Traffic-related projects, including a roundabout, approved by Salinas City Council

Salinas city council members approved a pair of projects for a portion of Salinas which are meant to ease the flow of traffic as well as provide safety for commuters.

The first is a traffic signal at Las Casitas Drive and Constitution Boulevard. The other is another roundabout for the city, which will be located at Sanborn and Boronda Road.

“Traffic moves a lot better and I think once people get used to them, they’re safer,” says Salinas resident, Raymond. Raymond says he was introduced to roundabouts while overseas and says he’s surprised it took so long for them to make their way to the states.

He’s seen them placed all over Monterey County, including Marina and Monterey and now he’ll see one where he commutes most where Sanborn and Boronda meet.

The projects along both Sanborn and Las Casitas are part of the city’s “traffic prioritization” list and was studied using the city’s Intersection Control Evaluation.

“We are always monitoring speeds and we do radar speed surveys to evaluate how fast cars are going on a roadway so we can properly design a roundabout or traffic signal or other roadway improvements,” says City Traffic Engineer Andrew Easterling.

Residents, meanwhile, say traffic can be backed up at Sanborn and Boronda during peak hours.

Part of the reason? A number of schools and businesses are nearby. Homes as well.

Some like the idea of adding a roundabout for Sanborn/Boronda but others feel it may cause more of a problem. Residents say a traffic light at that intersection would be better as drivers speeding along Boronda may end up causing an accident once they hit the roundabout.

“Roundabouts are typically safer than intersections in the sense that no one is gonna get t-boned in a roundabout,” says Easterling. “It’s just the ways cars enter the roundabout at slower speeds. You might see side-swipe collisions.”

A roundabout design was also considered for the Las Casitas/Constitution intersection but ultimately traffic engineers felt a traffic light would be better for that intersection, not just for the cost but also for how massive of a scale a roundabout in that area would have to be.

A completion date for the projects has not been determined, as a consultant and official design is still in the works.