Brittany Kelley
KYLE — Following an open house, Kyle City Council heard from American StructurePoint regarding the roundabouts program, which includes 12 intersections in the city, Oct. 2.
“Safety [is] the number one reason that roundabouts should be considered as an alternative when considering intersection improvements in any community,” said Mike McBride of American StructurePoint. “Numerous studies over the years have shown a 90% reduction in fatalities, 75% reduction in injury crashes and 40% reduction in all crashes, not to mention the efficiency, benefits and fuel savings that [the] community [has].”
According to McBride, roundabouts are safer because, geometrically, there are fewer conflict points, or moments vehicles have to intersect, compared to a four-way signaled intersection, where there are 32. A roundabout only provides eight, said Hardik Shah of American StructurePoint, and those conflict points tend to be less severe, resulting in rear-end or side to side crashes, rather than head-on collisions.
It also produces a lower speed traffic environment. Despite this lower speed, Shah said delays were reduced by 65% in roundabouts.
Next, Shah pointed out that the Texas Department of Transportation (TXDOT) has taken a “bold” approach when it comes to roundabouts, as it looks at how the roadway can be added across the state. This falls in line with Texas’ goal to have zero deaths on its roads.
“They are not the right solution everywhere, but the locations where it makes sense and if it is done through the right planning process, it actually does work and it can help reduce the fatalities, which is really the number one goal,” said Shah, moving into discussing the planning component.
He explained that TXDOT has a program titled The Roundabouts and Innovative Intersection Design Guide, which can aid in determining if the location would do well with a roundabout, accounting for heavy directional turning movements and more.
“The consideration for the number of pedestrians anticipated within the intersection is a major design factor, [with] how these crosswalks are treated,” said McBride. “Just like with vehicles, pedestrians experience fewer conflict points at a roundabout than they do at a traditional intersection. They also benefit from that lower speed environment that the roundabout creates.”
McBride suggested the city consider other options when it comes to increased pedestrian volumes at these roundabouts, as he said the city currently uses a rectangular rapid flashing beacon, which alerts the driver’s attention and makes them aware of the fact that a pedestrian is there. One example of an option the city could implement is adding a trapezoidal, flat-topped crossing, meaning that vehicles would drive over an approximate three-inch rise to go over the crosswalk. This would further drop the speed in which cars are going, as well as be more cautious to the area that pedestrians would be crossing through.
American StructurePoint senior project manager Steve Widacki stated that a traffic engineering analysis was performed at each of the intersections being prepared for roundabouts. The results concluded that intersections, including Dacy Lane at Bebee Road, “failed in the ultimate build-out year in that 20 year projection,” as opposed to the roundabouts, which performed better, said Widacki.
Council member Robert Rizo explained that he has seen the raised walkways work in Carmel, Indiana, and has been a big advocate for them, especially in areas close to schools. Additionally, he would prefer that they be colored to highlight the walkway. Echoing this sentiment was council member Michael Tobias, who said that children need a safe walkway, as once the crossing guard leaves, they are on their own.
“The concern that one of the residents had brought up was that you can see the continuous flow with the traffic [in roundabouts] and what has helped was the stoplights that actually stopped the traffic to where people can gauge — the students can gauge — [whether] to run across the street and be able to make it safely. So, I think the design’s structure is going to be very important,” said Tobias.
In response to Tobias’ question regarding the timeline of completion, city of Kyle director of Transportation and Public Works Mike Trimble stated that the timeframe tends to be between 12-24 months, as roundabouts are large projects: “We do see most of these coming online as we enter 2027 [and] 2028 because most of our construction will begin in 2026 for these projects.”
“I’m glad that we were able to bring out a lot of information. Hopefully this helped the viewing public that was out there and council members, as well,” concluded Rizo.
To listen to the discussion, visit bit.ly/432wpMH.
