Letter: Roundabout persecution brought waves of English, Irish emigrants

For years pundits have claimed that Americans are being dumbed down. I now have empirical evidence that this is true.

I left River Falls on Hwy. 65 and headed to Ellsworth. The last time I had taken this route was two years ago.

I had bumped my speed up to 55 mph when out of nowhere, at Cemetery Road, appeared a 15-mph roundabout. I couldn’t believe my eyes.

I successfully navigated the roundabout, went to Ellsworth and returned home by a different route. By the way, roundabouts originated in England and Ireland. Most motorists in those countries despise roundabouts.

Curious, I went to the area again. This time I exited on Cemetery Road and went west. Lo and behold another roundabout loomed ahead. This one was at the juncture of Cemetery, South Wasson and Knollwood.

I thought, why here? Knollwood and South Wasson dead end to the south. Then it dawned on me: The reason for that roundabout was to funnel traffic north on South Wasson so they could miss the roundabout on 65.

The roundabout horror never ends as an overpass at Hwy. 35 and Radio Road, with two roundabouts, is being proposed. What a horrible waste of taxpayer money that will be.

Question: Why did so many English and Irish emigrate to America? Answer: To get away from roundabouts.

Tags: opinion, letters, troy, traffic