Route 27 Corridor Access Management Plan Outline of Benefits for the Boothbay Region Community
June 29, 2016
Roundabout NOTE: The claims made in these statements are backed by Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) research and practice published by many U.S. states and several European countries. Source: http://safety.fhwa.dot.gov/intersection/innovative/roundabouts/ All of the following features and benefits apply to the proposed roundabout at the re-aligned Corey Lane and Route 27 intersection:
In order to realize their benefits, it is necessary to understand how roundabouts work and why they are needed. Many communities like Boothbay want the benefits of slower traffic speeds, safer pedestrian crossings and aesthetically looking intersections but are unaware that roundabouts can do all this and improve travel efficiency.
Roughly ¼ of all traffic fatalities in the United States are associated with intersections. It is critical that safer designs are implemented as widely and routinely as possible. Maine DOT encourages the use of roundabouts to enhance intersection safety and congestion relief.
Safer designs that roundabouts provide do not compromise efficiency. Roundabouts strike a balance between vehicle mobility and the needs of pedestrians and bicyclists. This is especially helpful to the Boothbay community where there is a strong desire to create a Town Center area along the Route 27 corridor near the Boothbay Common.
For almost 20 years, Maine has considered roundabouts as a practicable alternative in the evaluation of intersection improvements. As more roundabouts have been constructed, municipalities and the traveling public have grown more accustomed to them.
Projects Funded by Maine DOT’s “Business Partnering Initiative” and/ or Private Parties require a Traffic Analysis of alternatives that must be approved by MaineDOT staff.
MaineDOT will generally allow implementation of a roundabout provided that over a 20year design life, basic safety standards are met and the roundabout performs equal to or better than the no build alternative, in this case the existing stop-controlled intersection.
Roundabouts have proven to be a safer and more efficient type of intersection, but because they may be unfamiliar to most people, successful implementation of a roundabout require extra outreach and education.
Roundabouts reduce vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-pedestrian conflicts because there is a substantial reduction in vehicle speeds as compared to traffic signals.
Roundabouts have fewer conflict points where vehicles cross each other’s paths and where vehicles cross pedestrian paths.
Commercial and residential access near roundabouts is made more forgiving using roundabouts because speeds are lower and traffic queues are shorter.
Roundabouts reduce all forms of crashes and crash severity, especially compared to the more common crashes at signalized intersections: left-turn and right angle crashes. This is due to the speed reduction that roundabouts afford.
Benefits of the Route 27 Corridor Plan
June 29, 2016
The design of the central island is an important element of a roundabout. A welldesigned central island controls vehicle speeds and provides space for landscaping to beautify an intersection or create a focal point or community enhancement.
Other benefits of roundabouts include the following: Little to no delay for pedestrians, who have to cross only one direction of traffic at a time A smaller carbon footprint (no electricity is required for operation and fuel consumption is reduced as motor vehicles spend less time idling and don’t have to accelerate as often from a dead stop) The opportunity to reduce the number of vehicle lanes between intersections (e.g., to reduce a five-lane road to a two-lane road, due to increased vehicle capacity at intersections) Little to no stopping during periods of low flow – no waiting for the light to change in the absence of other traffic. Significantly reduced maintenance and operational costs because the only costs are related to the landscape and litter control Reduced delay, travel time, and vehicle queue lengths Lowered noise levels Less fuel consumption and air pollution Simplified intersections Facilitated U-turns for local access and tourists Accommodation of large and oversize trucks
Roundabouts create a gateway and/or a transition between distinct areas such as rural and urban through speed reduction, landscaping and pedestrian facilities.
When constructed as a part of a new road or the reconstruction of an existing road, the roundabout footprint is often larger than the traffic signal but the cost is usually comparable to traffic signals with additional turn lanes.
Single lane roundabouts are considered an accessible intersection per the U.S. Access Board accessibility criteria, for disabled and vision-impaired access.
Benefits of the Route 27 Corridor Plan
June 29, 2016
Route 27 Corridor – “Complete Street” Improvements NOTE: The following statements have been reviewed and approved by Steve Sawyer, PE, Vice President of Transportation Services with Sebago Technics, Inc.
