Roundabout

by Joseph Gallagher, Stevensville

There are several signal lights along Hwy 93 in the Bitterroot Valley, e.g.  Lolo, Florence, Stevensville, Victor, Corvallis, and several in the town of Hamilton.  

It goes without saying that a timed signal light at Bell Crossing that would stay green along the Hwy 93 corridor until traffic approached that intersection from Bell Crossing would be much cheaper and faster, to achieve safer and better traffic flow at that intersection and would be a more reasonable solution.

And when I say a timed traffic light, I mean a smart traffic light at that intersection which keeps traffic moving along the north-south 93 corridor until vehicle traffic on Bell Crossing reaches that intersection. The traffic light would then turn green to allow both crossing traffic and merging traffic onto Hwy 93 for a brief period of time after which the traffic light along the Hwy 93 direction would turn green and only turn red again when traffic again reached that intersection from Bell Crossing.

That solution would be cheaper and quicker to achieve than a roundabout solution which will definitely slow down traffic along Hwy 93 corridor and might even cause accidents with vehicles entering that roundabout at higher than normal rates of speed. Night driving through that roundabout could be hazardous for the unaccustomed driver using Hwy 93 too.

Finally, the money saved on not building that roundabout could then be put to much better use to repair secondary roads in the valley which are just patch jobs after patch jobs. For example, has anyone driven down Store Lane Road in Stevensville between Ambrose Creek Road and Three Mile Road lately? That road is really something to see, folks. Talk about a patch job.