Roundabout Opens Round About 10am

By Mike Devlin

Image not recoverednewhall-roundabout-ariels-drake-1.jpg

Photo credit: Ryan Drake, I'm guessing.

As golden shovels lead way to giant novelty scissors, the city's brand new Newhall Ave./Main Street roundabout will get its ribbon cut on Thursday morning.

No oak trees or statues of silent cowboys will rest in its core, but I think it looks pretty nice anyway. Count me as a fan. It looks nice, it ties that part of the neighborhood together well, and science proves all you naysayers wrong.

As though to troll the haters, the city has mixed three caustic elements— roundabouts, video cameras, and drones into one awesome video. Score one for Newhall.

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Comments (25)

larmccThursday, January 23rd, 2014 at 9:26 am

Will the city be selling postcards that feature the roundabout as well?

scvmommaThursday, January 23rd, 2014 at 10:15 am

Im not a fan of the roundabout. This is probably do to my lack of using them. Im sure Im not alone and I feel that would lead to confusion and higher probability of accidents

JoshPremakoThursday, January 23rd, 2014 at 1:09 pm

If you do a quick Google search on roundabouts, you'll find that a number of studies have found them to be quite safe.

TalkToMissVThursday, January 23rd, 2014 at 11:32 am

I like ours, (IN Castaic) but it isnt for the feint of heart, or those AFRAID to drive!. There is a theory that there SHOULD be something in the middle though so people dont see all the way across (maybe the center is elevated here and I just cant tell?) you should only be gauging the cars to your immediate left when entering a round-about... this one should be very simple since it IS only 1 lane... please people, practice in THIS one before coming to Castaic to try ours LOL

JoshPremakoThursday, January 23rd, 2014 at 1:11 pm

Saying roundabouts aren't for the faint of heart is like saying driving isn't for the faint of heart.

BertaThursday, January 23rd, 2014 at 11:45 am

There seems to be a delay in receiving notification that articles have been posted. This article’s notice posted on Wednesday 1/22/14 @ 10:17pm but came in as a “new” article in my email inbox on Thursday @ 10:43 am. Am I the only one experiencing this delay?

MikeThursday, January 23rd, 2014 at 12:05 pm

Hmmm, dunno. I don't subscribe. This posted last night, But I think 10:43am today is roughly when the santaclarita.com Facebook page posted it, so maybe it's a manual notification. Not sure.

SantaClaritaDotComThursday, January 23rd, 2014 at 12:21 pm

Sorry, Berta...we have to manually send out the email, so sometimes there is a delay.

Coastal SageThursday, January 23rd, 2014 at 1:08 pm

The key to having a safe roundabout is having lots of detailed signs, to help people who are not from the local area safely circle and then turn right in the proper lane to get them where they want to go. The city of Wickenburg, Arizona built 2 roundabouts and there are frequent crashes when tourists come to a dead stop in the circle while trying to figure out where to go. And then there's a roundabout in the Dallas area, again a constant source of vehicle crashes because the Texans are too dumb to put up signs. Way back 13 or so years ago Santa Clarita was sued because a pedestrian boy was killed in a cross walk approved by former City Manager George Caravalho without the proper engineering having been done to make sure the location of the crosswalk was safe. I hope that the lack of signage understandable by non-Claritans will not make this roundabout into a drain on the city's funds as a result of future accidents by confused visitors.

TalkToMissVThursday, January 23rd, 2014 at 1:14 pm

The ONLY signs needed are *Keep Moving* & *Right Turn Only*

philellisThursday, January 23rd, 2014 at 4:54 pm

For some people two instructions might be too much.

evitalc31Thursday, January 23rd, 2014 at 5:47 pm

I don't know. We would much rather see a side walk on Sierra Highway where teens take the bus to and from school.

Bill ReynoldsFriday, January 24th, 2014 at 7:31 am

I am anxious to use that roundabout just to check it out, but hey... if you are not a fan of roundabouts does that make you a hater. C'mon Mike... get real.

MikeFriday, January 24th, 2014 at 9:12 am

oooh, they so sensitive

Bill ReynoldsFriday, January 24th, 2014 at 6:46 pm

No Mike, you are the sensitive one... someone on the other side of your perspective is a hater... that's what left wingers do.

MikeFriday, January 24th, 2014 at 10:21 pm

I think it's just you, actually. Anyway, not using it in that sense. The under-50 crowd would read it as "naysayers." "As though to intentionally provoke the naysayers..." Also, not meant literally. I don't think they did it on purpose, using a drone to further alarm the naysayers. Nor do I actually think naysayers were alarmed by drone, or if those alarmed by the drone are necessarily naysayers. Just having fun with words, that's all. It's like when you give someone a gap-toothed smile. You aren't actually saying they have fewer teeth. So sensitive.

Bill ReynoldsSunday, January 26th, 2014 at 7:20 am

Not sensitive at all... just noticed left wingers use that word "hate" excessively towards those with opposing views. BTW, drove through the roundabout yesterday and it works just fine (as expected).

MikeMonday, January 27th, 2014 at 11:42 am

Bill, I think some of my teasing is lost. Probably both of our faults ;) "Hater" is used tongue-in-cheek here, that's all.

Bill ReynoldsMonday, January 27th, 2014 at 11:47 am

Hi Mike, thank you for your comment... it's much appreciated. We should have coffee sometime.... :-)

HenryJenningsFriday, January 24th, 2014 at 1:50 pm

I hear Tony Strickland once got caught in a roundabout and didn't get out for almost 4 1/2 hours. It was in the hated Los Angeles City, I believe.

TalkToMissVFriday, January 24th, 2014 at 2:27 pm

BEST COMMENT OF THE YEAR!

evitalc31Friday, January 24th, 2014 at 3:17 pm

Now I am never going to drive through the roundbabout. I have a profound dislike for them. I guess you could say I am an avoider/hater. Lol.

SCVgirlFriday, January 24th, 2014 at 5:51 pm

I like the one in castaic, it makes getting on the freeway much faster. But it is really annoying when you have a car in the roundabout which stops at every intersection or doesn't understand the rules. I think a huge cowboy statue in the newhall roundabout would have been nice though.

Bill ReynoldsFriday, January 24th, 2014 at 6:49 pm

I hear that left winger Lee Rogers automatically went left at the roundabout resulting in a plethora of California salutes.

evitalc31Monday, January 27th, 2014 at 7:22 pm

Some of the teasing was not lost to me at least. I like it when people tease. I get a little chuckle out of it. I drove through the roundabout but almost witnessed an accident. There is always someone who will get confused.