Residents complain about Altura ’roundabout’

Drivers coming up from Copia can only see a hill. Some may see a sign calling for slow speeds, but some won’t. And just before its too late, they’ll see a roundabout in between Altura and Myles that catches more people off guard and has caused more accidents in this Central El Paso neighborhood than ever before.

“We’ve been here for over 25 years and we haven’t seen as many accidents in those 25 years as we have in the last three years that this has been up, said resident Sylvia Uribe.

Uribe says she thinks people don’t understand the yield process for roundabout. Not only that but they can’t see it coming. She tells me she wishes the city just installed speed bumps.

“It really hasn’t slowed down the speed,” Uribe said. “People are still coming and barreling down the street, up the street, and I don’t think it’s really stopping people from driving fast.”

So fast they crash. It’s been a series of drunk-driving and careless accidents since 2011, leaving the homes on the corner with hundreds of dollars of damage which drivers can still see from a collision last week.

The traffic has gone down probably by 50 percent and the speed has dropped by 7-8 miles per hour,” said Department of Transportation Interim Director Ted Marquez.

The city has already send staff to take pictures and is investigating the accidents. But they say, the roundabout works.

“We’re going to go look and see whether we need to add additional signage, maybe some additional paint, and maybe add another street light,” Marquez said.

For now, residents like Uribe are stuck with a traffic-calming device that’s putting them on edge.