Schaumburg trustees are moving forward with a regionally rare roundabout at Braintree Drive and Weathersfield Way that would be the village’s fourth, but still the first in a residential neighborhood.
Tuesday’s unanimous vote backs up a March decision to consider adding a compact roundabout, requiring no additional land acquisition, to consultant Kimley-Horn and Associates’ engineering of a future reconstruction of Braintree Drive from Wise Road to Weathersfield.
Though the reconstruction won’t start until 2026, Trustee Brian Bieschke, who chairs the transportation committee, said this week’s decision was the most important to the planning.
“This is the real commitment,” he said.
Though the cost is still unknown and considered eligible for federal grant-funding assistance, the earlier March vote made clear that design work for a roundabout would add $65,000 to the consultant’s engineering fee.
Bieschke raised the possibility of the roundabout in December, saying he saw potential at Braintree and Weathersfield because they’re both classified as minor collector streets.
The benefits of roundabouts — increased safety, efficiency and lower emissions from idling vehicles — lend them more favorably to potential federal funding, he added.
The intersection of Braintree Drive and Weathersfield Way is the proposed location for Schaumburg’s fourth roundabout to be no earlier than 2026.
John Starks/jstarks@dailyherald.com
“They’re traffic-calming, and that’s one of the issues,” Bieschke said. “They’re less likely to have accidents. They’re safer for pedestrians.”
Bieschke said his faith in roundabouts was partly founded by a trip to Ireland where they’re routine. But he understands that they’re uncommon in the Midwest, inspiring anxiety.
“Is it a learning curve? Yes,” he said. “But they’re not difficult.”
When Schaumburg opened its first roundabout in the industrial area at Plum Grove and Remington roads in 2018, it was the first true roundabout in the Northwest suburbs. Cumberland Circle at Golf and Wolf roads in Des Plaines was classified as a traffic circle at the time because it required full stops at each of its five entrances.
The intersection of American Lane and National Parkway is the location of Schaumburg’s newly opened third roundabout.
John Starks/jstarks@dailyherald.com
Schaumburg’s second roundabout is at Plum Grove Road and State Parkway, and the third was recently completed at American Lane and National Parkway.
After the board’s March decision, village staff set up an informational website and scheduled a May meeting of which 170 nearby households were notified and 12 attended.
Schaumburg trustees have given the go-ahead for the engineering of a proposed roundabout at the intersection of Braintree Drive and Weathersfield Way that would be part of a future reconstruction of Braintree all the way to Wise Road.
Courtesy of village of Schaumburg
The village received 17 written comments regarding the roundabout proposal, with 13 of them stating opposition. Among those, several worried motorists wouldn’t be required to yield to pedestrians, officials said. One comment supported the roundabout; the other three were noncommittal.