Elgin comes around to traffic fix

Elgin leaders are taking the road less traveled to help ease traffic at a five-way east-side intersection.

City officials are considering erecting a 140-foot-wide "roundabout" at the oddly configured confluence of Summit Street, Dundee Road and Gifford Street.

"The whole thing comes down to the execution of a proper design," Mayor Ed Schock said.

A roundabout is different from a smaller traffic circle, which is meant to slow motorists down.

The roundabout will have two lanes of vehicles traveling counterclockwise around it with motorists making right turns to get to the street they want.

The measure has been endorsed by the Illinois Department of Transportation and in mid-April will be considered by the Kane County Council of Mayors.

A thumbs-up is needed because those agencies control some of the intersection's roads.

If the roundabout is chosen, the project's overall cost will increase 20 percent from $2.23 million to $2.69 million.

The city's share also will rise by 20 percent from $767,000 to $924,000.

The roundabout would improve access to several restaurants and businesses that are in the area. These same businesses would have had their parking lots blocked with a traditional street widening plan, officials said.

Schock also credited state officials for their willingness to look at other alternatives "outside the standard playbook."

David Lawry, the city's general services manager, said the roundabout so far is a concept drawing and more engineering is needed.

As it stands now, the center circle will be 130 feet in diameter, he said.

"You will be able to move two lanes around this circle," he said.

Whatever the final design, it likely will be years before motorists see the final product.

City Manager Femi Folarin said a best-case scenario has the roundabout being completed in 2010.

The city has a traffic circle in place at Division and Gifford streets and three roundabouts in the Providence subdivision on the far west side of town.