MaineDOT has adopted a “Complete Streets” policy which effectively states that “the MaineDOT and its partners must consider the needs of all users when planning and developing projects.” All users are defined as bicyclists, pedestrians, people of all ages and abilities, transit users, and motor vehicles. In the spirit of this policy, the proposed design includes bicycle lanes, sidewalks, and highly visible, ADA compliant crosswalks, in addition to appropriately sized motor vehicle travel lanes.
Access management strategies, including the provision of dedicated left turn lanes and well defined abutting property entrances should greatly improve through-traffic flow and safety by reducing the number of existing conflict points.
Benefits of the Route 27 Corridor Plan
June 29, 2016
The squaring up of many of the side street intersections with Route 27 will improve sight distance for exiting motorists and thus have a positive impact on safety.
The raised medians separating the two directions of travel on Route 27 will have the effect of “calming” traffic speeds and make this high-use pedestrian area safer.
Driver confusion caused by the existing triangular intersection at the monument will be eliminated with the relocated Corey Lane resulting in a positive effect on safety.
The intersection of Route 27 and Country Club Road will be redesigned to accommodate the town’s large transfer station trucks, thus eliminating their current need to use the entire roadway in order to exit Country Club Road to head northbound on Route 27, resulting in a positive effect on safety and traffic flow.
The gas station property has been acquired and the gas tanks will be removed within the next year. In addition, the parcel to the north of the gas station has been acquired and the apartment building located close to the road right-ofway will be demolished within the next year. Removing the gas station canopy and the apartment building will greatly improve sight distance for vehicles exiting Chapel Street. Acquiring the gas station also provides the opportunity to narrow the width and/or eliminate existing curb cuts to the gas station, reducing critical conflict points that currently exist between north and southbound motorists on Route 27.
Country Club Road
Gas Station
Boothbay Harbor Country Club
The ability to park along Route 27 in the area of the Common will be eliminated by the proposed design, which will have a positive effect on safety within the corridor.
Benefits of the Route 27 Corridor Plan
June 29, 2016
Tax Increment Financing (TIF) Note: The following statements have been provided by Shana Cook Mueller, Shareholder, Bernstein Shur who specializes in working with municipalities and TIF Districts in Maine.
There are two different types of TIF districts in Maine: o One in which a business entity receives a reimbursement of property taxes as an incentive to develop its property (does NOT exist in Boothbay), and o Another in which a town sets aside property tax revenues paid on new development for use on specific town projects (which Boothbay has put in place).
The Town of Boothbay established, and the State of Maine approved, the “Commercial Development Omnibus TIF District #3” as of December 10, 2014. This TIF District was established after a public process and town meeting vote. o Article I (Introduction and Summary of Benefits) & Article II (Development Program Narrative) of the Town of Boothbay’s TIF District and Development Program is attached.
Under the existing TIF District, the Town captures increased assessed value in the TIF District and sets it aside for particular town projects qualifying under the TIF statute and listed in the Town’s TIF District Development Program. o As outlined in the December 10, 2014 letter to the Town of Boothbay from the State of Maine Department of Economic and Community Development, qualifying projects include: Within TIF District (TIF District map is attached): Capital, financing and real property assembly costs including road improvements, landscaping and plantings, lighting and property or easement acquisitions, Sewer/Water and other utility infrastructure including lines, Administrative costs, Professional service costs including licensing, engineering and legal expenses, and organizational costs. Within Municipality: Economic development planning/marketing studies with outside consultants.
The Tax Shift Benefit: The TIF statute financially rewards towns that use TIF revenues instead of general fund dollars for economic development-related projects. The statute does this by providing: o Additional school aid subsidy, o Additional municipal revenue sharing subsidy, and o Reduced county taxes.
Boothbay’s Tax Shift Benefit: The Town’s TIF attorney conducted a projection in 2014 of how much the Town saves by spending TIF dollars on Town projects instead of general fund dollars. The projection showed that, in Boothbay, projects undertaken with TIF revenue save approximately 15% as compared to projects undertaken with general fund revenue.
If the TIF projects (such as, a dramatically improved traffic pattern in the Town center) are successful in attracting additional investment (such as, the Village Square development proposed by Paul Coulombe), then that investment will reduce the tax burden on everyone in Town.
