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Keystone Avenue construction nears end of Phase One

106th and 126th street interchanges almost reach completion at time when city’s roundabouts garner national attention for safety and efficiency successes

By Beverly Jenkins
<bjenkins@hilite.org>

Last May, the city of Carmel initiated Project Carmel Link, which is currently installing a series of roundabouts on Keystone Avenue in order to speed up traffic flow and reduce congestion. Right now, the 106th and 126th street interchanges are nearing completion. Keystone is already lower in elevation at least 10 to 15 feet at some sections than the surrounding land. The end of Phase One of the project is scheduled to be completed by the end of December. At the end of the year, those intersections will be teardrop-shaped roundabouts.

While construction has irked some local citizens and students here, Carmel and its roundabouts as a whole have received national attention, including coverage in the Sept. 4 issue of Time magazine. In addition, research has shown that there are numerous spillover benefits as a result of this construction.

ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERNS
According to the Time magazine article, the placement of roundabouts here has not only prevented many citizens from having an accident, but it has also benefited the environment. Some 24,000 gallons of gasoline, roughly translated into $75,600, has been saved every year per roundabout. This is because roundabouts eliminate or radically lessen the time cars spend stationary.

ROUNDABOUTS REDUCE ACCIDENTS BY 78 PERCENT
In rare cases, accidents involving roundabouts still occur. Recently, junior Riley Walker’s school bus number 41 was involved in one such accident with a truck at the roundabout on 116th Street and Ditch Road.

Referring to the accident, she said, “There was a truck watering the flowers at the roundabout. A normal car would have had no problem getting around the truck, but our bus was just too big.”

However, despite such incidents, roundabouts have shown to be immensely helpful in terms of safety and efficiency.

Time noted that Carmel, known as “roundabout city” by some, has experienced a 78 percent decrease in driving accidents. Since 2001, Carmel has built over 50 roundabouts and is in the process of installing even more. Many people, including Mayor James Brainard, said the astounding drop in the percentage of accidents is due to the relatively recent mass installation of roundabouts.

What’s more, according to this school’s police officer Gene Stilts, the design of roundabouts not only prevents accidents but significantly cushions those that can occur. This is due to simple laws of physics: in roundabouts, cars have a limit to how fast they can go through the intersections, whereas stop signs cannot force cars to slow down.

Even then, accidents involving roundabouts are generally minor, such as the one involving Walker’s bus due to cars slowing down before entering the intersection.

Stilts said, “If there are accidents in a roundabout, the speed is so slow that any injuries that could happen should not be as serious, versus a four-way stop, where speeds are not controlled.”

In addition, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, serious crashes are less common with roundabouts because cars are going in the same direction. This eliminates head-on and left-hand turn collisions.

A study by this institute also showed roundabouts have decreased accidents by 75 percent at intersections that previously had traffic lights or stop signs.

Installing roundabouts has not only been occurring in Carmel, but internationally as well. Statistics worldwide support roundabouts as safe transportation tools. According to terrain.org, France is placing roundabouts at the rate of 1,000 per year and the reduced speeds have diminished accident rates by 30 to 60 percent; accidents that do occur harbor a significantly smaller chance of being severe.

Stilts said that in time, he envisions a world which views traffic lights as outdated. “I can’t see traffic lights still being used 10 years from now,” he said.

—

Rounding Up the Facts

• Approximate number of roundabouts built in Carmel since 2001: 50
• Gallons saved (every year per roundabout): 24,000
• Price per gallon (as of Oct. 5): $3.32 – 3.39
• Approximate amount of money saved each year: $4.032 million

INDIANAPOLIS STAR / SOURCE

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