Well, it’s roundabout that time…
Time to freak out about the roundabout…
Patrick McIlheran of the Journal Sentinel expands in a blog post titled Why they don’t like roundabouts which is a followup to his previous story Details foul a decent idea .
In the post, we hear from Lissa Eske of Oconomowoc, about the new roundabout in progress here:
The intersection in question is one of the busiest pedestrian intersections in Oconomowoc. Many children have to cross it to go to school, it is the main route to parks, shopping, and recreation, including the popular ‘around the lake’ walk. Young children on bicycles, woman with strollers, etc. cross there all the time. In order for a pedestrian to cross at this roundabout they have to walk 14 feet out of the way and back and dodge 4 lanes of traffic that do not stop.
Others have differing opinions… be sure to read the comments to see what people think.
August 15th, 2008 at 10:15 am
Doesn’t walking more make you healthier? And less fat?
September 17th, 2008 at 10:19 am
Marti, sure walking is good. Walking through a busy intersection where the traffic does not stop doesn’t sound very healthy. It reminds me of the old Frogger game. The frog ended up a smear on the road quite often.
Reading Patrick McIlheran’s article Details foul a decent idea. David Nold mentioned the roundabout in Milwaukee at 25th and Canal street. He states “It’s not a big thing to drive through”. That particular roundabout handles only 3way traffic and is considerably larger than ours. It should be easy to drive through.
I don’t have a problem with roundabouts in locations where they fit for the traffic flow. The one in Oconomowoc is too small and people are in too much of a hurry to get through.
I think our elected officials should have thought more about the drawbacks of a roundabout to the city rather than one upping our neighbor Okauchee.