Traveling in circles

Spokane Valley’s first roundabout opened recently to mixed reviews.

As city officials predicted, motorists seem to be negotiating the circular intersection of Mansfield Avenue, Wilbur Road and Montgomery Drive with few difficulties.

Traffic was moving smoothly on a recent December afternoon except for the occasional pause while novices worked out their next move.

However, residents of large apartment complexes on Wilbur Road, just north of the roundabout, are not happy.

“You can’t turn onto Wilbur if you’re coming from Argonne,” said Carla Bradford, manager of the Montgomery Court apartments. “It’s kind of a pain to get here.”

So much so that the apartment owners are considering a new driveway on Montgomery, Bradford said.

Does anyone in the 120-unit complex like the roundabout?

“Nobody,” Bradford said.

Although westbound vehicles on Mansfield may turn north onto Wilbur, eastbound traffic on Montgomery can’t. At least not legally.

Bradford said “everybody” uses the southbound lane of Wilbur to turn north onto Wilbur and enter the Montgomery Court’s nearby driveway.

That includes the Spokane Valley Fire Department if there’s an emergency in one of the apartments on Wilbur.

The alternative is to drive a half-mile northwest on Montgomery Drive to turn east on Jackson Avenue and circle back to the apartments.

“The only problem is we’re big and red and have lights and sirens going, and that tends to make people’s brains go into limbo land,” said Capt. Henry Williamson at Fire Station 8, just south of the roundabout.

To avoid potentially dangerous confusion, firefighters prefer to go the long way around when circumstances permit, Williamson said.

He said firefighters need to go north on Wilbur “generally once or twice a month.”

“It hasn’t caused any problem so far,” Williamson said. “The intersection usually isn’t that crowded.”

That roundabout is a small part of a major road project that is to be completed next year. It is at the northwest corner of the rectangular project area.

The purpose of the work is to ease congestion at the southeast corner, where Pines Road, Indiana Avenue, Montgomery Drive, the Union Pacific railroad tracks and Interstate 90 come together like NFL linemen.

As part of the improvements, eastbound traffic on Montgomery will be routed onto the westbound lanes of Interstate 90. Eastbound motorists who now use Montgomery to reach Pines Road will have to use Mansfield instead.

That’s the reason for the roundabout and other improvements, including widening and resurfacing Mansfield.

“We really like what they’ve done to Mansfield,” Bradford said. “It used to be awful with potholes and all that stuff.”

About a block south of the fire station, at Conrath’s Spokane Valley Marine, the new roundabout was unspeakably unpopular.

“I don’t think the Spokesman would print it,” parts and service representative Scott Gerwitz said when asked his opinion.

Lack of information partly accounted for of Gerwitz’s poor opinion of the roundabout – not that anything could make him like it.

“They didn’t make it big enough to take a boat and a trailer around it,” he said.

Actually, the roundabout’s concrete center island slopes out in a “truck apron” meant to accommodate the rear tires of long rigs. In other words, it’s OK to drive on the concrete.

“Everybody knows that, of course,” newly enlightened sales representative Gary Morris said skeptically.

Firefighters, at least, did know that.

Williamson said the fire department’s 105-foot all-wheel-steer aerial ladder can get through, using the truck apron.

The ladder truck’s independently steered rear wheels allow it to make unusually tight turns, but drivers have to be wary in the roundabout because the rear steering causes the back end of the truck to swing out farther.

“So far, it seems to be working well,” Williamson said. “I haven’t seen any big tie-ups and I haven’t seen any broken glass.”

Williamson said he had doubts before the roundabout was built, but now thinks it’s better than a conventional four-way-stop intersection.

“It has the byproduct of slowing people down,” he said. “Some of the worst wrecks we run on are little residential streets where people go too fast.”

Dan Conrath, president of Conrath’s Spokane Valley Marine, said pending changes on Montgomery Drive to the east of his business are worrisome.

“I don’t think it’s going to be that bad except when they’re constructing it,” he said. “It’s just been lack of information about the whole project. We just don’t know what’s going on.”

He’s in good company. Mayor Rich Munson said he’s pleased with the roundabout, but thought it was going to be on Pines Road.

Steve Worley, the city’s senior engineer for capital improvements, said a roundabout was considered for Pines Road. It was ruled out, in part, because of the Union Pacific railroad tracks just north of the Pines-Indiana-Montgomery intersection.

“Trains don’t do so well in roundabouts,” Worley said last spring.

Southbound traffic on Pines often backs up to Mansfield when there’s a train in the crossing.

With conventional intersections, southbound vehicles can be stopped at Mansfield by linking traffic signals to the train-crossing signal. Similarly, northbound traffic can be stopped at the Pines-Indiana-Montgomery intersection.

That way, both intersections can be kept clear for cross traffic.

Engineers concluded a roundabout would be safer and more efficient and would cost less to maintain than traffic signals at the mismatched intersection of Montgomery, Mansfield and Wilbur.

Motorists don’t have to stop before entering the 130-foot diameter roundabout, although they must slow down to 20 mph or less and yield to cars already in the circle.

Brianna Ransier, assistant manager at the Montgomery Court apartments, said some people still need to learn the part about yielding.

She said she was in the roundabout and had to slam on her brakes when a car dived in right in front of her.

“People just need to get used to it,” Ransier said.