During the Thursday, January 11 meeting, Ridgefield City Council appointed five members to the city’s first Roundabout Committee. The committee will research aesthetic designs for the central island in the City’s roundabouts, with a focus on safety and sustainability.
Roundabouts improve safety and traffic flow, reduce delay, and are less expensive to maintain when compared to traffic signals. Ridgefield has successfully added several roundabouts in recent years and the city plans to continue using roundabouts at intersections where appropriate in the future. The central island of roundabouts presents a unique opportunity for place-making design and the city is implementing a design process that is thoughtful, coordinated, and representative of the community.
Future roundabout designs should encourage and promote the history, landscape and culture of the City of Ridgefield while carefully considering vehicle safety, maintenance, and environmental sustainability. The selected committee members have unique backgrounds and interests that will combine to meet the goals for the project. All five members are residents of the City of Ridgefield.
• Position 1: Heather Gordon, a member of the Ridgefield Garden Club with experience and knowledge in local ecosystems and the native plants that sustain them.
• Position 2: Timothy Shell, a civil engineer who has been involved in the design and construction of hundreds of street improvement projects.
• Position 3: Kenton Erwin, a horticulture enthusiast with a lifelong history of planting trees, vineyards, orchards, and vegetable gardens.
• Position 4: Kelley McMorris, an artist with a specialty illustrating small American towns and a passion for native plants.
• Position 5: Tiffany Cohen, an event professional with experience understanding diverse community needs and inclusive decision making.
The committee will select a roundabout with an empty center island, solicit and review design concepts, review input from Public Works on constructability, cost, and maintenance, and make recommendations to City Council. After submitting their recommendation, the committee may revise the plan based on Council input if necessary, and then adjourn or move to the next roundabout.
The Roundabout Committee will support the City’s goal to retain the culture and history of Ridgefield and create spaces that residents can be proud of, and visitors will remember.