Some of the nation’s mayors are meeting in Las Vegas, including Roy Buol of Dubuque. Buol says a hot national topic has been the talk among mayors. He says preparing the communities for a possible pandemic flu outbreak is something they’ve talked about. Buol says the high cost of fuel is another issue that’s generated discussion.
Buol says they’ve talked about different problems with transportation and trying to get some energy savings. He says one energy saver the mayors discussed is putting “roundabouts” at intersections instead of stoplights. He says the traffic wouldn’t have to stop and idle — it could merge into the roundabout and keep going. Buol says it’s not only an energy conservation issue, but it’s also a safety issue.
Buol says there’s also been discussion of how to best use federal transportation money. Buol says they’ve talked about the cost of maintaining roadways and whether that’s the best use of federal dollars as opposed to spending the money on mass transit. Buol says he’ll return home from the National Conference of Mayors today (Tuesday).