It could be like a junior high dance all over again.

People cautiously circle, not quite sure of what to do next. Finally, one person, then another gets up the courage to merge over to the other side. The result can be either a horrific accident or a smooth exit, finally reaching the goal.

If Oak Harbor and the Washington Department of Transportation install up to six roundabouts along Highway 20 between Swantown Avenue and Cabot Drive, it would do so over time, WSDOT Planning Engineer Eric Shjarback said at a Thursday evening open house.

“There’s a period of adjustment,” Oak Harbor resident Margaret Nichols said. “Sometimes it’s a long period of adjustment.”

Nichols said she has encountered roundabouts while on the east coast. She said that people need to be educated on the proper etiquette for navigating them.

A roundabout is a traffic control device that circles traffic in the same direction with multiple outlets to allow people to turn off.

Oak Harbor resident Jim Campbell had to learn how to drive in a roundabout while living for two years in Scotland. He said that the newness of them created a problem for him at first, but he was soon able to zoom about with the locals.

“There’s nothing worse than being stuck in the middle of a roundabout and not knowing what leg to go out,” Campbell said.

The roundabouts are being considered as a means to alleviate the growing traffic congestion problems in Oak Harbor. The study focuses on six intersection along Highway 20 between Swantown Avenue and Cabot Drive.

The city is spending $20,000 and the state is chipping in another $10,000 to find the best possible ways to ease the burden of traffic. Oak Harbor experiences between 17,000 and 20,000 vehicles traveling Highway 20 between Swantown and Cabot Avenue each day. WSDOT planners estimate that number will increase to at least 30,000 vehicles each day by the year 2030.

For the long term, the roundabouts ease congestion for a longer time than traffic signals, Shjarback said.

“If we are constrained to two lanes in each direction, the signals end up failing around the year 2020,” he said.

Roundabouts have moved their way to the top of the list for a variety of reasons, but tops on the list is safety, Shjarback said. By having people navigate an obstacle at slow speeds, people are more aware of their surroundings.

“The flow of the traffic is neat,” he said. “The traffic just kind of disappears.”

You can reach News-Times reporter Eric Berto at eberto@whidbeynewstimes.com