Town to Construct Roundabout at Dranesville and Park Intersection

The Herndon Town Council decided to move forward with plans for intersection improvements at Park Avenue and Monroe Street, as well as constructing a traffic circle at Dranesville Road and Park Avenue on Tuesday night. The improvements are to serve as a traffic calming measure.

The design for Park and Monroe will include putting a dedicated left turn lane in from northbound Monroe Street to Park Avenue. The improvements also include cross walks and medians as cars approach the intersection.

Monroe Street north of Park Avenue will be realigned so that drivers will drive north on Monroe, turn right at Park and then will turn left onto Monroe north of Park, rather than driving straight through the intersection.

At Dranesville and Park a traffic circle will be installed, as well as medians will be installed along Park Avenue and Dranesville Road approaching the intersection.

Members of the Town Council were most concerned about making sure the public learns how to successfully navigate the traffic circle.

The consultant from Vanasse Hangen Brustlin Inc. said the town should have a strong public awareness program as the traffic circle is constructed to be as proactive as possible.

He said studies have shown that most people have negative perceptions of traffic circles, or roundabouts, before one is placed in their commute, but after using the traffic circle find them preferable.

The Town of Herndon held public meetings on each of the intersection improvements in the summer. Read , and .