Does The Proposed Roundabout For Hibbing’s Highway 169/37 Intersection Foreshadow The Future?

Superior has one.  Highway 2 near Ashland has one.  Grand Rapids does, too.  What does the proposal to install a roundabout at the busy Iron Range intersection of Highway 169 and 37 in Hibbing mean to Northlanders?

Officials with the Minnesota Department of Transportation have announced that a roundabout will be constructed at the busy intersection of Highways 169 and 37 at the south part of town in 2017.  The intersection sees a lot traffic and a high level of accidents.  At this point, MNDOT is soliciting public opinion on whether or not to construct the roundabout as a three-legged or a four-legged model.  (A business to the south of the roundabout has a service road that utilizes the current intersection;  MNDOT wants to know whether or not they should include the service road in the roundabout or not.  Research shows that businesses that get cut-off from nearby intersections often suffer a loss of business.)

My take on the whole roundabout issue:  Get used to them.  Whether or not I (or you) like them, I believe that they will become more prevalent in our area in the future.  Why is that you ask?  To me the answer has nothing to do with safety;  I believe that we'll start to see a proliferation of roundabouts due to simple economics.  Intersections are costly to a municipality in many ways.  First there's the cost of designing and constructing them.  Then - there's a financial cost to installing traffic lights and signals;  those same lights and signals need power for the rest of their lives, light bulb replacements, and man-power costs to maintain them.  With a roundabout all of those costs after the installation go away.  No light fixtures to age.  No light bulbs to replace.  No electrical power to pay for.  I see roundabouts as a way for municipalities to design and create an intersection that needs no regular maintenance other than snow removal.

What do you think about roundabouts?