Circular islands slow traffic on Chimborazo

Chimborazo Boulevard in Richmond's East End doesn't fit the typical profile of a drag strip.

For starters, it's not flat and it's relatively narrow. It's also fairly bumpy, the result of asphalt being used to pave over aging cobblestones.

But as the residents along the row house-lined street will tell you, looks can be deceiving.

"People have been speeding along this street for years. Can't get 'em to slow down," said Richard Thompson, a 50-year resident of the neighborhood.

Now, however, the city has come up with something that is winning praise in the neighborhood: raised circular islands in the middle of two Chimborazo intersections, impediments that are high and wide enough to require drivers to slow down as they maneuver around them.

The Department of Public Works installed two of them in late June, one each at M and Clay streets, on what it called a temporary basis, and it set up a telephone number for residents to call with their reactions.

"So far, it's been pretty much positive," department spokeswoman Sharon North said.

The city also considered putting in four-way stop signs at the M and Clay intersections, but that idea was dismissed for fear drivers would just roll straight through them without slowing.

The circular islands prevent that because they are about 8 inches high and roughly 20 feet in diameter, taking up enough space that drivers heading in either direction on Chimborazo have no choice but to reduce their speed and work around the impediments. Drivers crossing Chimborazo at M or Clay are greeted with stop signs.

There are no other such impediments being used in the city, and the public-works department has set no timetable for deciding whether to make Chimborazo's two temporary islands permanent.

"This was just something to look at that was a little different," North said. "It's just a little deflection."

City officials bristle at the term "roundabouts," electing instead to refer to the islands as "residential traffic circles."

Whatever your preference, the impediments have quickly become popular with residents along Chimborazo. Some have even said the installation of the islands seems to have prompted certain drivers to stay off Chimborazo, leading to a decrease in traffic on the street.

From the front porch of his home in the 600 block of Chimborazo, Thompson has a good view of both roundabouts. Thompson likes what he sees.

"It's a big difference," he said. "They've slowed the traffic down tremendously. A lot of people were speeding through here, and it was becoming a problem. A big problem.

"But now, these are going to save somebody's life, I believe."

Contact Joe Macenka at (804) 649-6804 or .