Schaumburg considers adding a fourth traffic roundabout
Having built a belief in the benefits of traffic roundabouts over the past five years, Schaumburg trustees Tuesday will consider funding preliminary design work for the town’s fourth, this one at the at the intersection of Braintree Drive and Weathersfield Way.
The design work would add $65,000 to the cost of engineering Kimley-Horn and Associates, Inc. is performing for a future reconstruction of Braintree from Wise Road to Weathersfield.
If approved, the firm’s contract would total $314,321, exceeding the village’s budget for the project by $64,745.
Trustee Brian Bieschke, who chairs the village board’s transportation committee, raised the possibility of adding a roundabout in December. Since then, a feasibility study has determined that a compact roundabout able to accommodate larger vehicles would fit at the intersection without the need to acquire any more property around it.
Because a roundabout wouldn’t require drivers to fully stop, it’s projected to decrease traffic delays by an average of 5.5 seconds from all approaches.
Bieschke said the benefits of roundabouts — increased safety, efficiency and lower emissions from idling vehicle — lend themselves more favorably to potential federal funding.
When the village opened its first roundabout at Plum Grove and Remington roads at the end of 2018, it was the first true roundabout in the Northwest suburbs. Cumberland Circle at the intersection of Golf and Wolf roads in Des Plaines was classified as a traffic circle at the time because it required full stops at each of its five entrances.
Since then, Schaumburg has added a second at Plum Grove Road and State Parkway, and a third is about half complete at American Lane and National Parkway.
“There have been no complaints,” Bieschke said. “People have accepted the two that we have. There’s been no issues with larger vehicles or pedestrians.”
He added that he saw potential at Braintree and Weathersfield because they’re both classified as minor collector streets.
Bieschke said his faith in roundabouts was partly founded by a visit to Ireland where they’re routine and ingrained in the culture.
The reconstruction of Braintree Drive, whether it ultimately includes a roundabout or not, isn’t scheduled to happen until after the 2026 fiscal year.
A roundabout briefly was considered for the intersection of Springinsguth and Bode roads in the autumn of 2021, but it was dropped because planning for resurfacing and other related improvements there was already too far advanced.