At the November 13, 2025 Open House meeting and over the subsequent weeks, staff received the following questions from the community about the project and the proposed alternatives.
1. What is the purpose of this project?
The project goals and objectives include the following:
- Reduce corridor traffic speeds
- Improve pedestrian crossing safety
- Improve access for residential driveways along Paseo Padre Parkway, especially improving ease of residents backing out of driveways
- Facilitate efficient traffic flow and minimize traffic backups
- Discourage regional cut-through traffic
2. If City Council directed traffic signals, why are you looking at roundabouts?
As of 2018, the Federal Highway Administration provides the following guidance for intersections such as those under study:
When considering intersection safety improvements, roundabouts should be considered as an alternative for all new intersections or major modifications.
The City is completing its due diligence by evaluating roundabouts at both intersections to lower speeds, reduce crash rates, and improve motorists’ compliance to yield for pedestrians crossing Paseo Padre Parkway.
3. Is this project funded?
The City has funded the planning and design phases and appropriated another $2 million towards project construction. Additional funding may be needed to complete construction and would need to be identified as part of a separate City Council funding action.
4. Why can’t we just put stop signs at the intersection.
According to the California MUTCD, a STOP sign should be used only to assign right-of-way at low to moderate volume (a moderate volume could be considered as 900 VPH) intersections where traffic volumes, speeds, and crash history indicate that a simple control is sufficient. The traffic volume limit for using stop signs is considered to be 900 VPH; the peak volumes along Paseo are 1,750, significantly higher than what is considered appropriate for using stop signs. ….
When traffic volumes on the major street become high enough, a STOP sign causes large delays resulting in backup of vehicles. Also, when side street traffic is low, motorists tend to ignore the STOP sign resulting in potential safety issues. In these cases, a STOP sign is no longer appropriate.
As alternatives to a STOP sign, a traffic signal or a roundabout provides safer and more efficient traffic control when conditions meet the guidelines of the California MUTCD,.
5. Which is safer, a roundabout or a traffic signal?
Both traffic signals and roundabouts improve safety compared to uncontrolled or STOP-controlled high-volume intersection, but roundabouts are significantly safer overall, especially for severe crashes. The Federal Highway Administration’s studies show that modern single-lane roundabouts reduce crashes as noted below:
- Fatal crashes: Reduces by 90%
- Injury crashes: Reduces by 75%
- All crashes: Reduces by 35 to 45%
This is due to the following:
- Speeds reduce to 15 to 20 mph
- No left-turn “across traffic” conflicts
- Collison angles change from broadside to low-speed sideswipe
The following compares the features of the two approaches.
| Feature |
Roundabout |
Traffic SIgnal |
| Speed |
15 to 20 MPH |
35 MPH or more |
| Broadside Crash |
Unlikely |
Possible |
| Head-on Crash |
Unlikely |
Possible |
| Rear end Crash |
Lower |
Higher |
| Pedestrian Safety |
Slower speeds, but
depends on driver's
yielding
|
Pedestrian phase, but
depends on driver’s not
running lights |
| Power Outage |
No impact |
Becomes Four-way
STOP |
6. Drivers do not respect pedestrians crossing the road.
Reckless driver behavior is an ongoing problem in the City, the State, and the Country. The City cannot directly control the behavior of those using the roads; however, the City can design roadway improvements that enhance safety for all modes—vehicles, walking, and bicycling. Reducing the severity of collisions is a key design goal.
7. Has the City collected traffic data for the intersections?
Yes, we collected 48-hour speed, volume, vehicle class data along Paseo Padre between Covington Drive and Mento Drive as well as 48-hour turning movements at the intersections of Paseo Padre/Covington Drive and Paseo Padre/Olive Avenue in November 2024.
8. What was the result of the data collection?
The 24-hour vehicle count captured approximately 10,000 vehicles traveling along Paseo Padre Parkway between Convington Drive and Mento Drive.
Paseo Padre Parkway carries a two-way peak hourly volume as follows:
- About 1,00-1,750 vehicles per hour (VPH) during the morning peak
- About 1,050–1,100 VPH mid-day
- About 1,400–1,450 VPH during the afternoon peak
About 94% of the vehicles traveling along Paseo Padre Parkway are passenger cars.
