Vienna Town Council Changes Course, Cancels Roundabout Project

VIENNA, VA — A new roundabout won't be coming to the Town of Vienna after all.

Vienna Town Council has changed course and voted Monday to not proceed with a mini roundabout project at Church Street and East Street NE. The town began pursuing the roundabout project with an approved revenue-sharing grant in 2019. In 2024, Town Council had voted to award a design contract for the project. The cancellation follows a request by Town Council in a work session to hold it to a vote on canceling or continuing design.

Town of Vienna's Director of Public Works Brad Baer summed up the pros and cons of the project that Town Council discussed at the work session.

"The benefits that were presented were that the roundabouts, they safely and more efficiently move pedestrians and vehicles through an intersection with reduced speeds, less conflict points where vehicles could hit vehicles or pedestrians, shorter crosswalks with refuges for pedestrians and also the grant that we received," said the Town of Vienna's Director of Public Works Brad Baer. "Reasons to not proceed were also discussed. There was a stop sign installed at this intersection concurrently with awarding the design project after a pedestrian was injured and there was a discussion on since the installation and implementation of that stop sign, that the intersection is functioning well."

A roundabout, also known as a traffic circle, is an alternative to a traditional stop sign or traffic signalized intersection. Drivers will yield to traffic that has already entered the circle before entering themselves. The town has an existing roundabout at Park Street and Locust Street SE near the Vienna Community Center and Washington & Old Dominion Trail. Larger roundabouts may differ from mini roundabouts like the existing one in Vienna.

Councilmember Ray Brill introduced the motion to cancel the project. He told Town Council he goes through that intersection 10 to 12 times a week and sees vehicles stop at the stop sign.

"What I really like about it is that the stop sign is before the crosswalk in every part of the intersection," said Brill. "If it can be any safer than that, I don't know what it would be. There's no reason to have a roundabout."

Mayor Linda Colbert shared an opposing opinion that roundabouts are safer than stop signs.

"I get a lot of emails from people saying that cars are not stopping at stop signs. I know that area was congested too during rush hours," said Colbert. "Those were original reasons to put the roundabout in. There was a near-fatal accident there. She was very seriously injured. I thought that sealed it for me that we should go ahead with the roundabout."

Councilmember Chuck Anderson said he believes roundabouts reduce vehicle conflicts. However, the council member believes there wouldn't be enough of a safety improvement to justify project cost increases.

"If we had a repeated problem with pedestrian safety on this intersection, especially since we put in the traffic signs, I might consider differently," said Anderson. "But even before the stop signs, we had like one incident in memory that was serious. Since the stop sign, we've had none."

Baer said that $100,000 of $380,000 design contract funds have been spent. The remaining $140,000 of the town's portion of the revenue-sharing grant could go toward other eligible transportation projects, according to the public works director.