Three New Roundabouts Coming to Locations in Kalamazoo

I would like to shake the hand or hands of the people responsible for coming up with a brilliant idea to help slow down traffic.

We're talking about roundabouts. Where were these so called roundabouts when I was going to high school back in the mid '70s?

These really cool roundabouts are meant to slow traffic down and to improve safety for not only motorists, but for pedestrians as well.

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I've already driven through several roundabouts in the Greater Lansing area. In fact, one of them is located in Okemos at Hamilton and Marsh roads. I should know, I drive through it every single day.

Did you hear that three new roundabouts are coming to several locations in Kalamazoo County?

So what's the main purpose of these roundabouts and why are more of them being built?

Courtesy of mlive.com:

Roundabouts are designed to improve safety for motorists and pedestrians, reduce delay, reduce speeding and improve efficiency for the motoring public. The road commission submitted for and was approved federal and state safety dollars for the intersection improvements.

I will take these roundabouts any day compared to speed bumps, which can cause serious vehicle damage if you don't use extreme caution.

Once these new Kalamazoo roundabouts are built, traffic will operate much more smoothly.

What I really like about these roundabouts is you don't have to treat them like a four way stop. Of course you have to yield to traffic, but once that happens, you're on your way to your destination.

As it stands, the road commission has funding for all three Kalamazoo roundabouts, it's just a matter of time.