Don't Call It a Circle: Several Residents Not in Favor of Roundabout

Dangerous. Not needed. A waste of money.

The list goes on of residents’ reasons for not wanting a roundabout at the intersection of Branch Pike, Riverton Road and Parry Road in Cinnaminson.

Dozens showed up at the  Wednesday for an .

Several residents there agreed something needed to be done about the roadways, but didn’t think a roundabout was the answer.

“To me, a roundabout is used in a commercial area,” said Eleanor Goldner, a Cinnaminson resident who lives on Parry Road.

Her solution?

Do away with “Little Parry Road,” the cut-through of Parry between Branch Pike and Riverton Road before the stop sign and island.

“If they do away with that cut-through,” Goldner added, “the traffic pattern will change.”

True, eliminating that small throughway would eliminate accidents from cars trying to cross over Riverton Road, officials said, but traffic would become more congested down at the problematic area of Branch Pike and Riverton Road.

The modern roundabout proposed would have single-lane approaches with splitter islands and curvilinear vehicle paths. There would be yield signs inside and pedestrian crosswalks—not entirely unlike the roundabout on Cinnaminson Avenue near the ShopRite entrance.

But even though that's in a commercial area like Goldner suggested, she’s not fond of it there either.

Karen Milligan, who also lives on Parry Road, said she considers the intersections now “dangerous.”

“But a roundabout is more dangerous,” she said.

Not exactly, according to engineers.

“I’m driven by science,” said Joseph Brickley, engineer. “The data is there. [The roundabout] forces folks to slow down.”

Results from a 2001 study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety showed roundabouts reduce crashes by up to 40 percent, reduce injury crashes by up to 80 percent and reduce fatal or incapacitating crashes by 90 percent.

Cinnaminson Police Officer Kevin Bohn said the most problematic areas in that area are at Parry and Riverton Road.

“It’s at that four-way intersection,” Bohn said.

Bohn said in his nearly 10 years with the , he hasn’t heard of a fatality around there other than the woman who  at Riverton Road and Branch Pike days before Christmas last year.

But at the Parry and Riverton roads intersection, there are car flips a couple times a year.

He also added the roundabout near  has “worked very well.” And in the four years it’s been there, there has only been one major accident. That involved an intoxicated woman.

If a roundabout were put at the intersection in question, Bohn said, “from a public safety standpoint, I don’t think we’d have a problem. It has the potential to be traffic-calming.”

Bohn admitted there’s a “stigma” with circles, but “it’s not a circle," he said.

One of the most common misconceptions, county engineers said, is that traffic circles and roundabouts are virtually the same thing. However, while circles are being eliminated in New Jersey, modern roundabouts are making a comeback.

Circles, such as the 70/73 one that has since been eliminated in Cherry Hill, are far bigger than roundabouts like the one proposed. Circles are more than 600’ in diameter; circulating speeds are in excess of 35 mph; and handle more than 85,000 cars per day.

Roundabouts are about 150’ in diameter; have speeds of less than 20 mph; and handle less than 10,000 cars per day.

“It’s like comparing a pea to a watermelon,” Brickley said. “This is the best application for a roundabout.”

Residents can still submit comments to county engineers. Drawings are preliminary and design work should finish by the end of the year.

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