The Hamlin Road Roundabout Story---According to a Resident

The Roundabout at Hamlin Road at Livernois Road in Rochester Hills, Michigan, has reportedly produced more traffic collisions per year, every year, since its initial construction in 2010--Including 2X the wrecks in 2011 compared to 2010...

I've been lukewarm, at best, to the idea of traffic roundabouts since the moment I got on this board.

I believe that in order to alleviate Pensacola Beach traffic-- we need to hire 2 off-duty officers to direct traffic for the busiest 12-15 days of peak summer gridlock yearly.

This, combined with some additional parking (that the BCC supports), as well as going fully automatic with a reduced-cost fare at the toll booth (phased-in over a two to three-year period) and the addition of some premium, paid parking at the front rows of our lot at Casino Beach--would not only save the county money--it would also reduce traffic congestion getting to the beach!

Opinions on this topic are all over the map--and I have received quite a bit of correspondence....

After the recent SRIA BCC joint meeting, I received even more.

It appeared, after the SRIA meeting, that the whole idea of roundabouts at Pensacola Beach was a dead item.  DOA. Done. Gone.  "Put a fork in it"-- dead.

Most Pensacola Beach residents with whom I have spoken about this topic do not even want the roundabouts anyway.

So at the subsequent meeting we put an "all stop" on the engineering work.

(To finish 100% plans for the roundabouts at the beach would cost an additional $342,000.00 we have expended roughly $900,000.00 thus far to get about 70% completed.)

After we decided to stop the study-- some community leaders asked us to "just go ahead and expend the allocated money to finish the study.....so we will all know the real cost of it"

So last meeting, out of deference to my counterpart in D4, I moved with the board majority, via a  4-1 vote,  to finish the plans so we would know, with certainty, just what it would cost ($10 Million?  $15 Million?--more?)  to fund the roundabouts.  We did this even though we don't have a funding source


 identified, as of yet, to complete this project.

But we do know we cannot afford to build enough traffic enhancements to eliminate all traffic congestion at densely crowded areas like Pensacola Beach during peak summer days.  (Just like your favorite restaurant will never be able to construct enough seating so that nobody waits for a Brunch Table for 12 on Mother's Day---or a 2-top on Valentine's day....).

It's just not practical, nor is it feasible.

Nevertheless we can and should make enhancements that best accommodate the average daily traffic counts on our roads.

Some folks really want roundabouts though--no matter what.

D4 wants them, and the new D4 commissioner wants the study to be finished so he will know what the roundabouts will cost.

Most of us are curious about what it would actually cost to construct roundabouts.

So we press forward--using EXCLUSIVELY D4 discretionary LOST funds to pay.........

Meanwhile, a resident that actually lives at Pensacola Beach part of the year and up in Michigan the other half of the year, has sent me data about roundabouts installed in Rochester Hills (outside of Detroit) where he's from and where he lives half of each year. He has asked that I carefully consider whether or not the construction of a roundabout at Pensacola Beach is a good idea.....as the number of traffic collisions  have increased ever since the roundabouts were installed in his Michigan communtiy... From his email to me:

"it [Hamlin Road/Livournois Road Roundabout]  was installed in November, 2010. I asked the Oakland County Sheriffs Department to provide me with crash data the year before the installation of the roundabout and every year through the most current month. According to the data provided, car crashes at this intersection have been MORE THAN BEFORE THE ROUNDABOUT WAS INSTALLED. In fact, the first year after in was installed, car crashed DOUBLED! In every year since installation, the crashes have never been lower that before the roundabout was installed. I am still waiting for other requested data from the Road Commission (as I have been since my request on 6/21!), but based on this, why would any leader put a roundabout in the only major intersection on the island? As an aside, we drove through this roundabout just last night during rush hour. The north bound traffic was bumper to bumper, and the roundabout did nothing to help move traffic in any direction as it was at a standstill (and nothing, not even a roundabout will help that). In fact, the east/west traffic was impeded by the roundabout because northbound traffic was not moving....."