No roundabout on Highway 12

The Chehalis Tribe and State Department of Highways has decided that a roundabout on Highways 12 is a good idea. I went to a meeting on it that turned out to be an open house for the state to tell us what a good idea this would be. It makes you wonder how dumb they actually think we are.

For those of us who live in this area, we know better. This is a major truck route and trucks and roundabouts are not all that compatible unless it's huge. I asked them if the tribe was paying for it as all the roads involved are going to or coming from the reservation. No they aren't. It's the state and federal grants.

I have never heard of a roundabout on a state highway and think it's a really bad idea. I believe that there will be more problems created than solved by doing this. They hand out a booklet for the study which was paid for by the tribe and the ideas in that were even worse with a couple of more roundabouts involved. I'm sorry but why not just add acceleration and deceleration lanes on the highway instead. It would be safer, cause less problems and be much cheaper.

This story was originally published August 13, 2016 at 6:49 AM with the headline "No roundabout on Highway 12."