A plan has been solidified to install dual roundabouts at the congested Five Corners intersection, but a high price tag means it probably won’t be realized anytime soon.
The Rotterdam Town Board on Wednesday, Jan. 11, heard the findings of the Five Corners Transportation and Land Use Linkage Study undertaken by BFJ Planning, based out of New York City. The goal of the study was to develop a plan to revitalize the town center so it could become “healthy and vibrant.”
Areas around the Five Corners were also evaluated in hopes of increasing traffic flow efficiency and pedestrian safety. Two alternatives were presented to achieve this goal, but both require obtaining the property of two existing gas stations.
Town Planner Peter Comenzo said residents are more than familiar with the frustrations associated with the busy intersection.
“Everybody that lives in the Town of Rotterdam is aware of the issues that we have with transportation in the Five Corners,” Comenzo said. “It is a very difficult area to traverse, both with vehicles and bicycles, and also pedestrians, so we embarked on this study … to look at this area and get a professional planning outfit in to get a fresh set of eyes and take a look at this area.”
The double roundabout concept was cited as the best alternative. The second alternative was for the town to widen the adjoining roadways while creating sidewalks, bicycle lanes and landscaping. Both projects were estimated to cost from $5 to $10 million, with right of way acquisition and possible soil clean up at gas stations being the largest expenses.
Traffic issues at the Five Corners have remained largely unchanged for over 40 years. There are six approaches to the intersection.
“You have tremendous inefficiency, the traffic light has to have three phases, there is a lot of dead time when the car is stalled … in itself it is a very, very inefficient intersection the way it is,” said Georges Jacquemart of BFJ Planning.
The existing average traffic delay at Five Corners is 109 seconds, but changing the roadway into a roundabout is estimated to reduce the average traffic delay to 23 seconds. This approach also received the highest sustainability rating. Widening the road would reduce the average traffic delay to 37 seconds, but it only received a “fair” sustainability rating.
“I’m sure you are going to kind of wonder what we are up to,” said Jacquemart when presenting the board with a visual representation of how the roundabouts would be constructed. “We could not do a roundabout about in the middle because it would be very large.”
Jacquemart said some people think he’s “crazy” for proposing dual roundabouts, but he said it’s feasible. There is one similar design in Buffalo, and its two roundabouts are closer together. The roundabouts would only have a single lane, which Jacquemart said has proven the safest type.
The daily average traffic volumes going through the Five Corners, according to information from the Department of Transportation, is over 13,000 for Curry Road, around 5,000 for Mariaville Road, 10,000 for Broadway and roughly 12,000 for State Route 7.
Landscaping renovations were also included in the roundabout plans. Since the remaining usable land on the two gas station properties would be too small to fit businesses, Jacquemart said they could be turned into green space.
“It is a long-term vision, when we prepared the study we knew there was no money, DOT doesn’t have any money,” Jacquemart said. “It is something to keep on the books for the town. It is important to have plans like this … so when money does become available the town does have the plan and could implement one of those options.”
Earlier, Comenzo commented on the difficulty of driving in the Five Corners area with nearby industrial businesses.
“The proximity with the Rotterdam Industrial Park and the amount of tractor trailer traffic that that generates, along with Golub, it is very difficult to get across town,” Comenzo said.
Jacquemart said trucks appear to get through similar roundabouts well enough, and he said the dual roundabout design would also accommodate trucks. State Route 7 passes through the roundabout, making it hard to feasibly redirect trucks.
Councilman Robert Godlewski asked Jacquemart if there were any short-term plans that could be implemented to improve the situation. Speed enforcement would be one quick fix for safety, but Jacquemart said there could be a chance to raise money from large developers considering projects in town.
Both the towns of Colonie and Clifton Park have a mechanism allowing every large development to provide “a fair share” contribution to a fund.
“If there had been any easy solutions I think we would have seen them already,” Jacquemart said.
There were two public workshops held last year sponsored by The Capital District Transportation Authority and the Town of Rotterdam to gather public input on the project. The study cost $45,000, of which 75 percent was federally funded with the town covering the remaining $11,250.
