How We “Fixed” our High Crash Roundabouts…Did it Work?

Letty Schamp

Director of Transportation & Mobility
City of Hilliard

Letty Schamp is the Director of Transportation & Mobilty for the City of Hilliard, Ohio. She has been involved in the planning, design, and construction of twenty roundabouts in Hilliard with more planned in the future.

Letty is active in local, statewide, and national safety initiatives, including updating the Ohio Driver’s Education curriculum, assisting in the development of statewide design guidance and city code to improve safety for all road users, and leading in roundabout education & outreach.

Letty holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Civil Engineering from The Ohio State University and is a registered Professional Engineer in the State of Ohio.

In 2011, the City of Hilliard opened two multi-lane roundabouts, and the two intersections immediately experienced a high number of vehicle crashes. In 2017, the City initiated a study to investigate crash patterns, evaluate speeds, and develop countermeasures to "fix" the roundabouts.

Beginning in 2019 and continuing through 2021, the City advanced various countermeasures, including a targeted roundabout education & outreach campaign and infrastructure modifications to signs, markings, geometric elements, and installation of raised crosswalks.

The City has monitored crashes and vehicle speeds over the past five years to evaluate effectiveness of the countermeasures. Did the countermeasures work?

This presentation will provide a brief overview of the problems and challenges with the multi-lane roundabouts, countermeasures implemented, and results of extension review of crash reports and vehicle speeds.

Learning Objective 1: To identify challenges of multi-lane roundabouts.
Learning Objective 2: To identify potential countermeasures to improve operations and safety of multi-lane roundabouts.
Learing Objective 3: To provide information on the use of raised crosswalks at multi-lane roundabout and the impact on vehicle speeds.
Target Audience: Public agency engineers and designers

The "2x2 Roundabout problem" has been well-documented in recent years, and many public agencies are working to make improvements and modifications to existing 2x2 roundabouts to address the prevalence of high PDO crashes. This presentation shares changes made in Hilliard, Ohio and their effectiveness to help guide future roundabout designs and best practices across the US.