Round and round the council goes, and the latest vote comes out roundabout.
It was “roundabouts versus stoplights.” round two, at Gig Harbor City Council.
And the new winner? Roundabouts, by a vote of 4-3.
The city council revisited an old decision at its Monday, Jan. 13 meeting, revising a previous ordinance that had favored stoplights for the intersection of Harborview Drive and Stinson Avenue. The revised ordinance recommends a roundabout.
The difference: Three new council members, meaning three new perspectives on the debate.
Both newly elected council members Le Rodenberg and Robyn Denson made an instant impact, as they voted for the roundabout option. Tracie Markley, who began as a council member in December, voted for stoplights.
“In general traffic will flow better through that intersection [with a roundabout] and I think that will be really helpful for not only the residents of those neighborhoods, but also the businesses along Harborview Drive,” Denson said.
Battle of the stats
Council member Jeni Woock presented statistics she said showed the benefits of roundabouts.
Compared to traffic lights, roundabouts showed a 37 percent reduction in overall collisions, a 75 percent reduction in injury collisions, and a 90 percent reduction in pedestrian collisions, according to the Federal Highway Administration and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.
Council member Jim Franich, who voted for stoplights, retorted with his own data from the Gig Harbor Police Department. He shared a copy of all of the accident reports in the city from August of 2018 to August of 2019.
These data showed there were 29 accidents at the Borgen/Burnham two-lane roundabout in 12 months, including 5 injury accidents, the highest number reported in the city.
“That doesn’t take into consideration the 100-a-day near-accidents that happen at that roundabout,” Franich said.
Franich compared this record to the Olympic-Point Fosdick stoplight location, which he described as one of the most highly traveled areas in Gig Harbor. There were five accidents reported at this intersection in the same 12 months, with three injuries.
Volume counts
Council member Bob Himes responded that Franich’s date did not account for volume. He said if there are more vehicles going through an area, a higher probability of accidents should be expected. He said the sources Woock presented were credible and should be what council focuses on.
“What does the institute of highway safety do? They normalize [the data.] It’s what competent, technical people will do. They will say ‘this is the number of accidents, per vehicle entering these particular intersections or roundabouts.’ Therefore, you get a much better comparison,” Himes said.
Franich believed the decision the council made to go with roundabouts was a mistake, saying the council based their decision on the wrong data.
“You can look at all the federal data all you want,” Franich said, speaking to Himes. “The data you should be, and always should be concerned with, is the data that has to do with Gig Harbor. If you decide you don’t care about the data and the amount of accidents that happen in Gig Harbor, that’s fine by you. You can answer to the citizens.”
In other actions, the city council:
Authorized the mayor to execute a professional services contract with Contour Engineering for $13,000. The city of Gig Harbor initially had three proposed right-of-way dedications to process for $18,715, but Himes asked to remove the Soundview Forest gazebo from the contract, saying there was controversy over the location of the gazebo.
Heard a presentation by Jo Kling and Kyra Doubek, members of an anti-trafficking organizations, about the dangers of sex trafficking of high school and middle school students. The average age of someone is first recruited into sex trafficking is 13 to 15 years, and around 3,000 children in the state of Washington are being trafficked, they said. The mayor read a proclamation which declared January of 2020 as Human Trafficking Awareness and Prevention Month.
Heard from City Engineer Trent Ward regarding the 38th Avenue phase 1 design. This is the first phase of a multi-phase pedestrian and bicycle improvements plan at this location. The street will be widened, and a new bicycle lane and sidewalk will be added.
This story was originally published January 14, 2020 at 2:52 PM.