Round and round: Well-designed roundabouts goal for Valley communities

They may be run-of-the-mill in other countries, but American drivers generally look at roundabouts with trepidation if not outright hostility.

It doesn’t seem to matter that various studies have shown roundabouts reduce serious accidents, decrease road congestion and save cities money.

Here in the Valley, while some cities are experiencing resistance to roundabouts from local governments and residents, some communities are seeing acceptance and others are just starting to dive in.

The Arizona Department of Transportation has built 71 roundabouts across the state with another coming online soon in Page.

There could be hundreds more in Arizona, as that figure does not reflect the number of roundabouts being built by cities and towns within their own municipalities or even developers as traffic-calming measures in their own subdivisions.

Safety first

Roundabouts are placed in intersections and can have raised concrete medians. They are designed to control traffic speeds and flow by forcing drivers to slow down as they approach the circle. Since the right of way is given to the circulating traffic, approaching vehicles must yield before moving into the circle. The counterclockwise flow of traffic in a roundabout minimizes conflict points.

According to the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety, the safety benefits associated with the modern roundabout as opposed to traditional intersections governed by lights or stop signs are:

• 90% reduction in fatal crashes
• 75% reduction in injury crashes
• 30%-40% reduction in pedestrian crashes
• 10% reduction in bicycle crashes

“What the roundabout does is it changes the complexion of the accident, so we don’t get the severe fatality style of accidents. We get fender benders, and we get glancing blows,” said Ron Grittman, senior civil engineer with the town of Florence.

This past August, ADOT, Florence and Pinal County completed work on a dual-roundabout project. The larger, multilane roundabout replaced traffic lights at the intersection of State Route 79B and State Route 287. The smaller single-lane roundabout is at SR 79B and Florence Heights Drive.

SR88 to the lake

In the far East Valley, the city of Apache Junction has a roundabout installed by ADOT that opened to traffic in August 2018 with no plans for more in the near future. It is on State Route 88, which is also known as North Apache Trail that heads to and from Tortilla Flat and Canyon Lake.

“The roundabout at State Route 88 and Superstition Boulevard is the only roundabout in Apache Junction. The city has no plans for roundabouts on our roads and we are unaware of any additional roundabouts in the planning or design phase with ADOT,” said Ted Wolff, the city’s public works director.

Apache Junction doesn’t presently have engineering standards in place for installing a new roundabout.

“The city does not have a formalized criteria or engineering standards for roundabout construction and design. ADOT does have a criteria for roundabout that might include sight distance, speed of roadway, etc.,” Wolff said.

ADOT said in August 2018 the roundabout was designed to accommodate large vehicles and vehicles with trailers. The center was constructed with an inner circle, known as a truck apron, with additional pavement at the edge to allow larger vehicles to easily maneuver within the roundabout.

The $3.3 million ADOT project, which began in March 2018, also included realigning SR88 at the interchange, installing lighting, reconstructing turnouts and rerouting Goldfield Wash around the relocated roadway, ADOT said at the time.

Seven roundabouts in Mesa

Mesa is a city that features plenty of roundabouts, according to Mesa Transportation Officer Cassie Robles.

Mesa has five roundabouts on city streets and two roundabouts in Mesa are within ADOT jurisdiction, Robles said.

The five roundabouts on public streets are at Main Street and Horne, which includes the light rail; Riverview and Cubs Way; Clark Street and Cubs Way; Cadence Parkway east of Ellsworth Road; and Williams Field Road and Innovation Way.

The roundabouts in Mesa but under ADOT jurisdiction are at the Loop 202 and McKellips Road interchange and the Loop 202 and Brown Road interchange.

According to Robles, the city considers a set of criteria before installing a roundabout: traffic volumes and characteristics of the entering roadways, street type and characteristics, space and available right of way, pedestrian and bicycle facilities, and overall safety.

Another tool

Queen Creek hopes to start construction in late 2025 on its first arterial-to-arterial road roundabout at Queen Creek and Hawes roads. The project is being partially funded by the Maricopa Association of Governments through the continuation of the dedicated half-cent sales tax measure approved by voters in November.

In deciding to place a roundabout at an intersection, Queen Creek Public Works Director Mohamed Youssef said three things are looked for: a balanced traffic volume, sufficient right of way and traffic calming.

“In the case of Queen Creek and Hawes Road that was the perfect recipe for a roundabout,” Youssef said. “When the opportunity comes, we always look at other alternatives. Remember, before we only had two choices — a stop sign or a traffic signal. Now we have roundabouts in our tool boxes, so every intersection (that) comes in we reevaluate and see which one works better here.”

Roundabouts can also save money in the long run. Traffic signals need electricity and maintenance costs can add up.

“With the roundabout you don’t have to pay for any of that,” Youssef said. “The initial investment is high but then after that the routine maintenance is way less than the traffic signal.”

Roundabout resistance

Despite their advantages, roundabouts can face resistance from local governments and residents.

A roundabout at the intersection of Avenue of the Fountains and La Montana Drive in Fountain Hills was built in 2020 with the blessing of the town council. The approval came in the face of some residents claiming roundabouts were unsafe.

In 2023, however, the Fountain Hills Town Council voted 4-3 to scrap plans for a roundabout at Saguaro Boulevard and Avenue of the Fountains. Safety wasn’t the issue, instead it was cost as the existing intersection had recently undergone improvements.

There was a similar situation in Paradise Valley earlier this year. While the town has one roundabout at the intersection of Invergordon Road, Northern Avenue and Mockingbird Lane, plans for a second mini-roundabout at Mockingbird and Valley Vista lanes were dropped.

At a council meeting in January, a group of residents took issue with the roundabout’s size, its function, visual design and proximity to property lines. They also questioned the roundabout’s safety for pedestrians.

In February, the council deleted the roundabout from its Mockingbird Lane from Lincoln to McDonald drives street improvement plan.

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