Forestville may yet get its roundabout

Forestville residents have come up with what once was an unconventional solution to traffic congestion in the western United States: a roundabout circle rather than a traffic signal for a key intersection in town.

The townsfolk, who have been talking up the idea for about five years, recently learned that state transportation officials have given conceptual approval for a roundabout on Highway 116 at Mirabel Road. It would be among the first on a state highway in the Bay Area, though a number have been built elsewhere around California.

County officials next plan to conduct an environmental study that will look at the impacts of different alternatives, including a roundabout and a signalized intersection.

?There?s a bunch of us in the community that are proud that we have never had a traffic signal,? said Vesta Copestakes, editor of the West County Gazette, based in Forestville. A roundabout would keep the town?s status unchanged.

The proposed roundabout would be a one-lane traffic circle in which vehicles move counterclockwise around a center circular island, entering and exiting to the right. Both Santa Rosa and Petaluma have roundabouts on city streets.

CalTrans is considering other roundabouts near major Bay Area highways, including a project in Berkeley next to Interstate 80, said Brigetta Smith, a spokeswoman for the department?s Oakland district office. Roundabouts exist in Arcata, Santa Barbara, Long Beach, Truckee and other communities, she said.

Proponents maintain roundabouts are safer than signalized intersections. They said traffic signals cause more air pollution because cars must stop for red lights and then accelerate when the light turns green.

?With less delay and less idling, you?re going to get clean air benefits,? said Kevin Howze, engineering division manager for the county?s Public Works Department.

Preliminary estimates for the project have ranged from $5 to $6.5 million, Howze said, still less than a conventional intersection with signals. Part of the funds would come from mitigation fees from nearby rock quarries and from proceeds from a transportation sales tax measure approved by county voters.

The environmental study could take about a year.

Efren Carrillo, who this winter became the new supervisor for the west county, said he supports the proposal. ?This is really something that the citizens have hoped for,? Carrillo said. ?I believe there is a consensus.?

While the county conducts the environmental study, the townsfolk will consider what they would like to see placed in the roundabout?s center island.

?That?s a large chunk of real estate and you can really do something that is a statement of the community,? said Allan Tilton, a Forestville resident and private traffic engineer. Communities have used and, in the southwest, rock formations. Tilton said the town might consider placing redwoods or some sort of artwork in the center.

The intersection of Mirabel and Highway 116 is where developer Orrin Thiessen has proposed a town square, commercial space, an 18-room boutique hotel and 59 condominiums.

Thiessen, who developed the Windsor Town Green project, said he hopes his project will be reviewed by the county planning commission by late spring or summer.

Thiessen supports a roundabout, but said the county?s latest design ?doesn?t make any sense? to him or nearby property owner Ramona Crinella. Crinella could not be reached for comment Monday, but several residents noted that at a recent meeting she raised concerns on the amount of her land the new design would require.

Thiessen, whose project sits on a portion of the land that Crinella?s family had owned for years, predicted that the county and state will eventually revert to an earlier design that requires less of a vineyard owned by Crinella. The earlier design would cost less, he said, and would avoid the possibility of ?years of litigation? with Crinella.