Benefits of the Route 27 Corridor Plan
June 29, 2016
Place-making
By definition, roundabouts are place-making, congestion relieving, safety enhancing and supportive of sustainable development. Place-making is a holistic approach to the planning, design and enhancement of public spaces. Place-making emphasizes a community's assets and potential, intentionally creating public space that promotes people's health.
While roundabouts were only introduced in the US in the mid-1990s, there is significant historical precedent to ‘traffic circles’ in Town Centers, such as historic Gettysburg PA:
Benefits of the Route 27 Corridor Plan
June 29, 2016
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There are roundabouts throughout the U.S. located in the middle of Towns to define the center of activity, with shopping, dining, and walking:
Benefits of the Route 27 Corridor Plan
June 29, 2016
Roundabouts: A tool for placemaking | Better! Cities & Towns Online
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econom y
http://bettercities.net/article/roundabouts-tool-placemaking-21067
streets
Ken Sides and Rick Geller, Better! Cities & Towns
Main Street Roundabout, Downtown Sarasota, Florida: A nice place for sidewalk dining or just relaxing with a good book (Photo by Rod Warner). Note: This article is a response to The problem with modern roundabouts published in BCT on January 31, 2014. Rampant sprawl in Orange County, Florida, was creating rush hour back-ups half a mile long at the Town of Windermere’s quaint Main Street. The conventional solution—widening Main Street to four-lanes—would have destroyed the town’s character. Planner Brian Canin and transportation designer Jurgen Duncan instead proposed a pair of single-lane modern roundabouts with circulating speeds of 12-14 miles per hour. The Town approved construction and, to everyone’s amazement, the traffic congestion disappeared. In the low-speed environment, motorists stop for pedestrians and wave them across the street. Canin and Duncan saved Main Street.
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Roundabouts: A tool for placemaking | Better! Cities & Towns Online
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http://bettercities.net/article/roundabouts-tool-placemaking-21067
Main Street Roundabout, Windermere, Florida (Photo by Max Geller) Unlike the big, fast, scary and dangerous rotaries and traffic circles of old, compact modern roundabouts—when properly designed—reduce entry, circulating, and exit speeds to below 20 miles per hour.[i] Because kinetic energy increases as the square of velocity,[ii] a vehicle traveling 45 miles per hour through a conventional intersection has nine times the kinetic energy of one traveling 15 miles per hour through a modern roundabout.[iii] Reducing kinetic energy lessens crash severity. Intersections converted to single lane roundabouts experience a 76 percent reduction in injuries and a more than 90 percent reduction in fatalities.[iv] Roundabouts replace the “kill zone,” where deadly head-on and T-bone collisions occur, with a central island that can be beautiful.
Roundabouts eliminate the sixteen deadliest crash points. (Courtesy of Michael Wallwork, P.E.) Some roundabouts are poorly designed and have been criticized for creating automobile-centric space. Designed properly, roundabouts enhance placemaking and the pedestrian experience. They are a gift to landscape
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http://bettercities.net/article/roundabouts-tool-placemaking-21067
architects as well as local gardening clubs, artists, sculptors, and historians for celebrating local flora, fauna, geology, history, identity, culture, and values. Downtown Sarasota, Florida’s Main Street roundabout—at the junction of five streets—creates an enticingly slow speed environment for sidewalk café patrons and even for reading a book, unthinkable next to a conventional, automobile-oriented intersection.
