Call it morning driving through the sound

Almost a year ago, I wrote about the Conway street department's embrace of roundabouts as a tool for traffic management at problematic intersections. At that point the second roundabout in the city, only a mile or so from our house, had just opened.

It was with great excitement earlier this year that we saw the signs of a roundabout coming at the four-way stop right at the entrance to our neighborhood. Painted lines appeared on the street designating crosswalks. The corners of the intersection were shaved off and curved curbs put in where the cars would enter and exit the circle. Several weeks ago, segments of the circle at the middle -- the ones that wouldn't block the straight-through roads still operating -- were completed.

Today, in a flurry of all-at-once activity, the city took the plunge. They blocked off the crossing roads, filled in the circle, set up yield signs and marked off the medians that will insistently urge traffic to flow to the right.

And now ... we have our very own roundabout!



Cars are going around instead of through!



Brand-new signs remind the drivers what to do!



There's a new sidewalk to lead students from the apartments down the street toward the campus just on the other side of the roundabout.



The wheelchair grip-bumps for the sidewalk curb cut-outs are so new, they haven't had the plastic taken off yet.



No time to pour concrete medians yet -- these temporary barriers will do for now.



Orange fences stand in for the parts of the red circle that will become permanent later. Yesterday, cars were driving over the spaces now blocked off by those fences.



A roundabout is a thing of love.