 | | | Rendering of the intersection with cars and bus to scale, taken at the Lafayette City Offices by C. Tyson.
| | | | | | They're not just in Europe anymore, possibly coming to a Lafayette intersection near you - a circular landscaped donut in the middle of the road, better known as a roundabout. The intersection at Golden Gate Way and Mt. Diablo Boulevard, near the Gazebo, is 100 feet wide with two busy lanes in each direction, making it a challenge to cross, so the City is exploring the possibility of installing a roundabout there that would substantially increase pedestrian safety and at the same time, keep traffic moving.
With two large senior residential projects approved for the immediate area, this may be a creative solution for pedestrians, especially those that are mobility-challenged and kids heading to school. City staff has already received a grant of $540,000 from the Contra Costa Transportation Authority through the Transportation for Livable Communities program designed to fund streetscape projects to enhance and promote pedestrian and bicycle mobility for a project on Mt. Diablo between First Street and Brown Avenue.
City Manager Steven Falk speculated in his Friday Summary that, "A roundabout (at that location) might nicely deliver an attractive, safe, and landscaped alternative to a signal." He argues that a roundabout is more pedestrian friendly - providing an island to safely pause and landscaped medians instead of endless asphalt, adding that residents have complained about the many traffic signals up and down the Boulevard over the years.
The proposed roundabout would slow traffic down and narrow the approach on Mt. Diablo to one lane in each direction, but keep cars flowing. "The crossing serves as a linkage between the well-traveled Lafayette Moraga Trail to the south and the Briones Regional Trail to the north," said Tony Coe, Engineering Services Manager, in a staff report presented at the July 9 meeting of the Circulation Commission.
A YouTube video was shown at the meeting of a roundabout in Glen Falls, New York, featuring a number of local shop owners commenting that they were against it at the start, but after construction residents and shop owners were pleasantly surprised at how well it worked.
If approved, the Lafayette roundabout would have a 20-foot wide circulation lane around the donut plus a seven-foot wide truck apron to accommodate large vehicles. The proposal will be forwarded to the City Council in August.
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Lamorinda Weekly, Moraga CA