Wenatchee City Council merges into the world of circular intersections at roundabout workshop

WENATCHEE– In preparation for a long awaited update of the intersection at Crawford Avenue and Okanogan Avenue, City Project Engineer Zachary Horton held an educational workshop at the Wenatchee City Council. With a presentation from Roundabout Subject Matter Expert Sean Samsel, the workshop centered around demystifying circular intersections and educating the City Council on the many benefits they provide to local infrastructure. 

Samsel, project manager at KPG Psomas (the company acting as consultants for the intersection project), gave a thorough presentation to the City Council, explaining various forms of circular intersections and the proper ways for drivers and pedestrians to navigate them. For example, the Crawford and Okanogan project consists of a mini-roundabout that is intended to encourage slow speeds while increasing the overall traffic efficiency of the local area. Such an intersection increases both the safety and efficacy of local roadways.

This increase in safety is especially important for the Crawford and Okanogan intersection due to the presence of multiple schools in its proximity. As a result of its location, the intersection receives high levels of both young pedestrians and motor traffic, posing a hazard to local children while forming a bottleneck for travelers trying to turn left from Okanogan Ave. onto Crawford Ave. 

With the inclusion of a roundabout at this intersection, City Project Engineer Horton believes both of these pressing issues are easily tackled. 

“The overall benefit would be the safety improvement for multimodal transportation considerations, specifically pedestrians and bicyclists. It’s going to slow speed down on that corridor considerably. And as Sean touched on in his presentation, speed is really the driving factor in determining whether an accident is fatal or not,” Horton explained. 

As many who have driven through the area have experienced, a left turn onto Crawford Ave. during school hours often leaves drivers stuck for minutes at a time, causing the bulk of the intersection’s traffic congestion. According to Horton, the new roundabout will eliminate this congestion and allow for vehicles to enter Crawford Ave. with higher security and efficiency. 

“The other benefit it has,” Horton commented. “when we replace [the current intersection] with the roundabout, it’ll actually improve the average vehicle delay at that location. So, left hand turning movements only have to yield to one direction of traffic before they get in the circle… opposed to how it is right now where they pull up to a stop sign, they have to look for a gap in both directions of traffic, which makes it a lot harder to actually make that movement.”

Alongside ensuring that speeds at the intersection are lowered, the new roundabout is also planned to increase pedestrian safety through improved crosswalk features. Roundabout Expert Samsel explained to the City Council the significant crosswalk upgrades included in a roundabout project. One of the major safety improvements of a roundabout at Crawford and Okanogan, he revealed, is a shortening of the overall crossing distance for pedestrians. This is done by breaking long and exposed pedestrian crossings into two shorter stages with a lane-splitting island. With the use of a splitter island between lanes, pedestrians can make crossings with the ability to stop and wait in the middle of the road, providing more secure opportunities for them to cross and evaluate their safety.

As Samsel reveals, “When you go to a roundabout, the crossing distances generally get much shorter. And the concept of a two stage crossing is that [pedestrians] only have to look for traffic in one direction at a time, which helps especially with school children or visually impaired users. It helps a lot in terms of their safety of crossing where they can look in one direction at approaching vehicles, make a short crossing of 12 to 15 feet instead of 40 in one go, and have a nice refuge to sit where they’re protected from traffic.” 

Project Engineer Horton also clarified that the City additionally aims to install rapid flashing beacons (RFBs) for crosswalks at the intersection.

“If there’s room in the budget, we’re exploring putting actuated beacons on both legs of Crawford, it just depends if the money is available,” Horton added in response to Council Member Kieth Huffaker’s concern for the safety of local school children at the intersection.

Overall, an inclusion of a roundabout is anticipated to increase both the safety and efficiency of the Crawford and Okanogan intersection. Intersection Control Evaluation (ICE) has found roundabouts to reduce overall traffic delays by an impressive 13% to 65%.

The project is currently in its design phase, with construction and completion planned for 2026. All $1,965,500 of funding for the intersection project was secured through Washington State’s Climate Commitment Act. 

To see a full recording of the Wenatchee City Council’s workshop, visit https://youtu.be/Mhz5Tj5QQXY at the City’s official Youtube channel, Wenatchee TV. 

To learn more about the Crawford and Okanogan Intersection project, visit https://www.wenatcheewa.gov/government/city-projects/crawford-and-okanogan-intersection-improvements for a complete project overview. 

Will Nilles: (509) 731-3211 or will@ward.media