GPD Group, the company used by Twinsburg to design its roundabouts on Darrow Road, has been hired as the traffic engineering firm in Solon.
After years of using the same company to handle its traffic engineering services, Solon City Council plans to hire a new firm to try to help alleviate that city's traffic woes on 91.
Some Solon officials expressed concerns over a potential conflict with projects in Twinsburg -- GPD is designing roundabouts on Darrow Road in Twinsburg near the Solon border.
Solon Councilman Rick Bell has been adamant in recent weeks that he believes GPD has a conflict of interest because its designing two roundabouts on Darrow Road in Twinsburg near the Solon border.
He worries that the roundabouts will affect traffic in Solon and wonders how it will affect the traffic light at Lisa Lane, which the city installed for about $250,000.
"The traffic light that’s there at the end of town and the roundup they’ve recommended to the Twinsburg Council are in direct conflict with one another," Bell said.
Solon officials will next negotiate a fee with GPD.
The FHWA has a video about modern roundabouts that is mostly accurate (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhHzly_6lWM ). Modern roundabouts are the safest form of intersection in the world. Visit http://tinyurl.com/iihsRAB for FAQs and safety facts. The safety comes from the ‘slow and go’ operation instead of the ‘stop or go fast’ way a stop light works. The smaller size of the modern roundabout is what makes them safer and keeps speeds in the 20 mph range. This makes it much easier to avoid a crash or stop for pedestrians. It also means that if a crash happens the likelihood of injury is very low. Slow and go also means less delay than a stop light or stop sign, especially the other 20 hours a day people aren’t driving to or from work. Average daily delay at a signal is around 12 seconds per car. At a modern roundabout average delay is less than five seconds. Signals take an hour of demand and restrict it to a half hour, at best only half the traffic gets to go at any one time. At a modern roundabout four drivers entering from four directions can all enter at the same time. Don’t try that with a signalized intersection