An unnecessary traffic plan

I read several weeks ago about Schaumburg's plan to put a roundabout or traffic circle at the intersection of Braintree Drive and Weathersfield Way. As a frequent user of that intersection, I wondered what justification they had for the expense of tax dollars. I requested, as an FIOA, the traffic study or studies done in the justification. After receiving it, I continue to be mystified as to the reason to waste any more money on this idea.

1. Over a five-year period, there were five accidents at the intersection, three involving one car hitting a second in the side, one rear-end collision and one that was not defined. Three occurred on wet (rain or snow) roads, one at night. There were no injuries.

2. According to the statements in the paper, one trustee who apparently became enamored with roundabouts on a trip to Ireland stated that fuel savings and cleaner air were a big factor. The traffic study shows that while there is steady traffic early in the morning and through most of the afternoon, there were no significant delays in travel.

The peak delay on Weathersfield Way was 11.0 seconds, on Braintree drive it was 8.0 seconds with half of that being stopping and moving up to the signs. The average delays were 4.9 seconds on Southbound Braintree, 6.1 seconds on Eastbound Weathersfield, 5.3 seconds on Northbound Braintree and 5.3 seconds on Westbound Weathersfield. The analysis also shows that the minimum delay time for all directions of travel on a circle to be between 3.4-3.7 seconds.

Please, Schaumburg trustees, tell me how much fuel will be used in the construction of this unnecessary traffic circle and whether any of our children will still be alive when the 4-5 seconds saved per car traveling this intersection matches the fuel and money wasted to plan and construct it.

David Krein

Schaumburg