Jonesboro plans traffic circle

City officials aim to ease congestion at busy intersection

A map showing the site of a roundabout in Jonesboro.
A map showing the site of a roundabout in Jonesboro.

JONESBORO -- At least twice a day, traffic backs up at the four-way intersection of Aggie and Airport roads in northeast Jonesboro when parents either drop their children off or pick them up at nearby schools.

Add morning commuters scurrying to work and the occasional cars stopped up at a railroad crossing within a mile of the intersection, and it becomes a traffic nightmare.

But city officials are planning to alleviate those snarls with a traffic design that's been around for 100 years but not accepted by many until just recently.

The Craighead County city of 71,551 will install its first major roundabout, or traffic circle, at the intersection. Construction could begin within a month, said Jonesboro City Engineer Craig Light, and it should be operational by early next year.

"Originally, we did a study to compare a signal light with the four-way stop," Light said. "But the traffic signal didn't meet what we thought warranted the need for one."

The intersection, which is near a church, the University Heights Elementary and Intermediate schools and a subdivision, sees about 5,600 cars pass through it daily, Light said.

Most of the traffic is between 7 and 8 a.m. and between 2:30 and 3:30 p.m., when school activities are at their peaks, he said.

"A signal would cause delays for all the other times," he said. "Our intent was to keep traffic moving."

Light said he saw roundabouts while he was in Denver and knew of several that were installed in Conway.

Jonesboro has two small, very-low-traffic roundabouts in Sage Meadows, a residential area in the northern edge of the city.

Roundabouts were invented in Europe in the 1700s to accommodate horse and buggy traffic. In 1904, one of the first roundabouts -- the Columbus Circle roundabout -- was built in Manhattan, and a handful followed in Washington, D.C.

But they were not received well, said Conway Planning Director Bryan Patrick, who has seen the addition of 13 roundabouts in his town within the past eight years. The first one was built near Hendrix College in 2006.

"We kind of snuck that one in," he said. "But it worked great. Traffic flowed like butter, and people quickly adapted to it.

"They are the preferred standard around town now," Patrick said.

When roundabouts were first introduced, though, motorists inside the circular parts of roundabouts had to yield to traffic entering them from roads leading to the circle. That caused problems and accidents.

In the 1960s, that was changed, and motorists entering the circle now had to yield to those already driving inside it.

Studies have shown a decrease of traffic accidents of 10 percent to 15 percent in roundabouts compared with four-way intersections, Patrick said.

"They reduce the number of conflict points," said Maneesh Krishnan, a project manager with McClelland Consulting Engineers in Little Rock.

Krishnan has designed several roundabouts throughout the state.

"You have a reduced speed of entry into the circle, and there's no doubt about who has the right of way, like there is at times at a four-way stop," he said. "Once people understand how they work, it's like riding a bicycle. You'll never forget."

Krishnan said the roundabout will help keep traffic moving at the nearby elementary and intermediate schools in the Jonesboro neighborhood.

"If you have a four-way stop, traffic will come to a complete halt," he said. "This way, it will be able to keep moving."

University Heights Intermediate School Assistant Principal Lisa Hogan said city officials have spoken with school administrators about the installation of the roundabout.

"We're not concerned about it," Hogan said. "Our goal is to be conscientious to make sure [parents'] cars are off the road and not blocking other traffic."

Craig said work should begin in September on the roundabout, which will feature a concrete island in the center. Someone may later add landscaping inside the island, but tall plants, statues and other things that could block vision will not be allowed, he said.

The intersection will not be closed during construction to help accommodate the school traffic.

The city is also considering building a roundabout near the Valley View High School in south Jonesboro in the future, Craig said.

"Jonesboro is a very auto-centric community," he said. "It may take a little getting used to, but once they go through it, I think they'll like it."

State Desk on 08/03/2015

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