Perhaps if Carson City installs enough roundabouts, drivers will learn to love them.
A proposal to place a roundabout at the intersection of Roop Street and Hot Springs Road seems like a sensible idea, but it will surely put to the test the mettle of some motorists who haven't quite figured out the etiquette of getting through the circles such as the one at Edmonds Drive and Fifth Street.
A reason a roundabout makes sense has a lot to do with cost. A signal light would mean lengthening turn lanes on streets entering the intersection. Signals themselves are always a costly proposition.
In addition, a study showed a roundabout would handle the amount of traffic going through Roop and Hot Springs without backing up vehicles in front of driveways.
Traffic flow and cost should be the prime considerations for the intersection. This is going to be an extremely busy part of town when Wal-Mart opens a new store and other businesses grow around it.
Although transportation commissioners have said they wanted more study from Wal-Mart on the advantages and disadvantages of a roundabout versus a signal light, the top priority must remain the smooth flow of traffic - for the sake of Carson City residents.
Carson City's history of too often bending the rules of the road for the convenience of business and development, over the interests of the motoring public, is a thing of the past, we hope.
The roundabout at Edmonds and Fifth was something of an experiment when it was installed five years ago, the first in Carson City on an intersection of two thoroughfares. We thought it was a good idea then, and we think it's been a successful solution.
Problems remain, generally with drivers who are unaccustomed to entering a roundabout. But the more roundabouts there are - where they make sense, anyway - the merrier drivers will be.
