A runaround on the roundabout

Call them rotaries, roundabouts or traffic circles, anyone who has driven in New Jersey, Massachusetts and other northeastern states can tell you that they can be confusing and difficult for those not familiar with them.

Having a rotary replace the current Kanan-Agoura roads intersection is, in my view, a bad idea. It will require more land for the circle to be built. It will be handling a high amount of traffic and result in traffic jams.

Some argue that the rotary will be safer than the present intersection for cars, pedestrians and bicyclists. Aside from a pedestrian overor underpass, there's nothing safer than an intersection with lights, crosswalks and walk/don't walk signs.

So tell me, where are the pedestrian crosswalks in a traffic circle? Where are the bike lanes?

Hard to imagine pedestrians or bicyclists getting from one side of the circle to the other given the freely flowing traffic that is the purpose of the rotary.

I doubt that it will be safer for cars. Close your eyes and imagine the following: multiple lanes of traffic going south on Kanan from the 101 trying to enter the rotary which already has cars in it, either from the beach or from the movies, looking to take Agoura Road west.

Finally, one last observation. Given that I've always thought that a town center should be in the center of town, I'm amused that some are calling Agoura Village a town center when it's south of the 101 and the population is largely north of it. Dan Gersten Agoura Hills