POLL: Roundabout Intersections Cost More but Could Improve Safety

In a close vote, a plan to add two roundabout intersections to Summit Street near was approved by Wednesday night.

The estimated $14.2 million Summit Street improvement project will add roundabouts at the intersections of Summit Street with Ted Boyd Drive and Summit Street with Campus Center Drive.

Council approved the plan by a vote of 5-4 after two hours of discussion that included questions from Kent's fire chief and support from university officials. The project itself has been in the planning stages since 2006 and has been studied by two different ad-hoc citizen and stakeholder committees.

The primary concern was expressed by Kent Fire Chief James Williams — and echoed by members of council — over the potentially adverse effect on response times, created by the roundabouts, for emergency vehicles.

Williams said the roundabouts force emergency vehicles to slow down in order to maneuver them, and that can be particularly difficult for a 40-ton ladder truck that is slow to stop and accelerate.

"Response time is a critical component of what we do," Williams said. "We know that we have six to eight minutes to save a heart attack victim. That's our best chance. And the average fire doubles in size every 30 seconds."

Summit Street is a primary response route for the fire department, which frequently visits campus for ambulance and fire calls. And, unlike standard intersections, roundabouts lack a traffic signal that can be manipulated to give emergency vehicles the green light.

But the roundabouts also were presented as a safer means of directing car, pedestrian and bicycle traffic compared with standard intersections.

Kent City Engineer Jim Bowling, citing a recent federal transportation study, said roundabouts reduce car crashes by 36 percent; reduce injury crashes by 76 percent; and reduce fatal crashes by 89 percent.

This particular section of Summit Street contains the second, fourth, sixth, and fourteenth worst intersections in Kent in terms of number of car crashes, according to studies conducted early last decade by the Akron Metropolitan Area Transportation Study.

Several members of council said they shared the fire chief's concerns about how safety vehicle response times might be effected by roundabout intersections on Summit Street.

"I have a huge concern about the safety issue," Councilman Robin Turner said. "But I believe ... that can be worked out. We can do some things working with the chiefs and the safety director to address that."

Tom Euclide, associate vice president for facilities planning at Kent State, said he heard similar concerns when the roundabout plan was presented to leaders at the university.

"The data says that this is safer," Euclide said.

Despite his concerns, Williams said he's committed to working with the design engineers to make the roundabout intersections as safe as possible for emergency traffic.

Kent State has agreed to split the local-match costs of the project for state and federal grants with the city. The cost, with anticipated state and federal awards, is expected to break down as follows:

• $6 million — AMATS
• $4.2 million (max $5 million award) — Ohio Department of Transportation
• $1.275 million — city of Kent
• $1.275 million — Kent State

Bowling said that leaves about $1.45 million the city and university still need to pay for the project, and they plan to pursue grants and other potential sources for the remaining cost.

The plan calls for a roundabout intersection at Summit Street and Ted Boy Drive near the Kent State . The second roundabout will relocate the existing intersection of Campus Center Drive at Summit Street to create one intersection of Summit Street, Risman and Campus Center drives instead of the two that exist now.

"This is a great improvement from a congestion and safety standpoint," Bowling said. "We’re going to replace both those signalized intersections with one ... intersection, having one entrance and exit to Risman and realigning Campus Center."

Other aspects of the project include mid-block pedestrian crossings, medians and 16 pedestrian signals called HAWK Beacons that stop traffic to allow pedestrians to cross at each point on the roundabout. The beacons, however, increase the cost of each roundabout by about $500,000 compared with a standard intersection, Bowling said.

For a complete review of the project, see the .pdf file attached to this story. To see how HAWK Beacons work, watch the video attached to this story.

Councilman Garret Ferrara said he likes the idea of the roundabouts because they follow the theme of creating a more pedestrian-friendly community and campus.

"People are going to adapt," he said.