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This past Tuesday afternoon, there was another serious accident at the corner of Wall/Fair/Greenkill/32 in Kingston. Did I miss any streets? Oh yeah, South Wall. Anyway, I saw the drivers hauled away with neck braces.
I dont know any of the fault, but what was striking, is how many people approached me and said, although this is one of the craziest intersections in the city, not too many accidents occur here. I replied" That's because everyone pulls up and looks around in great fear". Can we agree on that?
The witnesses ended up chatting about remedies for the traffic flow here which brought up the inevitable suggestion of "Roundabout". So I dug up some pictures I took of the one I found in Poughkeepsie on Raymond Avenue. It's close to Vassar College.
As you can see, they can be quite small. I'm sure this example would fit at the accident site above, but one would have to wonder about the truck traffic since Rt 32 is fed into this intersection. Could the dimension for the Roundabout by Thruway Exit 19 be the right size?
Didn't we have neighborhood meetings in Ward 5 on just this subject?
If you would like to see this little island for yourself, Cross the bridge into Poughkeepsie, follow until Raymond and turn right toward the College. It's one of 4 "roundabouts" on that street.
8 comments:
And if you haven't seen this...
ulster county's report on this intersection a few years back.
http://www.co.ulster.ny.us/planning/uctc/projects/32_fair/final_report.pdf
If the aldermen and women in this city stopped making ridiculous and uninformed decisions on how "they perceive" traffic should flow - this city would be a safer place. Stop signs being used to control vehicle speeds aren't safe and don't make sense. Some examples - Main St at Lafayette St, Green St at Maiden Ln, Clinton Av at Plaza. These examples are unsafe and seem to create more opportunity for traffic accidents then prevent them.
How about painting lines to show where traffic must stop, turn, or lane they should use. Faded or non-existent lines only help confuse the already busy driver.
How about implementing one of the many traffic studies we have seen come and go? (Like the one in the previous post.) They have been not been acted upon - yet these studies cost the city (taxpayers) many dollars to be produced by someone trained in how traffic should flow to produce a safer roadway system - not an alderman just wanting to appease some constituents.
Mr. Madsen,
I just want to thank annon 1210am for the link to refresh my recall. This has been a issue for many years.
thanks for posting the web link. It just makes it a little easier for the residents in the area to see and or refresh what has been going on at that intersection.
Not sure if I would want a roundabout there. Sarcasm on.. But it does raise the issue again for further fodder for the overworked alderpersons for the City of Kingson. You know what I am speaking of. Cats and traffic lights v/stop signs, parking meters..... Sarcasm off.
There are many issues with that interection that need to be addressed. And still to this date Mar 18,2011, and from that report, guess what? It still looks like the County of Ulster and City of Kingston, NYS DOT are still at square one. I say that until someone is killed in a vehicle accident in that area nothing will be done.
Sad,I remember how Walter Cronkite
ended some of his broadcasts. "And that's the way it is". But does it have to in this situation?
The so called planning department in Ulster is a joke
It would end up costing millions and won't get done until we find out where the 700 thousand dollar drug money is. For real.
I drove it every day for four years and watched it being developed into an attractive route passed Vassar. It would also require the type of maintenance that I don't think is available in
kingston,
Mike, there's an even better roundabout that was built in the Village of Liberty about four years ago.
If you go up to Sullivan County, it's right where Route 52 intersects with a few other roads. They did a great job there. It's an intersection that reminds me very much of the one here.
AB
We should consider ourselves lucky that drivers must stop before entering a roundabout unlike the roundabouts in Mozambique where traffic entering the roundabout has priority over vehicles already in the roundabout. In other words, if someone is approaching the roundabout, the driver already in the roundabout has to yield to entering traffic. Well, that was the case about 14 years ago when I went to Mozambique to go to the beach in Beira.
In the UK, roundabouts are a common sight. Well, more common than I've seen in the UK. In fact, I learned that they were even more common than that, as there was a book published called "Roundabouts of Great Britain" in which the author, a self-confessed traffic-island fanatic has "travelled the length and breadth of the country to record the very best of the species, which range in scope from humble painted minis to magnificent landscaped beauties". He also provides advice on the very popular hobby of "roundabout spotting". I became aware of his antics several years ago when I watched a documentary about roundabout spotting and the really remote places some people will travel to just to get a picture...there are even websites dedicated to spotting and documenting new ones that are not known. (it's almost as bad as some travelers I've heard of that take last minute flights just to visit a different airport, to then get back on the plane and fly somewhere else).
Then, if that wasn't enough, there's a really crazy roundabout in Swindon (UK) called "The Magic Roundabout" in which there are five--yes, that's 5!--roundabouts in one (there is a snarky comment on this page that does not reflect my personal views):
http://www.laughsend.net/attachment.php?attach=10
I couldn't even imagine how such a thing would have to be navigated but it must work or it would have been converted into one big one. Could something like this work at the Greenkill intersection?
There is one roundabout that looks fantastic and must be quite a joy to drive on, simply because of the way they utilized the space. The roundabout in Zagreb, Croatia features a raised roundabout, with trams running underneath the roundabout, and quite an interesting use of bridges to have a lowered center:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Rotor_Zagreb-crop.jpg
Great read!
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