Letter to the Editor: Roundabouts

To the Editor:

I am looking at the September/October BCF Newsletter article, “Town Works to Make Streets Safer for All,” with plans for the roundabouts on Concord Avenue at Winter and Mill Streets. I favor roundabouts for the sake of traffic safety, and so I am in favor of most of the project.

The drawings, however, show a bikeway along the southwest side of Concord Avenue, narrow at the ends and widening as it passes two roundabouts, where there are crosswalks, and ending on Mill Street. The bikeway serves only eastbound bicycle traffic. A sidewalk is shown on the northeast side of Concord Avenue and Winter Street, though there is presently none. There is an informal unpaved path part way along the west side of Mill Street.

I read on page 3: “The design requires taking about 60 feet from Rock Meadow conservation land at the roundabout near Winter Street and an approximately 20-foot-wide strip along Concord Avenue between the two roundabouts.”

But most of this taking is required for the bikeway, not the roundabouts. The bikeway makes one-way connections to the streets, but in between, it is 10 feet or more wide as shown in the drawings, designed for two-way travel. Bicyclists will be few, because any plan to extend a bikeway along Concord Avenue and Mill Street would be extremely expensive and would involve a far larger taking of conservation land. The entrance at Winter Street is the only access point to the conservation land for a quarter mile or more in either direction, but a sidewalk on the northeast side might be extended farther than shown in the drawings and would serve the numerous residences there. In any case, roundabouts are intentionally designed to require motorists to travel at bicycle speed. Any bicyclist comfortable riding on Concord Avenue or Winter or Mill Street will be more comfortable riding through the roundabouts on the roadway! I have video illustrating this in the new roundabout at the Lexington Battle Green at bit.ly/BCF-Cycle-Savvy.

The article describes the project area as “a spot where people get onto the conservation land, an alternative to the jammed driveway that’s the official entrance.” Sidewalk and crosswalk improvements could certainly improve access for bicyclists and pedestrians. Perhaps parking could be provided at what appears to be a municipal storage area to the west on Concord Avenue (GPS coordinates: 42.405410, -71.202793).

My video shows an incidental benefit of roundabouts, by the way. They enable U-turns on any of the streets they serve. This feature can reduce congestion by eliminating the need to turn left near a roundabout and should be considered in the light of issues with access to Rock Meadow.

John S. Allen

CyclingSavvy Instructor

League Cycling instructor

Author, Bicycling Street Smarts

Technical Writer and Editor, sheldonbrown.com