City 4-3-17
The Cheyenne Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) in coordination with the City of Cheyenne is launching a month-long campaign to promote safe driving through the Pershing/Converse/19th Roundabout, beginning the week of April 3.
During the month, education efforts will be stepped up in the community, especially through social media to educate all road users including drivers and pedestrians about the rules to properly navigate this and all roundabouts in general.
Modern roundabouts are becoming increasingly common in the United States. The City of Cheyenne has installed several roundabouts in the past few years. Currently there are 11 roundabouts on the City, County and State roads in the Cheyenne area. Roundabouts offer many advantages to traditional intersections by providing safer and more efficient traffic flow than standard intersections. While there are no traffic signals or stop signs in roundabouts, the geometric design allows for slower traffic and reduced delays by converting all entering movements into right turns. Lives can be saved at intersections with roundabout treatments, as they are designed to improve traffic flow with lower speeds and fewer conflict points. According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, roundabouts can reduce fatal crashes by 90 percent, injury crashes by 75 percent, pedestrian crashes by 30-40 percent and reduce bicycle crashes by about 10 percent.
Although one lane roundabouts are very common and easy to navigate, two lane roundabouts such as Cheyenne’s Pershing/Converse/19th Roundabout can be more challenging and intimidating for some road users. The Safe Streets Cheyenne Campaign available at www.safestreetscheyenne.com has information on roundabout safety and a few videos to learn the art of safe roundabouting. The community is encouraged to visit this page and learn more about the campaign.
The MPO, which conducts transportation planning in the Greater Cheyenne Area, has been coordinating transportation safety efforts over the past several years under the Cheyenne Transportation Safety Initiative.
