WEST CAPE MAY – While the term “roundabout” sounds like part of a British pop song lyric, this borough may be the first location in the county to get one.
A roundabout, which is not a circle, is proposed for what locals refer to as the “CVS Intersection.” The location would be West Perry Street where it meets Park Boulevard and Myrtle Avenue.
The county Public Works Department held an information session at Borough Hall Feb. 11. County Engineer Dale Foster said a roundabout is safer than an intersection with traffic lights. He said only one to two cars at a time would go around the roundabout.
A roundabout is much smaller than a traffic circle, he said. A small circle would be about 600 feet in diameter, but a roundabout is small as 85 feet in diameter, he added.
Only one or two cars would traverse a roundabout at any one time, said Foster.
There are over 3,000 roundabouts in the nation, he said. It would slow down the speed of vehicles but traffic does not stop in a roundabout, drivers yield to other cars, said Foster.
The roundabout for West Cape May is in the preliminary engineering phase. According to Foster, the goal is to identify the scope of improvements, secure the necessary environmental documents and to find a source of funding for construction.
If it is built, construction would take place in the off season between 2013 and 2014.
The intersection has no traffic lights and has proven hazardous to drivers attempting to make a left turn from Park Boulevard onto West Perry Street heading towards Cape May.
The intersection has six legs, two from Myrtle, two from Park Boulevard and two from West Perry Street, Foster noted. Some improvements would also be made to the Broadway/Sunset Boulevard intersection in the form of new crosswalks and handicapped-accessible curbs.
Myrtle Avenue would be repaved from Park Boulevard to Broadway, said Foster.
Adam Brown, a project engineer from Urban Engineering, Cherry Hill, said a roundabout promotes a constant flow of movement on every leg of the intersection. The driver in the roundabout has the right of way, he said.
The roundabout would have a landscaped island in the center.
Brown brought diagrams of the projected turning radius of a “U-Haul” size truck and a 42-foot tractor trailer. A small truck would stay within the painted stripes of the roundabout, he said.
A tractor trailer would place its wheels on the truck apron section of the roundabout to turn, said Brown.
An citizen asked how a 67-foot tractor trailer turning into Cape May Lumber from Park Boulevard onto Myrtle Avenue would be able to navigate the roundabout?
Brown said he did not know how that size truck would be able make the turn into Cape May Lumber with a roundabout. He said he would run a program for that size truck to see how the roundabout would affect it.
West Cape May Deputy Mayor Peter Burke suggested not placing grass in the center of the roundabout so large trucks could run over that section.
“One of the alternatives is make it all truck apron, that won’t be as aesthetic because now there’s no grass, it all pavers,” said Brown.
He said a small piece of the CVS property would be taken to build a roundabout and a small corner of a dental office across the street.
The project manager, Steve Locke of Urban Engineers, said the result would provide more pedestrian-friendly crosswalks. He said the worst accident that would occur in a roundabout would be a slight sideswipe.
A resident suggested a roundabout at the intersection would back up traffic on West Perry Street during the busy summer tourist season. Locke said using traffic lights at the intersection would also back up traffic.
Foster said no part of Wilbraham Park could be taken to build a roundabout because it is part of the Green Acres program.
Locke predicted the roundabout could be built in about six months in the off season.
