As expected, TxDOT kills roundabout

 (Updated Thursday, Aug. 3 at 1 p.m.)
 In the second paragraph of this original article I wrote "I have reached out to the city for additional information and city spokesman Kim Hilsenbeck has promised to get back with me before this day is done. I will update this article when I receive that information." Ms. Hilsenbeck did timely share with me the short, terse letter the city received from Victor Vargas, an area engineer with TxDOT's South Travis Area Office in Austin. The two sentence letter did not completely close the roundabout door (presumably it could be reopened if the speed limit on Kyle Parkway was reduced dramatically). However, the letter opened with the simple, declarative sentence: "As discussed earlier TxDOT will proceed with issuance of work order to install a signal at subject intersection." So assume that by this time next year, a traffic light, not a roundabout, will be in place at Kyle Parkway and Kohlers Crossing.

One other thing worth noting: In a social media posting, one rather ill-informed city council member claimed "TxDOT withdrew funding" for the roundabout, which of course, is obviously untrue since TxDOT never offered any funds for a roundabout that could have subsequently been withdrawn. The council member seems to be suggest TxDOT reneged on a promise or a deal and that certainly is not the case.

(Original Post)
TxDOT has put the kibosh on the idea of a roundabout at Kohlers Crossing and Kyle Parkway, which is about as newsworthy as reporting no one drowned again last night in the pond at the northwest corner of that intersection.

Mayor Todd Webster announced the death during last nights’ council meeting in response to a citizen who expressed fear that money for constructing the roundabout could be mysteriously hidden in a secret city fund. I have reached out to the city for additional information and city spokesman Kim Hilsenbeck has promised to get back with me before this day is done. I will update this article when I receive that information.

What would have been a shocker and news that would have deserved huge headlines would be if TxDOT had approved the idea. My only question is why it took this long for the agency the nail the coffin shut on this plan. My guess is that the folks in the TxDOT offices have been laughing so hard that idiots in Kyle were actually seriously advocating this idea that they wanted to make sure they were in complete control of their faculties before fashioning a serious response.


I’ll be the first to admit it when I’m wrong
My mention of the roundabout’s death on Facebook last night prompted this snarly reply today from Council Member Damon Fogley: "Let me guess you are a traffic engineer too pete" (sic)

The truth is I was an early advocate of the roundabout. As someone who has driven extensively throughout the United Kingdom as well as all over the European continent, I am very familiar with the concept of roundabouts and am actually a big fan of them. In England I encountered a number of roundabouts that involved as many as eight roads coming together. It took a day or two to learn how to navigate these properly, but once I did I found they actually promoted traffic flow.

Based on this experience, I approached assistant city manager James Earp during a sparsely attended traffic seminar late last year and asked him if anyone had ever considered a roundabout at Kohlers and the parkway. I did not know at the time he was the area’s foremost advocate of roundabouts. He greeted my suggestion with devotion bordering on adoration and within a few days had provided me all kinds of information on roundabouts, which I eventually plowed through.

About six months ago, I was enjoying a late afternoon respite in the backyard of a prominent Kyle citizen who also happened to be a traffic manager and someone who has supervised his fair share of roundabout installations. I mentioned the idea of a roundabout at Kohlers and the parkway and he told me a roundabout there was impossible simply because of the 60 mile an hour speed limit on the parkway. That was the first time I had heard that, so I began bugging traffic and civil engineers throughout the state of Texas — more than 50 of them, as it turned out — and all but one of them told me the same thing: You can’t install a roundabout in a road where the speed limit is greater than 55 miles an hour and the overwhelming majority told me the maximum speed limit for a road with a roundabout is 45 miles an hour. The one who said something different said, yes, a roundabout could be placed at that intersection but it would have to be at least a mile in diameter. I knew that was never going to happen.

Which led me to the conclusion that I was wrong about my original advocacy of that roundabout and I am here admitting I was wrong.

Hey, I’m still a big fan of roundabouts. But I also have been around long enough that a solution to one traffic situation might not work in all traffic situations, just like a band-aid is not going to stop the bleeding of all wounds. And when those who make their living solving these types of problems all tell me the same thing, I’m going to have to admit I was wrong in my original beliefs.

So, the direct answer to the honorable council member is "No, I’m not a traffic engineer, but, unlike too many of our elected officials in Kyle, I do have an open mind which makes me willing and capable of changing my opinion when all the experts tell me my original opinion was wrong."