Decatur’s City Planner Amanda Thompson recently provide me with this official response regarding the construction of a roundabout at the five-way intersection of West Ponce de Leon Ave, Nelson Ferry Road, Northern Ave and the Credit Union parking lot.  Al provided me with this Google Map view of the North Decatur @ Lullwater roundabout super-imposed over the intersection a while back.

I contacted one of our local traffic engineers, Sean Johnston with Kimley Horn, to give me a quick opinion on the feasibility of a roundabout at Northern/West Ponce/Nelson’s Ferry.

He stated, “I think a modern single-lane roundabout, similar in scale but a little larger than the one on North Decatur Road at Lullwater near Emory, might work here. There are some challenges – you’d probably need some right-of-way from the church playground and the post office, the grade on Northern is steep, and roundabouts work better with relatively even traffic volume distribution among intersecting streets.”

For those of you who are not familiar with transportation terms “right of way” means land. So based on the engineer’s initial assessment there is not enough existing pavement between all the curbs to build a roundabout.

This project is not identified in the Community Transportation Plan or the 2010 Strategic Plan. So it would need significant community support to become part of our transportation program and for the City to pursue funding. Occasionally, the Georgia Department of Transportation will help fund roundabouts if the City prepares a concept study showing whether or not the roundabout will work.

The good news is that the City will kick off the re-design of the Commerce/Clairemont Avenue and Commerce/Church Street intersections within the next couple of weeks. Roundabouts are one of the options that will be considered. Check the Decatur Focus and www.decaturga.com for information on the dates for public input.