Roundabout voted down...

reprinted from the Tokepa Capital-Journal

By Rick Dean

Created June 9, 2009 at 10:48pm

Updated June 9, 2009 at 11:34pm

Susan Helbert, her voice breaking as she spoke, talked about how her life and home on the corner of S.W. 17th and MacVicar would be forever affected by a proposed roundabout that would bring traffic “right to my bedroom window.”

Helen Gaither, who has lived for nearly 60 years in the neighborhood, talked about escorting three generations of children through the heavily traveled intersection on trikes, bikes and foot. She wondered if she could ever cross the intersection again without the four-way traffic signal she has depended on for years.

Jorge Nobo, a Washburn University teacher and resident of the College Hill neighborhood, acknowledged that roundabouts are an effective way of slowing down traffic, something everyone says needs to happen on the busy northwest corner of the WU campus.

“It’s like rush hour every hour,” Nobo said of the traffic during class changes. “But a roundabout isn’t the most effective way to control that intersection. It’s like saying Hondas are good cars, but the one particular Honda I’m considering may have been underwater in New Orleans for six weeks. You have to look at each particular case.”

Consequently, when the Topeka City Council heard overwhelming opposition — 11 of 14 speakers Tuesday night spoke against it — to its proposed roundabout at the central city intersection, it voted 8-1 not to proceed with the proposed $1.2 million project, $800,000 of which would have come from the Kansas Department of Transportation.

Councilman Jeff Preisner was the lone dissenting vote. “Change is hard in Topeka,” he noted.

Not that the neighborhood doesn’t want changes in dealing with an intersection traffic engineers say has become dangerous. They recommended new traffic signals to replace the 1976 signal system, signs warning of heavy pedestrian traffic, stepped-up police patrols. They gave city officials high marks for a tree-trimming project that increased visibility at the intersection following public concerns voiced last week at a public hearing. They also credited the council for listening to their concerns.

“Now we hope that they’ll continue to implement some of the recommendations that came out of his whole thing,” said Helbert, no longer concerned about losing part of her front yard to accommodate the roundabout.