An artist rendering shows the completed roundabout at the 11th Street and Grant Line and Kasson roads intersection. Courtesy San Joaquin County public Works department
Graders work on a section of median along 11th Street near the Grant Line and Kasson roads intersection as construction work for a roundabout begins. Glenn Moore/Tracy Press
Temporary stoplights are part of the roadway preparation on 11th Street near at Grant Line and Kasson roads intersection as crews prepare to construct a roundabout at the intersection. Glenn Moore/Tracy Press
Temporary stoplights are part of the roadway preparation on 11th Street near at Grant Line and Kasson roads intersection as crews prepare to construct a roundabout at the intersection. Glenn Moore/Tracy Press
A section of median is leveled as crews prepare the roadway on 11th Street near the Grant Line and Kasson roads intersection for a roundabout construction. Glenn Moore/Tracy Press
Construction crews assemble a temporary stoplight on 11th Street near the Grant Line and Kasson roads intersection where a roundabout is under construction. Glenn Moore/Tracy Press
Started Wednesday, July 18, the three-phase project is the first of four roundabouts approved by county officials for the rural 11th Street corridor east of Tracy and west of Interstate 5, according to San Joaquin County Engineering Services Manager, Najee Zarif.
Roundabouts are planned for the 11th Street intersections with Banta, Bird and Lovely roads, Zarif said, with a fifth proposed for the Chrisman Road intersection.
According to Zarif, the objective of the new roundabouts is to increase traffic flow and efficiency.
“Studies indicate that they provide a reduction in accidents and accidents that cause injuries, such as fatalities,” he said. “(They are) proved to be safer than signalized intersections.”
The roundabout under construction at the eastern end of 11th Street, where Grant Line and Kasson roads meet, is expected to be completed Oct. 31. According to Zarif, it will be the first two-lane roundabout in San Joaquin County.
The cost of the project is about $2.8 million and is financed through county traffic impact mitigation fees, he said. The San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors approved the roundabout plan in October 2005.
Compared with the traffic signals that dictate stop-and-go traffic flow on 11th Street, Zarif said the roundabout would let traffic flow without hesitation.
But during construction, traffic flow is liable to suffer.
According to project manager Nick Zwetsloot of Teichert Construction, the construction site will see big changes in traffic patterns beginning Monday, July 23.
On Monday, traffic will go from separate east- and westbound lanes near the intersection to two single lanes on the Grant Line Road side of the street. Lanes for traffic heading both east and west will proceed through the construction zone.
He said that traffic configuration will remain in place for six to eight weeks while construction crews work on the Kasson Road side of the project.
The second phase of the project will flip single-lane traffic to the Kasson Road side of 11th Street, Zwetsloot said. That portion of the project will also take six to eight weeks to finish.
The final phase of the roundabout will include construction of the concrete center of the intersection. Zwetsloot expects that to take three to four weeks.
Not everyone is happy about the addition to the rural Tracy roadway.
“I think it’s silly,” Tracy Mayor Brent Ives said. “When moving something that fast, that’s not the kind of place where one should put a roundabout. Doesn’t seem broken, so I don’t know why they’re trying to fix it. What a silly waste of money.”
The staff of Tracy Sign Inc., including employee Amy Brown, has a front-row seat for the roundabout, which is being built outside the business’ front door at 3771 W. 11th Street.
“I don’t know how it’s going to affect our business,” Brown said. “I think there’s going to be a lot more accidents. I used to work in Modesto, and they have one there, and if people slow down it will be fine.”
According to California Highway Patrol officer David Slate, the speed limit in the area is 55 mph, and any changes to that would be the county’s decision.
Slate said the intersection is considered a popular route for automobiles, tractor-trailers and farm vehicles.
According to CHP records, Slate said there were two accidents during the past six months at the intersection — one in May on Kasson Road, and one in March on Grant Line Road. Neither, he said, involved a fatality.
