won't wait

Mayor Tuerler said it's possible the City Council will choose components from all three options Shive-Hattery presented. Those components could be built independently as funding allowed, he said.

Tuerler likes traffic signals at Highway 1 and a roundabout at 10th Avenue.

A big factor hanging over the decision is the fate of the Highway 30 bypass. Some wonder whether taxpayers will support the city spending millions to improve the current Highway 30 when a four-lane bypass of Lisbon and Mount Vernon could still be in the future.

Even if the Iowa Transportation Commission were to put the bypass into its five-year plan tomorrow, Tuerler said, it would likely be a decade before the cities would get it. Improvements can't wait that long, he said.

“I don't think the city of Mount Vernon is going to wait another 10 years on a bypass without doing anything,” Tuerler said.