Taos residents are going round and round about their new roundabouts.

"They may be popular in Europe and Italy but, come on, this is Taos," said motorist Archie Espinoza.

It will take time — and perhaps a few fender-benders — to get the hang of the three traffic rotaries along the Cañon Bypass (N.M. 585), the first to be built on a New Mexico highway.

Taos police report no accidents, so far, and no traffic tickets issued.

Taos County Sheriff Miguel Romero said his deputies haven't seen any problems.

Neither have state police, although officers and staff coming to work from the east have to go up to the Gusdorf roundabout, circle three-quarters around and return westbound to their office.

To many, change comes hard, especially since this
1-mile stretch of highway has been the same narrow, two-lane configuration for years.

Spend some time observing the traffic at Calle de Colores, Weimer or Gusdorf intersections, and you might see a vehicle and driver:

* frozen in mid-roundabout, unsure where and when to proceed;

* cruising around the circle, the wrong way; or

* steaming right into traffic on the circle, oblivious to the red yield sign.

"It's mellowed a bit," said highway construction manager Glen Baker. "But it's mostly going right through the yield signs."

Highway officials insist that these circular, hub-and-spoke intersections are the most efficient way to handle traffic.

"Yes, (drivers) might scare themselves after going through the first time," Baker said. "But it seems that regular travelers are getting the hang of it."

According to federal highway officials, roundabouts keep traffic moving through intersections, avoiding the stop-and-go of traffic lights or stop signs.

Nearly 2,750 vehicles travel the 1-mile stretch of N.M. 585 from N.M. 68 to Calle de Colores, and 8 percent of that traffic is heavier commercial vehicles. Predictions indicate volumes nearly doubling over the next two decades.

Baker and others will be keeping an eye on traffic flow in the coming months, since the project won't wrap up until next spring's final surfacing.

Already, they've tweaked the timing for the signals at the N.M. 68-Cañon Bypass intersection, adding more time for bypass traffic between 4 and 4:30 p.m.