The not-so-merry-go-'round

The City of Elgin is selling the idea of a traffic circle at Dundee and Summit on the east side. Price tag: $3 million, but 75% of it is free money(federal). At least that's how the city fathers see it. Taxpayers see it as us paying all of it one way or another.

In these parts the only comparison is the Golf Road/Wolf Road roundabout in Des Plaines. The locals call it "the suicide circle." And it moves a great deal of traffic during the day. But at rush hour it clogs up because of the signal a third of a mile south on Wolf.

And when it clogs up, it blocks all the other spokes on the wheel. That's what traffic circles do.

This circle is different than the one proposed in Elgin. For instance, look at the curbed median planted in grass. The Des Plaines circle has that feature on three of the spokes. It serves to keep traffic moving by preventing left turns.

Another difference in Des Plaines is the nature of the surrounding area. It is almost entirely homes. There are a couple of light commercial establishments (doctors offices) and a long stretch of the back of an industrial site. The rest of the area is homes.

Now, the Elgin project.

A circle works because people want to get out of it as quickly as possible. The secret is that they need to have somewhere to go when they exit the circle. Those streets need to keep moving or the circle clogs up.

The Elgin circle has a number of busy retail distractions just as people are trying to get off the circle. McDonald's, the BP gas station, CVS pharmacy, Dunkin' Donuts (if it ever re-opens). Imagine rush hour as people are trying to get to work. They get in the circle and back-ups are created by people stopping for gas, coffee, a donut, their dry cleaning.

The second issue is eastbound travel on Summit. They have created a double bottleneck in the design. They narrow it to one lane and they insert this point in the circle. Has anyone told the fire department about this?

The third issue is that some people will avoid the circle, turning off into neighborhoods instead. Two of those neighborhoods contain schools and a youth center. Sheridan Elementary and the Boys' Club are located in one neighborhood. And Larsen Middle School is in the other.

Anyone familiar with the area knows that the streets are already narrow and have about all the traffic they can handle already. Do we really want people cutting through those neighborhoods?

I just don't understand this project. The big problem is people turning left into businesses located at or near the corner. The circle ignores that problem and creates three new ones. But don't worry, folks. The circle is designed to make them low-speed accidents.