Over the last couple weeks my morning commute into Gilroy got a little more exciting with the opening of a new roundabout on Santa Teresa Boulevard. After weeks of navigating through construction zones in temporary lanes that should have resulted in a DMV drive test pass for life, driving the new roundabout at Miller Ave. with its smooth, freshly laid pavement and traffic lines still gleaming with fresh paint was a breeze.
As reported in the Dispatch earlier this year, the city is in the midst of a roundabout building boom, and will have 15 of them within the next two years.
Cheaper to maintain over time than traditional lighted intersections, city engineers love roundabouts. They increase fuel efficiency because vehicles do not have to come to a complete stop. They also operate more efficiently, allowing more vehicles to pass through than a 4-way intersection, which was proven during a MythBusters episode.
Roundabouts are also safer for motorists, resulting in less right-angle, left-turn and head-on collisions, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. And pedestrians only have to look for oncoming traffic in one direction.
Since Gilroy completed its first roundabout at West Luchessa Avenue and Thomas Road earlier this year, the city’s public information officer has been reaching out to the community and fielding queries on this new addition to the city’s landscape.
“The biggest issue has not been so much the roundabouts themselves, but the construction that surrounds it,” said Joe Kline, who posts regular updates on construction projects on the city’s various communication channels: Facebook, NextDoor and newsletter.
Earlier this summer, as part of their outreach, the city worked with CMAP TV to capture aerial footage of the Third Street and Santa Teresa Blvd., Miller Ave. and Santa Teresa Blvd., and West Luchessa Ave. and Thomas Road roundabouts using drones.
The footage can be seen on the city of Gilroy Public Information Office Facebook page.
“Large projects are hard to convey at the ground level, the drones allow you to get higher up and provide a much clearer picture of what is going on.”
Take a peek at Gilroy on Google Earth. It’s not just the roundabouts that pop out, but the more prevalent little cousin, traffic circles that are adorning the roads of Gilroy’s newest neighborhoods, from Heartland Estates to Glen Loma Ranch. From above they are like alien crop circles, while below, Kline says they provide a more utilitarian purpose—traffic calming and aesthetics.
At latest count, the United States had 4,800 roundabouts, according to RoundaboutsUSA, a drop in the bucket compared to the estimated 26,000 in Great Britain and 32,000 in France.
However, with the recent building boom in our neck of the woods, the alien-seeming structure can be a bit jolting for some.
Feeling “meh” according to the emoticon next to his name, a recent visitor to Gilroy commented on Facebook: “Who came to Gilroy and decided to put roundabouts everywhere?”
What has been your experience on Gilroy’s new roundabouts?
