If that’s not bad enough, the county did (does?) a poor job of clearing the actual roundabouts. Sections of the roundabouts are clearly marked as having 2 lanes, but often the WCRC only cleared 1 lane, which naturally led to some interesting traffic issues.

Finally, many of those downed light poles have indeed been down far longer than they were ever up. I’m talking years here. One of them was knocked over literally within days of the roundabouts’ opening.

I spoke with Jim Harmon of the Washtenaw County Road Commission, who was able to explain who is not responsible: WCRC and MDOT. Harmon described communication between AAPS and WCRC on the topic in the form of the attendance of Skyline High School’s principal at a WCRC board meeting. However, WCRC doesn’t take on work like that, at least partly because it’s not resourced with the kind of equipment it takes to do that efficiently – rotating brooms and such.

So from a legal standpoint, responsibility will most likely fall to the local municipalities – either city of Ann Arbor or Ann Arbor Township.

The poles are down due to collisions, not structural defect of the poles. The placement of the poles is currently being redesigned – the idea is that if motorists are crashing into them, their placement could be improved. Moving the location back further from the roadway, in turn, might require a different lighting requirement for the lamp.

The locational redesign and specification of the new poles is expected by January 2012. From the point of ordering new poles, 8-10 weeks will be required for them to arrive. From that point, the installation could be delayed by poor weather.

I drive those roundabouts often, with a daughter at Skyline, and they work very well, except that some drivers seem to be rather timid about going through–but better timid than too bold.