VICTORY BY UNANIMOUS VOTE BY THE CITY COUNCIL YESTERDAY (4/4/23) 7 - 0!

A big THANK YOU to all the residents of this beautiful, walkable, Dundee neighborhood who signed this petition and helped us stop the roundabouts. Besides the online signatures we had an additional 190 signatures on paper petition that concentrated mainly on Farnam St, 50th St and 52nd St, for a total of 821 voices of Dundee! THANK YOU!

PLEASE SIGN THE PETITION to help us stop the roundabouts on Farnam Street at 50th and 52nd Streets! Your address is required to show City Council you live and drive locally.

We need your support to stop the City Council vote for the funding of the design of the roundabouts which will be coming up on the agenda on TUESDAY, APRIL 4TH at 2:00 PM! This public meeting will be held at the Legislative Chambers, 1819 Farnam Street, Omaha, NE 68183. WE NEED YOU THERE to show them that the Dundee neighbors are opposed to the roundabouts!

We want to get the word out so people understand why we are against the roundabouts and why they will NOT FIX FARNAM and that the changes to the lights already did!

Timing Changes to Existing Lights have reduced accidents by a significant amount

• During the study period over half of the crashes were from running the red light
• Timing changes to the existing lights in April 2021 have decreased the incidents of crashes at 52nd and Farnam alone by 70% and will continue to provide a safe crossing for pedestrians
• Now lights in both directions stay red for 4 to 5 seconds before one changes to green
• City crash data for 2021 at 52nd and Farnam shows 5 crashes before the change and only 3 crashes the rest of the year
• That is 1.25 crashes/month down to .375 crashes/month, a 70% reduction in crashes!
• In 2022 there were only 3 crashes down from an average of 5 per year

Pedestrian Safety

• Pedestrian safety is our top priority
• Dundee is the 4th or 5th most walkable community in Omaha
• There are several schools in the neighborhood and many school children walking to those schools
• It is unreasonable to expect pedestrians, to safely navigate the roundabout waiting for breaks in traffic since traffic will no longer be required to stop
• We have had ZERO pedestrian accidents at 50th or 52nd during the study period and up to the present with the existing signalized intersection
• Even Justin Zetterman (P. E. Project Manager, Public Works Division, City of Omaha) agreed that there isn’t good data on pedestrian safety in roundabouts

Comparable Roundabout is a Complete Disaster!

• All roundabouts are not created equal and there are many successful roundabouts mainly in newer developments where the roundabouts were designed first before development around them
• Todd Pfitzer, former City Engineer, suggested we look at the roundabout at the intersection at N 78th & Crown Point Avenue because it is comparable to our intersections based on the traffic volumes and uneven traffic flow
• City crash data for that intersection shows that in the four-year period before the roundabout was installed there were an average of 2.5 crashes per year
• After the roundabout was completed, in just the first ten months of 2022, there have been 5 reported crashes
• That is double the number of crashes at that intersection in just ten months!

Roundabouts Not Recommended When There is Uneven Traffic Flow (USDOT)

• Roundabouts are not an effective option when there is uneven traffic flow
• Based on the city data the East/West traffic flow is as much as 80% higher than the North/South traffic flow
• Unbalanced traffic flow between approaches can lead to a disrespect for the yield upon entry rules (Are Roundabouts a Silver Bullet? August 23, 2016, by Bryant Ficek, PE, PTOE)
• Traffic going East/West during the rush hours will not allow traffic in from the North/South and the North/South traffic will get backed up

Projected Traffic Volumes are Overstated

• The Farnam Street Corridor Study showed that traffic volumes at 50th and 52nd were decreasing long before COVID
• The study does not indicate that their projections were adjusted to reflect the growth in population East of Saddle Creek
• Mutual of Omaha has everyone working from home unless there is a need to be in the office
• Union Pacific has a 50% work from home policy where employees are in the office 50% of the time and can work from home 50% of the time.
• A growing number of businesses have moved to some type of hybrid approach to home/office work hours