Roundabouts in Apponaug

There’s no going back.

The die was cast at least a decade ago, when after public hearings where roundabouts were touted as the wave of the future, they were adopted as the solution to Apponaug traffic. It all made perfect sense. Instead of coming to a standstill at intersections, traffic would keep flowing, people would get where they want, and a village once choked with automobiles would experience a rebirth.

There were the skeptics who questioned, aren’t roundabouts just another name for rotaries? They pointed to the Bourne Bridge rotary, which isn’t always running like clockwork, and the delightful confusion of Parisian traffic circling the Arc de Triomphe and wondered if Apponaug might get the same. Of course, the Apponaug versions wouldn’t be as large, but then we would get five of them and some Parisian madness would be fun.

The engineers and planners had an answer. Roundabouts are different. They are smaller and traffic entering them is angled into the traffic flow in such a manner that they must reduce speed. Their solution made sense: keep things moving.

Plans were drawn up. Apponaug, where traffic was already circulating in the form of a giant wheel, was to be divided into a series of smaller wheels. Getting from those plans to the real thing has taken more years than expected and more money than imagined.

It was the mid-1990s when then mayor Lincoln Chafee celebrated the inclusion of $11 million in the state transportation improvement plan for the Apponaug bypass. The project unfolding before us, which is slated for completion next year, is costing $71 million. About $30 million of that is for the actual construction, with the bulk of the remainder spent on land acquisition, demolition and engineering. The work has also involved the relocation and replacing of water and gas lines and electric.

And what’s it done for traffic?

We’re starting to see that. Predictably, there have been some bumps other than those caused by construction. There are the reports of motorists driving the wrong way around partially completed roundabouts. And how many times have we encountered fearful drivers immobilized when instead, as the planners told us, they should be easily entering the flow?

We’ve been told there’s a learning curve. And, yes, it would seem those who frequently drive through Apponaug are getting the hang of it. Traffic is moving. The work is impressive, especially the new Veterans Memorial Drive and extension to the Centerville and Toll Gate Road roundabout. And if you have time, although taking your eyes off the traffic could be risky, check out the stonework that went into the roundabouts, walls and bridges. This is a quality project.

Will it breathe new energy into Apponaug; will it make the village a destination?

That would be good. In the meantime, drive carefully and tell yourself this a good thing.