A key concern hat I raised regarding the proposed roundabout at the 13th Street-Rosser Avenue intersection regarding emergency-vehicle access is something Waynesboro city officials have been working through for several months.
The city staff has recommended the roundabout to replace the traffic-signal system that had been in place before being lost this year with the replacement of a utility pole at the intersection.
City Engineer Todd Wood told me this week that the first staff meeting on the plans for the intersection, held in May, focused on emergency services, and the primary concern from police, fire and rescue about emergency vehicles being able to proceed through the intersection if a roundabout was put in place.
The design for the roundabout has taken that concern into consideration, according to Wood, to ensure that larger emergency vehicles will be able to pass through the intersection.
The configuration recommended by city staff also addresses another concern from emergency services regarding vehicles entering the intersection from Crompton Road.
The chief concern that I raised in an earlier article had to do with response times. Wood said the expectation from staff and emergency services is that there would be no appreciable difference between response times between a roundabout and a traffic signal.
The reason for that is that emergency-service vehicles make it a practice already to slow while proceeding through intersections as a precaution.
Story by Chris Graham
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