The Roundabout - A Really Good Idea for Ossining

Dear Ossining,
I spoke at the March 22 Village Board Meeting, and expressed my enthusiastic support for the roundabout. At that meeting, one women expressed frustration with all the studies that had been undertaken through the years, and wanted the Board to make a plan and stick to it. I felt that was particularly ironic, as that is just what they've done. They studied their options, picked a plan, voted on it, and at the crucial step of trying to implement it, met resistance.

I’m sorry to hear that public opinion may be preventing our elected officials from doing their job and following through with the careful planning that they've been engaging in for a year and a half. I’ve lived all over the world, and to me roundabouts seem normal, but I understand that in smaller cities in America, people aren’t used to them yet. I did a little research, and it seems like we are not alone in absorbing unfounded resistance from the community. All over the country, when plans are put forth for roundabouts, the community resists, sometimes strongly.Roundabouts have been proven to be safer for cars and pedestrians, more ecologically friendly, and to keep a nice slow traffic flow. The New York Times reports that “Despite these benefits, a circuitous pattern still seems to emerge whenever a community is faced with the specter of a roundabout. Fear and suspicion are manifested in petitions and tense town meetings — and over time they generally mellow into something resembling approval, acceptance or, just as desirable in the world of transportation engineering, apathy.”While Ossining's experience over this issue I’m sure feels unique, it is absolutely a normal resistance to roundabouts. This is confirmed in a study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety titled “Long-Term Trends in Public Opinion Following Construction of Roundabouts.” Support for roundabouts went from 34% before the roundabouts were built, to 57% after they were built, to 69% after they had been in use for a year.This was confirmed anecdotally by a friend of mine from Hamburg, NY where about 7 years ago they put a roundabout in. He said everyone complained about it before they built it, but then people thought it made the downtown look quaint and charming, and they didn’t have any trouble driving through it.

I’m sorry I wasn't be able to attend the meeting on April 6th. I hope the new Downtown Redevelopment Working Committee is able to make our community come together. If that succeeds in changing this current climate, it will be an amazing feat. The effort is worthy.

However, if in an effort to try to please everyone in the moment, this project falls, it will be sad. I hope our elected officials keep in mind that by next summer, according to statics, roughly 70% of Ossining residents will come to approve of the Roundabout, despite current the loud voices of irrational dissent.

It’s a tense time in politics, everyone knows that, and I understand that the opposition has been vocal, but I hope that the loud voices of resistance do not derail this well researched plan for the intersection upgrade.

Alexis Cole