Letter to the Editor: Blair Park Roundabout

 I. Michael Moule, traffic engineer of the Blair Park Proposal, in his Oct. 20, 2010 webinar “Roundabout Design for Pedestrians and Bicycles,” noted there are only two existing roundabouts in the United States that have pedestrian operated traffic signals. The third would be his proposed roundabout at the Moraga and Maxwelton intersection for the Moraga Canyon Proposal. Moule notes the National Cooperative Highway Research 3-78 surveyed one of the roundabouts and found “13 percent of vehicles did not stop on solid red.”

Viewing Moule’s webinar and a web search shows the following: 1. All roundabouts and miniroundabouts are on level ground or very gentle slopes. 2. All have open sight distances. 3. All have continuous sidewalks in all directions. 4. All 4-way roundabouts have nearly right angle entry from side streets.   

The proposed Maxwelton and Moraga roundabout has none of the above design elements. The need for continuous sidewalks is for pedestrian and bicycle safety. Moule’s previous online presentations (2004 and 2010) are consistent with the above elements of roundabout design. 

The existing two roundabouts with pedestrian-activated stoplights are multi-lane. The proposed Maxwelton roundabout is a minimum-width single lane. The proposed Maxwelton roundabout slope is 7 percent, the sight distances are limited, the entry streets are at obtuse angles and there will be only one partial sidewalk. Under ideal conditions the compliance for cars stopping on red is 87 percent of the time, if the children press the stoplight button. Will the unique conditions of the Maxwelton roundabout yield a lower compliance rate?

Frankly any risk of accident and injury much above zero percent is entirely unacceptable. The city is allowing what may be an inherently dangerous and radical traffic experiment without meaningful analysis. No other roundabout I could find resembles the proposed Maxwelton Moraga Roundabout on a 7 percent slope, with limited sight distances and missing sidewalks.

II. The Federal Highway Administration’s Roundabout: An Information Guide FHWA-RD-00-067  states at page 179: “Mini-roundabouts are not traffic-calming devices but rather are a form of roundabout intersection.” The LSA EIR states the Moraga Avenue 85th percentile speed is 35 mph, the 2011 City survey found 38 mph on Moraga Avenue at Red Rock. The LSA Addendum states the Maxwelton roundabout speed will be “approximately 15 mph through the roundabout (p. 28).”

The proposed roundabout will be the critical traffic-calming device in the Blair Park Proposal; this is contrary to the basic FHA recommendation.

Conclusion

The City allowed the proponent’s attorney to have input in the CEQA determination. There are other troubling aspects of both process and design elements of the Blair Park Proposal, but the proposed Maxwelton Moraga roundabout alone should mandate either a supplemental EIR by a reputable traffic firm, or rejection of the proposal.

Rick Schiller
Piedmont, CA

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