Palm Springs council cancels controversial roundabout on south side of downtown — again

A proposal to build a roundabout at one of the most prominent and complicated intersections in Palm Springs is dead — again — after the city council voted not to continue with plans for the project.

In 2021, the council voted to allocate money for the construction of a roundabout at the five-way intersection where Palm Canyon Drive, Indian Canyon Drive and Camino Parocela intersect on the south end of downtown Palm Springs.

The idea of replacing the traffic signals with a roundabout has been considered by city staff since at least 2017, when it emerged as part of the plans to turn Indian Canyon Drive from a one-way road into a two-way one to provide better access to businesses along it.

That switch to two-way traffic happened in 2020. But the roundabout idea had been shelved in 2018 because of concerns there wasn't room to build one large enough to accommodate fire trucks and other large vehicles without displacing businesses.

But then a new ovular design was proposed in 2020 and ultimately unanimously approved by the council in 2021.

Yet at the council's latest meeting Thursday, Mayor Jeffrey Bernstein and councilmembers Lisa Middleton and Grace Garner voted to cancel the project while Councilmember Christy Holstege abstained. Councilmember Ron deHarte was absent from the meeting.

Why was the roundabout proposed?

The city has said the roundabout would be safer than the existing lights and reduce traffic accidents, with data showing intersections with roundabouts have a lower rate of crashes than similar intersections with lights. It has also said a roundabout would allow vehicles to move through the intersection more quickly.

Why was the project canceled?

Middleton said the council had gotten feedback from businesses located at the intersection that the multi-year construction timeline for the roundabout would be “an exceptional burden for them to undertake.”

“This project is an example of something that if we were building from scratch would have been a really positive way to solve a traffic issue,” she said. “But we are not building from scratch.”

The intersection is home to several businesses and commercial areas on all sides, including the Sun Center strip mall and a motel. It is also serves as a major gateway for people driving to downtown Palm Springs and points beyond.

During their discussion Thursday, multiple council members brought up their desire to consider what could be done to ensure projects are not canceled once they have been greenlit.

Middleton said the lesson of the roundabout plan is that the city should reach out to all the businesses that would be impacted by major construction as soon as possible to take their concerns into consideration. However, she added that the council had done the right thing in this instance by listening to the community.

The cancellation came about two months after a community meeting held in March about the proposed roundabout attended by Middleton. A Facebook post about the meeting and roundabout drew over 100 comments that showed the degree to which the community was divided, with the plan derided by some and praised by others as a solution to the intersection's current "mess."

Where did the project stand?

The design had been approved and construction documents — essentially the blueprints that guide construction — were being completed.

Councilmembers said construction was expected to have taken multiple years. However, an exact timeline had not been determined because design of the project was still being completed.

Is the intersection currently unsafe?

Deputy City Manager Flinn Fagg said five-way intersections are generally considered to be problematic and have an elevated risk of crashes if they are not appropriately designed. He said that between 2019 and 2023, there were eight accidents and one fatality at the intersection, according to city data. When asked if those crashes could’ve been avoided if a roundabout had been in place, Flagg said it is not possible to know.

What will happen now?

Fagg said the design work that had been done on the project will be kept on file by the city so that it's available in case there is a desire to resurrect the project. However, he said no additional work will be done or money spent.

The council asked city staff to continue to monitor crash patterns in the area so that the council could consider restarting the roundabout plan if safety issues warrant it. However, the council said it wanted to cancel the project for now to provide certainty to business owners that it will not be built unless crashes increase significantly.

How much would the roundabout have cost?

The engineering firm hired by the city to oversee the project estimated in 2021 that it would cost around $2.5 million. However, the city estimates that increases in construction costs since then would put the the project's cost at around $3.5 million.

How much was spent?

A staff report published by the city with the city council agenda does not say how much has been spent on the project. In 2020, the council approved paying about $236,000 to the firm to finalize construction documents.

The city's most recent capital improvement plan schedule shows about $3.4 million budgeted for the project. Fagg told the council that about $2.22 million in city funds will be available to use for other projects as a result of the cancellation. That money will be available over several years because of how the money had been allocated, with about $950,000 of it available now.

The report noted funds had so far been allocated for the design of the project and needed property acquisition to accommodate it, but not for the full cost of construction.

Paul Albani-Burgio covers growth, development and business in the Coachella Valley. Follow him on Twitter at @albaniburgiop and email him at paul.albani-burgio@desertsun.com.

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Palm Springs cancels controversial roundabout plan — again