Editor:
Larimer County sent a letter regarding the Owl Canyon Corridor Project that shows a roundabout is planned for the intersection of County Roads 19 and 70. A roundabout is not the answer. Has the county considered the different sizes of vehicles that will have to use that roundabout?
We have lots of farms and ranches in northern Larimer County. They have to move product, livestock and equipment everywhere. Trucking companies drive doubles and triples up U.S. 287. They can be 110-feet long. We saw a FedEx truck have to drop two of its three vans on a section of Interstate 70 where drivers chain up their tires. The driver then took one van into Vail, delivered, went back and picked up his other two and continued on I-70. He had to do that because the roundabout couldn’t handle the length of his truck.
The City of Fort Collins and Larimer County like roundabouts for a variety of reasons. The bypass is being moved out here because that’s what the City of Fort Collins wants. If a roundabout is used that can’t handle semis with triples, the semis will go into Fort Collins and take U.S. 287 the whole way up, thus defeating the purpose of the new bypass.
Farmers are increasing their productivity by using wider implements so that they can plant a field in less time. Will the roundabout let their wider equipment through? The best answer for these issues is to put in a conventional four-way intersection.
Jana and Greg Hess
Wellington
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