Community Corner
Roundabouts: What Do You Think?
More roundabouts are being found on Minnesota roads, including the access road to St. Olaf College.
Love them or hate them, roundabouts are becoming more common in our daily journeys.
For instance, drivers entering the St. Olaf College campus from Highway 19 now encounter a roundabout at the top of the access road.
“It really has a European feel to it now with the roundabout and round sidewalk spaces,” writes a parent on the St. Olaf Parents Facebook page about the college’s new traffic configuration.
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Touted as traffic control and safety features—and many times, the sources of controversy and confusion—roundabouts are popping up throughout the region. In July, Rice County opened one at the intersection of County Road 1 and County Road 46—also known as Bagley Boulevard and Bagley Avenue.
A number of roundabout can be found in communities near Northfield, including:
• Highway 3 in Empire Township
• Highways 13 and 19 in New Prague
• Interstate 35 overpass in Medford
• Southcross Drive and Burnhaven Drive in Burnsville, near the Burnsville Center shopping mall.
• Just off Highway 50 in Lakeville
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Rice County Commissioner said more roundabouts are in the works for the county, including one near Webster and another near the Rice County-Scott County line.
“There are about 80 in the state of Minnesota,” he said, “and there are about 80 others in the planning stages.”
The Minnesota Department of Transportation has a website called “Roundabouts in Minnesota” that links to how motor vehicles, cyclists and pedestrians can maneuver through the traffic feature.
WHY DO WE USE ROUNDABOUTS?
Note: The following information comes from the MnDOT roundabout page.
• Better safety—Roundabouts show a 39 percent decrease in all crashes and an 89 percent decrease in fatal crashes.
• Better traffic flow—Roundabouts can handle high levels of traffic with less delay than most stop signs or signals. The tight curves slow traffic so entering and exiting are easier and more efficient.
• Better fuel efficiency and air quality—Where roundabouts replace signals, idling decreases which reduces vehicle emissions and fuel consumption by 30 percent or more.
