DRAPER — In a roundabout way, city officials hope they can make the intersection of 1300 East and Pioneer Road function more efficiently and safely.
Draper's fourth roundabout — its first at a high-volume intersection — is now being constructed at 1300 East and Pioneer Road.
The $250,000 roundabout is intended to keep traffic flowing and reduce accidents at a junction that separates Draper's Hidden Valley commercial area to the north from the city's residential and historic area to the south.
"You come down the hill from Albertson's, and at that point you enter a totally different atmosphere where it's all residential," said Draper engineer Nate Nelson, project manager for the roundabout. "We just felt like a roundabout was a nice entryway feature rather than a traffic signal. It will be more of a gateway across, into the historic part of the city."
But Draper's decision is motivated by more than aesthetics. Roundabouts — common in Europe, Australia, New Zealand, the eastern United States and now catching on in Utah — are known for decreasing the number of accidents and lessening their severity.
A 2001 study by the American Journal of Public Health determined intersections with roundabouts were much safer than those with traffic signals or stop signs.
The study examined 24 intersections in eight states that were converted to roundabouts between 1992 and 1997. It found that roundabouts reduced automobile accidents by 38 percent and crashes involving injury by 76 percent.
"They make sense, when you look at all the pros and cons, from a safety standpoint," Nelson said. "Cars moving through a roundabout are moving slow, and if they do (wreck), it's usually slow speed and at a more gradual angle that is not head-on or a 90-degree impact."
Roundabout advocates also say they help reduce pollution since traffic moves more fluidly and cars do not sit and idle as much as they would at a stop sign or light.
For the uninitiated, roundabouts can be confusing at first. Motorists approaching a roundabout are expected to look to their left and enter only when the path is clear. Driving speed through a roundabout is recommended at about 15 mph.
Eric Keck, Draper's assistant city manager, said the roundabout will allow for additional traffic without having to widen both 1300 East and Pioneer Road.
"It requires a little more room to construct the roundabout, but since it moves traffic at a much better rate, we don't need to widen the roads," he said.
The roundabout will be approximately 200 feet in diameter. Only one lane of traffic will circulate inside the roundabout, but Nelson said there is enough room to add a second lane to handle future traffic volumes.
"This will really be something we're going to want to watch and evaluate to give us an indication of how well they work to see if we want to continue doing them at high-volume interchanges," Nelson said.
The city has two roundabouts in the South Mountain development and one on 300 East at a now-partial interchange. But none of those see the same amount of traffic generated by the 1300 East and Pioneer Road intersection.
Utah now has more than 30 roundabouts across the state in locations that include Park City, Provo, Tooele, Lehi, Utah Valley State College and St. George.
E-MAIL: zman@desnews.com