• Contact Denise Ellen Rizzo at 830-4225 or drizzo@tracypress.com.
The project is funded by Traffic Impact Mitigation Fees. Per AB 1600, these funds can only be used for improvements that are needed to accommodate new or expanded development (i.e., to relieve congestion). These funds are FEES collected from new development to mitigate traffic impacts. There is no “use it, or lose it” rule. The fees are based on the type of development, not whether previously collected fees were expended.
The City is responsible for improvements/repairs within the city limits, the State (Caltrans) for the highways, and the County for the unincorporated areas. Demanding that the County use their money for City/State repairs is like your neighbor demanding that you use your money to put a new roof on his house. Would you?
The plans call for installation of approx. 16 lights. I’m thinking that if we can maneuver that intersection with a signal, 16 lights should make it even more visible in the fog.
Last, but not least, if you don't want to deal with it, use another route - I will.
I have gone through other local towns with roundabouts and they work pretty nicely. One key factor is to learn to YIELD to the car with right of way.
I'll use it [the roundabout] gladly. I understand them and see the benefit whenever I sit at a red light at that intersection and there is no cross traffic. If I have to slow down a bit, so be it. At least I won't be stopping for no reason.
I bet that sign shop on the NW corner isn't too thrilled though.
My fix for Tracy's current roundabout is I just don't go down there. This is my fix for the frustration the two times I drove through there. No more for me.
More info: http://tinyurl.com/739pu3d
The City's roundabout has five entry/exit points - the four from the intersecting streets and one accessing a parking lot. All the entry/exit points are paved identically so drivers routinely go plowing through the parking lot at 25 mph.
Roundabouts, per se, are not dangerous and can save gasoline and driver frustration. Tracy's roundabout is dangerous no matter how experienced one is with roundabouts due to the poor design. The little sign the City stuck on a pole at the parking lot entrance that says, "parking lot" hasn't remedied the problem.
So, when San Joaquin County decides to build a roundabout on a high traffic arterial where it might actually save time and gas, Tracy Mayor Ives thinks the county County roundabout is a "silly waste of money." Thanks for the input Mayor. ONE of these two roundabouts is a silly waste of money but my bet is that time will tell that it wasn't the one build by the county.
That round about is going to cause deaths come winter. I agree, we have blinding fog and someone unfamiliar with the road will get killed.
Oh well, nobody asked me for my advice.
OHHH just wait for Friday night out of town traffic!!! We have so many pot holes and other things that need to be fixed on our roads spend that money on that.
AMERICAN ROADWAYS were designed with RIGHT OF WAY in mind. Right of way does not exist in a roundabout. You have to cede right of way to traffic that enters the roundabout before you.
It's also not to easy to determine if someone is going to go right, straight or left (pulling right across your path while you are going straight). I guy going through must STOP for traffic turning left in front of him
A: Because motorist already in the circle have the right of way!
We tried it your way already. The circular intersections are called rotaries, what the Brits call roundabouts. They fail because mainline traffic can lock up the intersection. Frank Blackmore figured this out and gave us the priorty rule that makes modern roundabouts work.
If there are any issues it won't be because of the roundabout but rather the preponderance of lousy drivers we seem to have cruising around these days.
This pork barrel project is a total waste of money. The $2.8 million being used to build this roundabout would have funded the electricity bill for the cost of the stop lights for many years.
We have Supervisor Ornelas to thank for this project. It was approved under his term as a County Supervisor. It's a good thing Ornelas lost the primary election or we might have been putting roundabouts at the interchanges of State Hwy 33, 132 and others.
Hopefully, Ransom will make better decisions than this when she's elected to County Supervisor. If Elliott wins you can bet on four more years of these pork projects.
NO ONE in Tracy knows how to drive on a roundabout. I almost get killed every time I drive through downtown. Now its going to be a 2 LANE roundabout!??!?!
People are going to get hurt.
I pay attention and hadn't heard they were going to do this .... I'd like to know who made the final decision.