{"id":222398,"date":"2026-03-16T18:10:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-16T18:10:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/222398\/"},"modified":"2026-03-16T18:10:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-16T18:10:09","slug":"why-small-roundabouts-are-appearing-in-fresno-streets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/222398\/","title":{"rendered":"Why small roundabouts are appearing in Fresno streets"},"content":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s an odd bit of roadway on Wishon Avenue as one enters the Old Fig Garden neighborhood in Fresno. It\u2019s a circle of low concrete and brickwork marked by a red-and-white yield sign that leads drivers around, rather than through, the intersection.<\/p>\n

The mini traffic circle was installed last year to help with speeding on the tree-lined street, which connects Old Fig Garden with the Tower District, and came at the behest of neighbors.<\/p>\n

But it hasn\u2019t exactly been a welcomed addition.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have not got a lot of positive reactions,\u201d says District 7 Councilmember Nelson Esparza<\/a>, who pushed to get funding for the design and construction of project.<\/p>\n

The roundabout makes for a tight squeeze around the intersection, especially for trucks and other larger vehicles \u2014 and it\u2019s not uncommon to see drivers ignoring the thing altogether.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt seems to have caused more issues for residences than anything.\u201d<\/p>\n

The project to install the traffic circle (and a second yet-to-be-completed one at Wishon and Fountain Way) goes back to when he was first elected in 2019.<\/p>\n

There was a \u201cflood of constituents\u201d complaining about cars speeding on Wishon. Traffic studies were conducted and evaluations were made. The intersection didn\u2019t meet state and federal standards that would warrant the installation of stop signs. And the city, at the time, had a prohibition on speed bumps, though even now, the street wouldn\u2019t qualify for speed bumps under the city\u2019s limited-basis evaluations, Esparza says.<\/p>\n

The roundabout was \u201cone of the solid options to slow traffic in a visually appealing way.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A A pickup truck negotiates a roundabout along North Wishon Avenue at East Cortland Avenue on Thursday, March 12, 2026 in Fresno. ERIC PAUL ZAMORA ezamora@fresnobee.com The Echo Avenue roundabouts<\/p>\n

Several blocks away, in the Wilson Island Historic District<\/a>, another pair of roundabouts went up late last year; and for similar reason.<\/p>\n

\u201cResidents were experiencing speeding traffic on Echo, generally traveling northbound from the Olive Avenue commercial district through the neighborhood towards McKinley,\u201d the city of Fresno said, explaining the project in a message to The Bee.<\/p>\n

The two circles (on Echo avenue at Pine and Floradora avenues) were added to a repaving project already happening in the area, based upon requests from the Wilson Island neighborhood, and with money left over when the project came in under budget.<\/p>\n

The specific intersections were chosen based upon neighborhood input and \u201ctraffic engineering considerations,\u201d the city said.<\/p>\n

\"Speed A pickup truck negotiates one of the two mini traffic circles installed on North Echo Avenue on Thursday, March 12, 2026 in Fresno. ERIC PAUL ZAMORA ezamora@fresnobee.com <\/p>\n

The neighborhood roundabouts are a small-scale version of the traditional traffic circle, which improves the flow of traffic (sometimes multiple lanes worth) by guiding cars around a central island<\/a> in a counterclockwise direction. Think of the Belmont Avenue circle<\/a> near Roeding Park and Fresno Chaffee Zoo.<\/p>\n

By design, this decreases speed and increases safety as entering or exiting cars must yield to other vehicles and (in the case of residential roundabouts) bicyclists and pedestrians.<\/p>\n

Reactions to these neighborhood roundabouts point to a struggle that can happen in governance, Esparza says. Being responsive to the needs of a neighborhood can mean balancing sometimes conflicting concerns.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes, it does not all line up exactly,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

At that, Esparza put on hold the second traffic circle once he began hearing complaints. It\u2019s now on his to-do list to figure out a way to reconstruct or redesign the circle at Wishon and Cortland avenues to make it better work for everyone.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then,\u201d he says, \u201cfigure out the next one.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Speed Speed bumps were installed on North Echo Avenue south of McKinley Avenue. Photographed Thursday, March 12, 2026 in Fresno. ERIC PAUL ZAMORA ezamora@fresnobee.com \"A A mini traffic circle is seen along North Echo Avenue south of Fresno High School at Pine Street Thursday, March 12, 2026 in Fresno. ERIC PAUL ZAMORA ezamora@fresnobee.com \"A A car negotiates a roundabout on southbound North Wishon Avenue at East Cortland Avenue on Thursday, March 12, 2026 in Fresno. ERIC PAUL ZAMORA ezamora@fresnobee.com
\n Related Stories from Fresno Bee<\/p>\n

Joshua Tehee<\/a><\/p>\n

The Fresno Bee<\/p>\n

Joshua Tehee covers breaking news for The Fresno Bee, writing on a wide range of topics from police, politics and weather, to arts and entertainment in the Central Valley.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There\u2019s an odd bit of roadway on Wishon Avenue as one enters the Old Fig Garden neighborhood in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":222399,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[112,114,113,101574,101575,14946,101576],"class_list":["post-222398","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fresno","tag-fresno","tag-fresno-headlines","tag-fresno-news","tag-fresno-traffic-circles","tag-neighborhood-roundabouts","tag-traffic-calming","tag-wishon-avenue"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222398","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=222398"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222398\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/222399"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=222398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=222398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=222398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}