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New roundabouts receive high praise
TRAFFIC: Project passes, but some drivers still on learning curve

The Dowling Road roundabouts have won over many drivers. "It blows me away: I can't believe the thing works like it does — it works great," Glenn Roth says. (Photo by Bob Hallinen / Anchorage Daily news) Mike Gault is the project engineer for the roundabout projects on Dowling Road. "I used to hate to go there — everybody did — and now I choose to use the roundabout," Gault says. "Because you don't have to wait on a signal change." (Photo by Bob Hallinen / Anchorage Daily News)

Especially if you're one of the Anchorage drivers who hasn't yet summoned the courage to drive through the city's first major signal-less intersection.

At Gator Glass on Dowling and Old Seward Highway two blocks west of the project, store manager Eric Hays says he loves his daily drive through the roundabout — which he thinks is a lot safer than other major intersections in town, where cars speed through a signal turning red.

"We've had more accidents here than they've had at the roundabout since it opened," Hays says. "They've had little brake-light accidents. We've had a couple of real doozies."

At the Napa Auto Parts store just west of the project, assistant manager Ed Steadman says the roundabout has virtually eliminated the rush-hour traffic jam on Dowling each evening.

"We get a little bit of traffic now, but nowhere near like we used to," Steadman says. "Now it just keeps on going.... I hear, 'Boy, that's smoother than I thought it was going to be.'"

At the Mocha Motion espresso stand east of the roundabout, owner Glenn Roth says he hated the idea of a signal-less intersection before it was built.

"I was one of those guys who said, 'It's never going to work, no way,' " Roth recalls. "It blows me away: I can't believe the thing works like it does — it works great."

According to Anchorage Police Department traffic Sgt. Joe Maston, there were only four minor accidents reported at the double roundabout during its first 40 days of operation, from Aug. 1 to Sept. 9.

At the same time, the staggering traffic jams that used to back up east-bound vehicles along Dowling from the Seward Highway as far west as the Old Seward Highway have all but vanished.

Also gone, police say, is the sometimes stationary evening procession of south-bound commuters trying to exit from the Seward Highway at Dowling Road — a conga line that used to back up so far on the off-ramp it stopped highway traffic.

"Since that roundabout has been up and running, we've seen zero traffic jams (at Dowling)," says Lt. Nancy Reeder, who oversees the APD traffic unit.

"I mean it's just absolutely incredible. Traffic flows very smoothly. The traffic volume is back up to what it should be per hour and we're just not seeing any jams at all."

Which is pretty much what Department of Transportation project engineer Mike Gault has concluded too, now that more than a million vehicles have passed through the roundabout — including as many as 2,500 an hour.

"I mean, I used to hate to go there — everybody did — and now I choose to use the roundabout," Gault says. "Because you don't have to wait on a signal change."

On the downside, driver performance at the roundabout is far from perfect, Gault says. He's noticed a pattern of mistakes there, including drivers who are either too aggressive or too passive.

Some fail to yield (to cars approaching on their left) when they enter the roundabout. And some drivers who are already in the roundabout brake to a stop (apparently worried by cars yielding to their right) when they shouldn't.

"When you get into the roundabout, you're king," Gault advises. "No one is supposed to leap out in front of you. They're supposed to wait for you to pass and then enter on your rear bumper. Or they wait for the flood to clear out.

"And it does clear, even when there are lummoxes in there making errors and causing jams. Once the lummoxes get out of the roundabout, it goes back to flowing normally again.... It's really fascinating to watch, to tell you the truth."

For the first month of the roundabout's operation, Reeder says, her officers held back on citations, allowing a grace period as the public became acquainted with it. But now that's changing.

"Now if they see violations in the roundabout, they're going to cite them," she says. "Most are going to be yield violations — people just blatantly will not yield at the yield bar, and they go running into the roundabout."

Alaska statutes were specially altered to accommodate roundabouts, Gault says. Whereas in most other intersections, cars on the left yield to cars on the right, in roundabouts it's just the opposite.

"When you're entering into a roundabout, it's the vehicle on the left that has the right-of-way, not the vehicle on the right," he says. "Roundabouts have got their own laws."

Speeding through roundabouts can obviously cause problems, Reeder says. But most drivers are forced to slow down to the posted "advisory speed" of 15 mph, because of the short turning radius required. Consequently the damage that's occurred in accidents so far has been pretty minor.

"Timidity can be almost as bad as recklessness," Gault says. "One of the problems we're having is (drivers in the roundabout) stopping for those that are waiting at the yield bar. They don't get the point that they are king. They wait on no one. You get through and out of the roundabout."

But he also urges people not to honk at roundabout drivers who make mistakes or appear confused.

"When people honk at the timid, they tend to jump out in front of somebody," Gault says. "They'll hear somebody honking behind them and go, 'Oh, my god, I must be doing something wrong.' And they step on it and jump out in front of someone who has the right of way ... like frightened woodland creatures.

"I'm going to advocate that people be polite and lay off their horn unless it's going to be something to prevent an accident, not cause one."

Reeder has also observed several vehicles illegally changing lanes. Those heading east or west on Dowling that want to go straight through the two roundabouts should enter in the middle lane, which then becomes the right lane of each roundabout.

"Once you're in the circle itself, you do not change lanes," she says.

With one exception: Cars using the roundabouts to make left turns onto either of the two highway on-ramps have to begin in the left lane but veer to the right lane on the final turn, following a set of yellow "rabbit tracks" on the pavement.

"A lot of people get it," Gault says. "Like 80 to 90 percent of the people get it. But there is that 10 to 20 percent of people who get flubbered."

Winter driving on the roundabout will undoubtedly pose new challenges, Reeder says. The pavement arrows and yield markers will eventually get covered by snow, so drivers will have to rely on the posted signs for directions, or their knowledge of driving statutes, or their own common sense.

A lot will ride on the job that state road crews do to keep the pavement sanded and clear of ice. The roundabout should receive a high priority for maintenance, Gault says.

But he thinks Dowling will still be safer than a lot of other intersections in town, where winter drivers often slide through at high speed. At the roundabout they'll be forced to slow down.

Police plan to specially monitor the roundabout through the winter, Reeder adds.

"I don't foresee any huge issues going on," she says. "I think any collisions we'll have are not going to be significant ... as far as injuries go."

It couldn't have gotten any worse, Gault says, speaking from personal experience. In the past 25 years, he says, he's been involved in two traffic accidents in Anchorage, and both were at Dowling — pre-roundabout.

Now, he says, you rely on your brain instead of an electronic devise to navigate Dowling.

"You don't wait around for a green light to tell you to go," he says. "When there is no one else in the intersection — you go."