DOT to hold informational meeting on possible roundabout at highways 20 and 75
By Tracy Ouellette
Staff writer
The Wisconsin Department of Transportation Southeast Region in Waukesha will hold a public information meeting to discuss reconstructing the intersection at highways 20 and 75 (County S) in Racine County.
The meeting is scheduled from 5 to 7 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 17 at the Town of Dover Town Hall, 4110 S. Beaumont Ave., Kansasville.
The purpose of the project is to improve safety of the intersection by proposing a modern single-lane roundabout design. The intersection currently has a crash rate above the statewide average including a fatality in 2007.
While roundabouts have met with resistance from some people as they’ve replaced traditional intersections elsewhere in the state, DOT officials say their safety track record makes them a logical choice.
“People unfamiliar with roundabouts initially show resistance to this intersection option,” wrote Gary Metzer, project manager with the DOT in response to emailed questions regarding roundabout design. “(But) data shows that roundabouts are often the safest option.”
To support his point, Metzer supplied information from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety that indicates roundabouts reduce fatalities by more than 90 percent and injury accidents by 76 percent. The same study shows a 30-40 percent reduction in pedestrian crashes and 10 percent reduction in bicycle crashes.
Another study touted by the DOT contends that in places where roundabouts have replaced traditional stop sign or traffic signal intersections, all crashes have been reduced by 35 percent.
A roundabout was installed at the intersection of highways 45 and 20 in Union Grove just last year. Although crash data since the September 2010 opening of the Highway 45/20 roundabout was not readily available before press time, officials at the DOT said the response to that roundabout has been “overwhelmingly positive.”
“We haven’t received any complaints at all about it,” said Stacy Pierce, traffic safety engineer at the DOT’s Southeast Regional Office in Waukesha. “In fact, people have been begging for one at the Highway 75/20 intersection.”
Pierce went on to say that roundabout such as this almost always reduce the severity of the crashes at the intersections, even if they don’t reduce the actual crash numbers.
“We’re taking fender benders at 15 miles per hour vs. potentially fatal crashes involving vehicles moving at highway speeds,” she said.
The public meeting will be an open house format, with a brief presentation at 6 p.m. on roundabouts.
Members of the project team will be available to discuss the project on an individual basis. Maps showing the proposed improvements will be on display.
If you are unable to attend the meeting, or would like more information, contact Traci Gengler at (262) 548-8727. Written comments regarding the project can be mailed to Gengler, 141 NW Barstow St., P.O. Box 798, Waukesha, WI 53187-0798.
Citizens who are deaf or hard of hearing and require an interpreter may request one by contacting Gengler at least three working days prior to the meeting via the Wisconsin Telecommunications Relay System (dial 711).
Editor in Chief Ed Nadolski contributed to this report.
If you go….
WHAT: Public meeting on Highway 20/75 intersection
WHEN: 5-7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 17
WHERE: Town of Dover Town Hall, 4110 S. Beaumont Ave., Kansasville
For more information, call (262) 548-8727
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