Main Street Roundabout, Downtown Sarasota, Florida. (Photos by Rod Warner) Low-speed modern roundabouts define public spaces as places of shared use: safe, comfortable and interesting to pedestrians. Unlike polluting, hectic, and ugly signalized intersections, the possibilities for clean, calm, and attractive round intersections are endless. With no idling engines stuck in red light or stop sign queues, noxious tailpipe fumes decline by as much as 80 percent and greenhouse gases by 56 percent.[v] With access restored, an intersection with four economically doomed corners can reclaim its rightful vitality. Well-designed modern roundabouts are a gift to children, who need a forgiving, uncomplicated environment where approaching drivers are looking directly at them, and where a pedestrian refuge splitter island has room for them, their friends, bicycles, and skateboards. At more than 100 schools across the United States,[vi] low-speed modern roundabouts tame otherwise aggressive drivers,[vii] improve the typical traffic snarl, and empower children to walk or bike to school.[viii]
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http://bettercities.net/article/roundabouts-tool-placemaking-21067
Keck Circle roundabout, Montpelier, VT, serves Main Street Middle School. (Photo by Dan Burden) Modern roundabouts are a gift to seniors whose depth perception, ability to see moving objects, and neck flexibility are diminishing. In a roundabout’s simple setting, events play out slowly, giving seniors time to perceive, think, and react—and giving others time to compensate for any missteps. Nobody pays for mistakes with their lives. The 10-14 foot crosswalk, from curb to splitter island, exposes slow-walking seniors to motor vehicles for less time than most conventional intersections. Roundabout design takes into account motorist volumes, turning movements, the frequency of large vehicles, adjacent land uses, and—especially in the sub-urban and urban Transects—the need for a safe, comfortable environment for pedestrians and bicyclists. That means making roundabouts as slow, as compact, and having as few lanes as circumstances permit. Well-designed roundabouts can and always should complement their context. Modern roundabouts can transition from one Transect zone to the next. On Clearwater Beach, a roundabout calms traffic between a T-5 commercial corridor and a T-3 sub-urban neighborhood. Within Transects, roundabouts can restore pedestrian connectivity. Replacing five conventional intersections with modern roundabouts made it possible for Bird Rock, California put La Jolla Boulevard on a road diet from five lanes down to just two.[ix] In 2009 alone, 2.2 million collisions at conventional intersections in the United States killed 7,043 pedestrians and motorists, costing $42 billion.[x] This carnage is reason enough for new urbanists to look for good places to install low-speed modern roundabouts. Roundabouts are a valuable tool for melding the needs of motorists, bicyclists, and pedestrians and an answer to mindless, costly road widening. To fully appreciate the pedestrian perspective, one should get out of the car and “walk about” a well-designed, low-speed modern roundabout. It’s a context-sensitive solution to the challenge of humanizing intersections.[xi] Ken Sides, P.E., PTOE, is an engineer with the City of Clearwater, who has built more than 20 urban roundabouts. Rick Geller, an attorney with Fishback Dominick in Winter Park, Florida, teaches in the Master of Planning in Civic Urbanism program at Rollins College.
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[i] Horizontal deflection and negative superelevation are design elements of modern roundabouts that very effectively cause drivers to drive slowly and pay attention. Soft traffic-calming influences such as landscaping, streetscaping, close-in buildings and ubiquity of pedestrians further slow traffic. Speeds at multi-lane roundabouts are somewhat higher, but still far below conventional intersections. [ii] Kinetic Energy = ½(mass)(velocity squared). Tripling the speed boosts the kinetic energy nine times. [iii] 45 MPH is 3x faster than 15MPH and 3 squared is 9. Sixty MPH has 16 times the kinetic energy of 15 MPH. [iv] Federal Highway Administration, publication FHWA-SA-08-006. [v] In Oxford, Mississippi, “Overall vehicle emissions from idling were reduced significantly including CO2 by 56%, VOC by 80%, and 77% reduction in CO, NOx, and PM.” The percentage of pollutant reduction for a given built or proposed roundabout design can be calculated using SIDRA software. [vi] Inventory of Modern Roundabouts Near Schools, compiled by Ken Sides, P.E., and Michael Moule, P.E. [vii] For a vivid description of parent motorist's bad behavior at schools, see “School Zone Safety and Operational Problems at Existing Elementary Schools,” Hillary Isebrands, Ph.D. and Shauna L. Hallmark, 2006. [viii] “Roundabouts Near Schools—Are they Desirable?”, TRB National Roundabout Conference, National Academy of Sciences, Kansas City, MO, 2008, Ken Sides, PE, PTOE, AICP. [ix] Before the road diet, there were four travel lanes and one turn lane. [x] “Fulfilling ASHE's Mission if a Roundabout Way,” ASHE Scanner, Winter 2012, American Society of Highway Engineers, Ken Sides, PE, PTOE, AICP. [xi] “Roundabouts as Context Sensitive Solutions,” ITE Journal, September 2011, Ken Sides, PE, PTOE, AICP. Posted by Robert Steuteville on 05 May 2014 Comments
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