Construction of Goleta’s First Roundabout Slated to Begin Next Week

Equipment and signs will go up starting Thursday in preparation for the work at the intersection of Los Carneros and Calle Real

The intersection of Los Carneros and Calle Real in Goleta was chosen for the city’s first roundabout because an expected increase in traffic from improvements planned near Fairview Avenue. (City of Goleta photo)

By Lara Cooper, Noozhawk Staff Writer | @laraanncooper | Published on 07.11.2012 1:17 p.m.

Construction of a roundabout at the Los Carneros and Calle Real intersection in Goleta will begin next week, according to city officials.

That intersection has been plagued by side-impact collisions over the years, and the city previously installed stop signs at each of the three interchanges on the road.

Next week’s construction will start the city’s first roundabout, which was chosen for that intersection because of an expected increase in traffic in the area when the city takes up improvements one exit down Highway 101 at Fairview Avenue next year.

The city also has four roundabouts slated for Old Town, which are part of a larger plan of improvements for the area.

The city is doing the roundabout work at Los Carneros and Calle Real now because it will be tackling work on the Las Vegas and San Pedro creeks, which will impact traffic on Fairview Avenue, directing it to the new roundabout.

“Caltrans anticipates a full closure of the northbound on-ramp at Fairview Avenue for at least a year and a full closure of the southbound off-ramp at Fairview Avenue for six months for that project,” said Rosemarie Gaglione, the city’s capital improvement program manager.

That creek improvement project will begin in 2013, and the city decided to install the roundabout to accommodate the expected increase in traffic, rather than erect a temporary traffic signal.

Construction is expected to take three to four months.

— Noozhawk staff writer Lara Cooper can be reached at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.

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» AN50 on 07.12.12 @ 12:28 PM

Instead of wasting money on a traffic device that is totally illogical for pedestrian and bicycle traffic they should be adding more traffic lanes to Calle Real and Los Caneros. The City’s “grab the latest Euro fad and throw it willie nilly across the landscape” is driven by pop cultism not logic. They defend these instruments by saying they reduce traffic interruption. True and a great idea if made large and used in rural applications where bikes and pedestrians are very scarce. But in an urban area they are ped killers and work far below design capacity because circle radius is restricted by urban geography requiring far too tight a turning radius, to little room for merge and weave traffic and constant stop and go due to these factors and pedestrians and bicycles trying to navigate through traffic whose attention is forced to contend with other cars.

It would be far smarter to use channelized intersections with state of the art sensor and motion detector systems and spend the money saved on increasing the arterials feeding the intersections.

» Really? on 07.12.12 @ 01:10 PM

And here it comes. Goleta bought the anti car crowd PR and will narrow Calle Real to one lane access to the intersection. There is slated significant future building at this site that will really destroy rush hour traffic.

The group Cars Are Basic(tm), Inc. challenged the Council and Staff to support their planning with solid traffic data and construction formula for speeds and accidents. Neither party stepped up to the plate. (as seen on recorded council meeting)

Caltrans really screwed up at the 246 / La Purisma roundabout and is the same organization Goleta is falling back on to “prove” their plan will work. Now that is an oxymoron if I ever saw one.

Imagine you have multiple lanes of traffic in all directions narrowed to one lane entrance and exit, you have multiple future construction both commercial, and residential in less than a 1/2 mile, and you have both north county and south county examples of increased accidents, pedestrian and bicycle danger, and this council continues to bull ahead….amazing.

The kicker to this is the headline to the article…the first roundabout, more are to come.

If this is what Easton is going to run on move over there will be a new council member in the fall.

» AN50 on 07.12.12 @ 04:10 PM

Really? you seem to be one of the few who comment here that gets it. You are absolutely right. These instruments are not being used to increase traffic flow but to throttle it back instead. The resulting congestion generates far more pollution than conventional methods and is driven by this anti car cult. These people are not content to have folks decide for themselves how they want to live. They want to dictate your life style and because they can’t run a legitimate dictatorship they do it through coercive planning. What is a galling hypocrisy is that most of these coercive types call themselves “liberal”. Liberty is the last thing they want.

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Construction of Goleta’s First Roundabout Slated to Begin Next Week

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