Jim Davenport shook his head at the question.

“You don’t want my opinion,” the 31-year Grand Junction resident warned one morning as he climbed into his truck in the parking lot of Sam’s Club. “There would be too many expletives in there.”

Then he proceeded to tick off the reasons he dislikes roundabouts.

“They’re not big enough. They’re not built like the European models that work,” he said, referring to larger, multi-lane roundabouts.

Pat Holland, on the other hand, thinks roundabouts are “not too bad” — as long as drivers know they’re supposed to merge rather than charge into them.

“I don’t like waiting at stoplights,” she said.

A mere mention of the word is sure to elicit a nod, a laugh, a smirk, a scowl and, often, a diatribe. The only surprise would be a blank stare.

A decade after the first one opened in Grand Junction, roundabouts have become nearly as ingrained in the Grand Valley as its scenery, peaches and wineries. Local musical group the King’n Trio included a verse about them. Driving schools require that their students successfully negotiate them as part of their driving test.

Statistics show accidents have dropped at Grand Junction intersections where roundabouts have been built. Experts say they create a smoother flow of traffic and are safer for pedestrians. They also cost less to maintain and can even offer an aesthetic enhancement. And Fruita has had one ringing Circle Park for decades.

Yet roundabouts continue to evoke strong emotions in the community. Those who love them are overshadowed, if not outnumbered, by those who hate them. You Said It is crammed with sarcastic jabs at them. The controversy over roundabouts has had a longer shelf life than most any local scandal, crime or political issue.

“I’ve never seen anything that has had such a visceral reaction, except maybe back-in parking,” said Kristin Winn, a Grand Junction city employee who presented at a National Roundabout Conference in Vail in 2005 about how to inform and educate the public about roundabouts. “But even that’s kind of died down. This has really never gone away.”

The Grand Valley is home to 10 roundabouts on public streets, with the one in Fruita the only one outside of Grand Junction. Four have been installed in the last year and a half. Five more will come on line in the next several months.

City officials say people who use roundabouts like them and understand their benefits. They believe people who don’t like them simply avoid them.

Slowly, though, they say they’ve noticed an adjustment in citizens’ attitudes.

“Seven years ago you didn’t have anyone step up in a public meeting and defend them,” said Public Works and Planning Director Tim Moore. “Now, you have a few people who step up and say, ‘Now, wait a minute.’ ”

The first roundabout in Grand Junction opened at 12th Street and Horizon Drive in December 1998 as part of 12th Street reconstruction between Horizon Drive and Patterson Road. City public works officials had watched the town of Vail install the first roundabout off a U.S. interstate three years earlier.

Grand Junction ultimately favored a roundabout at the intersection over a traffic signal. The move away from the four-way stop reduced vehicle delays from an average of 12.9 seconds to 2.77 seconds.

Having traffic flow slowly but steadily through the intersection also cut down on the number of accidents, particularly those with injuries.

In the three years before the roundabout was built, there were 25 accidents at the intersection, for an average of eight a year. Those accidents included seven broadside crashes and resulted in one fatality and four injuries, according to accident data compiled by the city.

Between 1999 and 2007, there were 37 accidents — fewer than five a year. Those included five broadside crashes and resulted in no fatalities and three injuries.

The boost in safety came too late for Grand Junction resident Dana Nunn at a different intersection.

One morning in September 2004, she was driving east on G Road when she struck a vehicle that had pulled out in front of her as it headed north on 24 1/2 Road. At the time, the intersection had a two-way stop, with drivers on G Road having the right-of-way.

Nunn’s car spun into a ditch. She broke several bones in her left hand.

“The X-rays looked like you had just thrown a bunch of pick-up sticks,” Nunn said.

She attended physical therapy sessions three times a week for a year after the accident and has had five surgeries. Her hand has yet to fully recover.

Nine months after the accident, the city installed a roundabout that was largely paid for with a federal grant designed to eliminate road hazards.

“Many of my friends call that the Dana Nunn Memorial Roundabout,” Nunn said.

The device has virtually eliminated accidents at the intersection. In the five years before the roundabout was built, there were 28 accidents, resulting in 26 injuries and one fatality. Three-quarters of those accidents were broadside crashes, which often cause the most serious injuries.

In the two years since, there have been only three accidents at the intersection, and no one has been injured.

“The safety just speaks for itself,” Winn said.

Although safety is perhaps the most important factor, roundabouts have been built for other reasons:

• The double roundabouts at 24 Road and Interstate 70 and the roundabouts at Seventh and Main streets and the U.S. Highway 6&50 Frontage Road and Independent Avenue were designed largely to improve traffic flow.

• The one at Second Street and Colorado Avenue was part of the renovation to Two Rivers Convention Center.

• The roundabout at 25 and G roads saved the city $150,000 in infrastructure and right-of-way costs. The city would have spent that money adding turn lanes to the four-way stop intersection, as was recommended by consultants at the time.

• Grand Junction Regional Airport administrators last year launched a $20 million road improvement project, which included a roundabout at Horizon Drive and H Road to slow down traffic and spruce up the entrance to the airport.

City officials admit not every roundabout has worked perfectly. The 12th and Horizon roundabout, often excoriated as being too small, at least appears that way because of its 10-inch curbs, Moore said, who noted most roundabouts are built with 6-inch curbs.

Rob Hanson, owner of Hanson International of Western Colorado, a Grand Junction firm that sells and services large trucks, said the 12th and Horizon roundabout is difficult for truckers to negotiate because of its small size. The two-lane roundabouts at 24 Road and I-70, on the other hand, are easy to navigate, he said.

“I’ve watched just about every truck configuration go through (them),” Hanson said. “I still hear guys complaining about (roundabouts), but we go through the one on 24 Road multiple times a day and it works great.”

City officials are well aware of the criticism surrounding the roundabout at Sam’s Club, which extends into the parking lot and forces drivers westbound on Independent Avenue to take a circuitous route before they can turn onto U.S. Highway 6&50 or drive through the intersection onto Rimrock Avenue. But they insist the roundabout was the best option to move traffic through an awkward intersection where previous systems that employed traffic lights and stop signs often stacked cars.

“It was a lousy intersection to begin with,” Moore said.

Mike Page, spokesman for the Grand Junction Fire Department, said roundabouts can slightly delay fire trucks responding to an emergency call but otherwise haven’t created problems.

“I don’t think the roundabouts have caused us a significant time loss,” he said. “The trucks seem to travel through them pretty well.”

Marilyn McLaughlin, who co-owns A-1 Driving School with her husband, John Marren, said she has ridden shotgun with students young and old through roundabouts since the first one opened. “I deliberately take them in as many of (the roundabouts) as I can get them in,” she said.

McLaughlin said roundabouts work if drivers use them correctly by slowing down and signaling when they exit. She believes everyone should learn to drive through roundabouts.

“We’re going to see more and more of them,” McLaughlin said. “This is a sign of the times. Get used it and learn to drive them correctly.”

E-mail Mike Wiggins at mwiggins@gjds.com.