With Algood considering roundabouts on Main Street to relieve traffic congestion, a Tennessee Tech Engineering Professor said the highway feature continues to gain popularity.
Professor Steven Click said single-lane roundabouts work best for intersections that see an estimated 15,000-20,000 vehicles a day. Click said efficiency and safety are why more roundabouts are being installed across the state.
“They allow more than one vehicle to be in the intersection at the same time in terms of traffic,” Click said. “And then safety is also improved because of reduced speeds of vehicles at those locations.”
Click also said roundabouts allow for traffic to keep flowing even when traffic is light, as compared to a traffic light, where drivers may have to stop. Click said there is a need for roundabouts in Cookeville, and he expects the trend of installing roundabouts to continue.
“We are behind in this area as opposed to other areas, which have been moving more quickly into the use of roundabouts and finding their benefits,” Click said. “So at one point it was just experience from Europe or other countries, and now it is experience from here in the United States with our driving tendencies and our vehicles and those types of things. So I definitely think we are going to see more.”
Click said that slower speeds also reduce the severity of crashes. Click said roundabouts can be installed for different reasons.
“Some of them are purely traffic-related, where they are looking to decrease queues and move traffic a little more efficiently, and some are for safety reasons to eliminate fatalities and injuries,” Click said.
Click said roundabouts can be confusing for drivers who have never seen a roundabout. However, Click said drivers tend to learn how to drive in a roundabout fairly quickly.
Algood is considering three roundabouts spaced out from each other on Main Street to relieve traffic from Walmart to Highway 111.
