Chowchilla eyes roundabouts for Highway 99 ramps

Leaders here are considering options for improvements the city needs in the near future where Highways 99 and 233 cross, and the state Department of Transportation is pushing for roundabouts.

There are a number of options for dealing with the increased traffic projected in coming years by Caltrans on that bridge, which takes Highway 233, also called Robertson Boulevard, over 99.

The city could use loops, traffic signals and slip ramps to accommodate the traffic, but the biggest issue is funding. The options range in cost from $4 million to $70 million, but the cheaper the project the shorter its lifespan of usefulness, officials say.

City Council members watched a presentation Tuesday from Caltrans that focused primarily on why the city should consider roundabouts for the northbound and southbound ramps. The presentation was for informational purposes only and the council cast no votes related to the project.

John Liu, deputy district director of maintenance and operations, recommended the city choose the $10 million roundabout plan. That design would be good for 15 years.

Liu said if the city decided to go with roundabouts, he’d pitch in $200,000 per traffic circle from his department’s discretionary funds. If the city picked “any of the other alternatives, somebody’s going to have to come up with the rest of the money,” he said.

Chowchilla’s roundabouts, if adopted by the city, would go on the east and west sides of Highway 99 generally where the onramps and offramps sit now. But, there would likely be some change to the existing lanes with the potential to affect businesses there, according to the presentation.

Roundabouts have a number of benefits, including improved safety and less maintenance than traditional intersections. Roundabouts reduce the number of fatal accidents by 90 percent and all accidents by 35 percent, according to numbers in a report from the National Cooperative Highway Research Program.

Cars using roundabouts are moving slower than those entering an intersection, Liu said. Accidents are much more likely to involve glancing collisions rather than more deadly head-on or T-bone collisions, he said.

Caltrans is working on plans for 18 roundabouts on highways around the state, and could add 15 more in the future. Seeing those plans through might take some persuasion.

Councilman Dennis Haworth said his knee-jerk reaction is to oppose roundabouts for Chowchilla.

“I wasn’t born in France or England,” he said. “I don’t like roundabouts.”

He said he’s visited other towns to check out their roundabouts. There is more potential for one to work in Chowchilla on the east side of 99, he said.

One Chowchilla resident was skeptical of the idea. Vern Moss, a former Chowchilla mayor and Madera County supervisor, said he was worried that the roundabout would affect businesses just off of the highway, such as “landmark” Farnesi’s Steakhouse.

“It does create concern,” he said.

This story was originally published July 15, 2015 at 12:31 PM with the headline "Chowchilla eyes roundabouts for Highway 99 ramps."