small,” he added. “From my experience, a roundabout needs some minimum circumference and needs some minimum distance between each exit point. We should consider having an Illinois law that a community can veto a proposed roundabout on any highways in that community.”

Booster Dan McFeely of Carmel, Indiana, wants Illinois to embrace roundabouts.

“We have built 102 roundabouts to date, the most of any city in America,” said McFeely, Carmel’s economic development director. “ ... We have steadily added them to Carmel over the past 20 years. They work wonderfully. And yes, we’ve seen a steady decline in accidents with injury.”

Business traveler Frank Kowalkowski of Grayslake thinks they work well “in low- to medium-traffic volumes where traffic is flowing smoothly and there are no backups or delays.” In other areas, he’s less of a fan.

“In higher traffic, the roundabouts become a barrier to good traffic flow. Dubai, for example, has traffic lights in some of their roundabouts to control traffic due to volume.”

Wheeling driver Fran Bentley gets the last word. She thinks the design can “sometimes be a challenge,” especially when it comes to the Cumberland Circle in Des Plaines. Bentley is also familiar with Florida roundabouts and the problems that occur with drivers who “choose to believe that they always have the right of way!”

Gridlock alert

Drivers headed west on I-90 near Marengo should watch for intermittent nighttime full road closures on the toll road at Route 23 next week. The Illinois tollway is installing steel beams as part of a Route 23 bridge rebuild. Some westbound lanes will be closed Wednesday and eastbound lanes Thursday.

One more thing

Pace’s Bus on Shoulder movement is growing. After Pace express buses gained the ability to hop on the I-55 shoulder lane during rush-hour traffic jams, ridership grew. The program is coming to I-90 and most recently the Edens Expressway, IDOT announced. The state has begun improvements to the Edens shoulder lanes between Foster Avenue and Lake-Cook Road to accommodate Pace Routes 626 and 620. Work on the $7 million project will take place mostly at night.

What triggers shoulder power? Speeds must drop below 35 mph.