Editor,

My husband and I recently attended the open house on the proposed Sharpes Corner roundabouts. It was very well laid out with excellent drawings showing what their plans are. We are excited to see this come about. Here’s what we learned:

• Roundabouts and traffic circles are not the same thing. A roundabout has curved approaches designed to slow the traffic down before reaching the roundabout;

• There is a planned bypass for traffic heading to Anacortes. This traffic will not enter the roundabout;

• Most of the traffic entering the roundabout will be traffic from Anacortes to Burlington, traffic headed to Whidbey, and a small amount of traffic will be coming from the Whidbey direction and headed to Anacortes;

• Traffic headed to Whidbey will rarely have to stop since most of the traffic in the roundabout will be leaving the roundabout headed to Burlington. Since traffic headed to Whidbey will rarely have to stop, there should be fewer backups;

• As people become used to the roundabouts, they will learn to signal as they leave. But I can tell you from experience driving in Denmark, Pt. Townsend, Anacortes, the Guide Meridian and Burlington, that even without signals the spacing and design is such that getting on is a piece of cake, and;

• The roundabout at Gibralter Road is necessary because the traffic will be coming through at such a steady pace that it becomes impossible to make a left turn out of there.

We look forward to what we anticipate will be smooth sailing through the intersection.

John and Rita Cline

Oak Harbor