Burrell roundabout gets a new feature

Motorists who attempt to drive over the top of a Lewiston Orchards roundabout are discovering an unwelcome surprise — speed bumps.

Crews installed the feature in a roundabout at 10th Street and Burrell Avenue in the Lewiston Orchards in January, said Lewiston Public Works Director Dustin Johnson.

The project was part of the city’s ongoing work to manage traffic at an intersection that has become a focal point of community discussion since the roundabout was completed two years ago, Johnson said.

The speed bumps are intended to discourage drivers from speeding through the center of the roundabout instead of driving around it, he said.

“They were flying through there,” Johnson said.

In doing so, motorists were taking advantage of a safety feature of the roundabout, he said.

The wheels of some vehicles, such as semitrucks or pickup trucks pulling trailers, Johnson said, will ride along the edges of the roundabout when they drive through it.

But the raised surface at the center of the roundabout was designed to be low enough that vehicles following the speed limit won’t be damaged when that happens, he said.

In spite of the complaints about the roundabout, Johnson said, it has eased congestion and improved safety.

People who live near it have told him it makes getting in and out of their driveways easier, said Johnson, who acknowledges it would be even more ideal if the approaches had been somewhat wider and angled differently.

“There’s some people, obviously not following the directions,” he said. “We’re trying to get the advanced warning signs put up in a way people understand.”

Before the roundabout, which is 65 feet in diameter, was installed, north- and south-bound vehicles on 10th Street had a stop sign at Burrell Avenue. East- and west-bound vehicles on Burrell didn’t have to stop on 10th Street at the intersection, which is near Centennial Elementary School and the Boys & Girls Club of the Lewis Clark Valley.

Just before school started in the morning and when school let out in the afternoon, cars would get backed up on 10th Street waiting to drive through the intersection or make left-hand turns, Johnson said.

“When you have to wait at a stop sign to get into traffic, human nature is to get impatient and you’ll pull out and take risks you shouldn’t,” he said.

Those issues made the intersection one of the city’s top 10 priorities in a master plan for transportation, Johnson said.

The city looked at the roundabout as well as installing a four-way stop, he said.

A traffic analysis found a four-way stop would be a temporary solution that wouldn’t be effective if traffic volume increased, even by a small amount, Johnson said.

Studies indicate that accidents at four-way stops are generally more severe, involving T-bone and head-on collisions as opposed to collisions that occur as vehicles are merging, he said.

At $350,000, the roundabout was inexpensive, considering that street projects often cost tens of millions of dollars, Johnson said.

“From an accounting perspective, when you can identify and fix a top-10 problem in the transportation network for under a million dollars, that seems like a no-brainer,” he said.

The project went through the usual process of public hearings and a city council vote, Johnson said.

“We thought this had been fully vetted,” he said. “We thought we had support.”

The city welcomes residents being involved on this issue and any other by providing comments and attending public meetings, Johnson said.

One of the next opportunities is a public hearing at a council meeting at 6 p.m. Feb. 24, on the second floor of the Lewiston City Library at 411 D St. for the city of Lewiston 2025 transportation capital improvement plan, he said.

“I try to stay impartial,” Johnson said. “If you don’t want the city to build it, just say so, and we will move on.”

Williams may be contacted at ewilliam@lmtribune.com or (208) 848-2261.