9. How fast are people traveling on Paseo Padre Parkway?
From the data acquired in November 2024, the 85th percentile speed (meaning that 85% of vehicles are traveling at or below this speed) between Convington and Mento Drives was about 39 mph.
Additional speed data collected in March 2022 in a similar location along Paseo Padre found the 85th percentile speed was 44mph. The reduced speeds are attributed to the narrower lanes implemented in 2023.
10. Are you suggesting reducing the number of travel lanes on Paseo Padre Parkway?
No. The City plans to maintain four travel lanes, two in each direction and left turn lanes where they exist. For the roundabout option, the project considers using a single lane roundabout at the Convington and Olive intersections as it can accommodate the peak hour volume, and constructing a two-lane roundabout would require a larger footprint that would likely not fit within the existing intersection.
11. How do you go from two to one lane in the roundabout?
The travel lanes on each approach to the roundabout would merge from two to one over approximately 250 feet, providing a safe transition for motorists. The distance between the Covington and Olive intersections is about 1,400 feet.
12. Can the roundabouts handle the flow along Paseo Padre?
A single-lane roundabout typically handles 1,200 VPH per entry and about 2,000 VPH overall in circulation before performance degrades.
During the peak morning hour, Paseo Padre Parkway carried 688 northbound vehicles and 826 southbound, and Covington Drive received 236 vehicles. The total peak-hour volume at the intersection is 1,750 VPH, which is within the operating range of a single-lane roundabout. Both the total volume and the entering flows on each approach fall within typical single-lane roundabout capacity.
During the peak morning hour, Paseo Padre Parkway and Olive Avenue received 661 vehicles northbound and 758 southbound. Olive Avenue received 80 and 94 vehicles in eastbound and westbound directions, respectively. The total peak-hour volume at the intersection is 1,593 VPH, which is within the operating range of a single-lane roundabout. Both the total volume and the entering flows on each approach fall within typical single-lane roundabout capacity.
13. How does a roundabout reduce vehicle speeds?
Along Paseo Padre Parkway, the posted speed is 35 MPH. As vehicle enters the roundabout, the deflection and curvature require the driver to reduce speeds to between 15 to 25 mph. As the vehicle circulates the roundabout, the speeds typically range between15 to 20 mph. The street’s geometry physically reduces vehicle speed.
14. If there is only one travel lane near the roundabout, how will I back out of my driveway?
During a peak period, there is about 800 VPH traveling along Paseo Padre Parkway. However, traffic does not arrive in perfectly uniform spacing. Vehicles travel in platoons with gaps of varying lengths. A motorist typically needs about 7 seconds to back out safely. Using a statistical analysis to estimate gap availability, a usable gap of about 7 seconds would occur approximately every 21 seconds on average.
For driveways near the roundabout, vehicle speeds are expected to be lower than the existing 85th-percentile speed of 39 mph because of merging and the need to navigate the revised roadway geometry. This reduction in speed increases usable gaps and reduces average wait time.
15. Can large vehicles navigate the roundabout?
The concept roundabout as illustrated is sized to accommodate a City of Fremont fire truck as well as an AC Transit bus.
16. People are more familiar with traffic signals than roundabouts; will this not lead to delays and crashes?
Any new traffic control device requires the public to become familiar with it. This same adjustment period occurs when new stop signs or traffic signals are installed.
A study in Oregon observed that drivers generally adapt to roundabouts within the first few months after installation. During this period, driver errors and unfamiliar behaviors decline. Therefore, while there may be a short adjustment period, performance and safety typically improve with time.
17. What option does City staff prefer?
Staff is conducting a professional analysis of options along with community outreach and will provide a staff recommendation to the City Council at a later time. Staff does acknowledge that the research and studies completed on roundabouts conclude that they are better than traffic signals at addressing excessive speeding, reducing severe injury crashes, and enhance pedestrian crossings on major roadways such as Paseo Padre Parkway.
