The last of three roundabouts on Valley Mall Boulevard in Union Gap is now open, and it's increasing traffic and confusion for drivers who don't know how to maneuver them.
A third roundabout on Valley Mall Boulevard is now open. And drivers who only recently got used to two built last year, may be more confused how to get around them now that there's more traffic to deal with. "Some of the drivers that aren't used to the roundabouts are not real sure about them, confused a little bit, so they tend to stop," says driver Bob Rosen.
"That puts a little more traffic into the roundabouts, but the same rules apply, you just need to look to your left and merge when it's free to go," says department of transportation administrator Don Whitehouse. We wanted to know how drivers are handling the roundabouts, so we set up a camera overlooking one of the roundabouts, and had Whitehouse comment on what he saw.
"Appears to be operating very efficiently, people are slowing down and slowing down if they have to yield," says Whitehouse. Most cars appeared to yield to others, but a red car did the wrong thing by not yielding to the driver already inside the circle.
"They don't have to stop unless they have a person on their left that's already in the roundabout," says Whitehouse. What the D.O.T. wants all drivers to know about roundabouts is that trucks are allowed to take up both lanes of the traffic circle.
"In the roundabouts they are allowed to straddle those lanes as they approach, they should straddle the lanes, therefore cars won't try to pass them as they proceed through the roundabout," says Whitehouse.
Some drivers we spoke with, have mixed opinions of the roundabouts on Valley Mall Boulevard. "A light set up would have been better, cause that makes somebody stop," says David Gordon. "My opinion is that it's cutting down on time, in congestion, traffic in this area, definitely," says Rosen. The project to build the three roundabouts on Valley Mall Boulevard in Union Gap cost $34 million.