Logan County residents questioned the need for an Ohio Department of Transportation proposed roundabout project at the intersection of state routes 47 and 235 in Pleasant Township during a Wednesday evening meeting.
Jeff Heimann, Strand Associates project manager, said the roundabout project is a “safety-driven project.”
Currently, the intersection is continuous flow with State Route 47 under a two-way stop control.
Terry Scott of Belle Center challenged ODOT representatives regard for public opinion.
“You work for the public,” he said. “It’s obvious the constituents feel like a roundabout is not a good idea.”
Logan County Commissioner Joe Antram questioned if the roundabout alternative was already decided by ODOT.
“Unless there is unbelievable objection or a better suggestion, you’re counting on doing roundabout as you’ve demonstrated here?” he asked.
Tricia Bishop, ODOT environmental coordinator, said that although she thinks ODOT did its homework and presented what it determined is the best alternative, they are listening.
“We don’t not do projects just because the public’s opposed,” she said. “If we did that, we would not build anything.”
However, if residents have solid reasoning behind their “no” votes, that reasoning could change ODOT’s thinking, Bishop added.
“(But) it’s not a voting situation,” she said. “It’s our obligation to ensure safety.”:
The intersection is listed in the Governor’s Top 150 list for intersection improvements, according to an ODOT report.
The report said two alternatives were considered for the intersection project — a roundabout or a realignment of the intersection to allow for perpendicular approaches from State Route 47.
“The roundabout alternative offers substantially greater safety benefits over the realignment alternative, with four fewer crashes anticipated per year and almost two fewer injury crashes anticipated per year,” the report says. “The roundabout also improves the overall operations of the intersection, by reducing delays associated with vehicle stops.”
According to information obtained by ODOT there were 15 reported crashes from 2016 to 2018 at the intersection in which 40 percent resulted in injuries and 20 percent of those crashes involved drivers running a stop sign.
In 2019, there was one fatality.
That intersection sees approximately 5,900 vehicles per day with an expected growth to 7,000 within the next 20 years, Heimann said.
Heimann said the concern about crashes is “not a recent phenomenon.”
“This intersection has been trending in the wrong since 2012,” he said.
Bishop agreed.
“This intersection has been on our radar for a long time,” she said. “We are a huge system with not a lot of money. Now we have this pot (of money) and we want to fix it and fix it the right way. We are trying to take advantage of this resource and implement an improvement we’ve wanted to do for a long time.”
The project is expected to cost $2.4 million and is funded with the federal Highway Safety Improvement Program funds and state Safety Upgrading funds.
With a roundabout, Heimann said a site-specific safety analysis of a roundabout showed a crash reduction to about five crashes on an annual basis — two serious crashes per year.
The analysis also showed the roundabout would have a four to six second delay in traffic operations as opposed to the two-way stop which would result in a 14 to 19 second delay.
“Roundabouts are inherently safer by reducing the number of conflict points than a traditional four-way intersection,” Heimann said. “Drivers only need look in one direction (left).”
The number of conflict points at a traditional four-way intersection is 32 as opposed to a roundabout which only has eight.
In addition, Heimann said, there is a reduced potential for injury.fatal crashes. Crashes are more likely to be low-speed side swipes.
Still, residents had reservations about the roundabout citing reasons including proper space for farm equipment.
Heimann said farm equipment will be accommodated.
Adam Reichert of Lewistown said there is clearly a disregard for the traffic signal already in place and theorized the same people will continue to disregard any traffic signal put in place.
“You guys are also not providing data from state of Ohio for about how roundabouts in place mitigate crashes,” he said. “When you first put a roundabout in, there will actually be an increase in property damage.”
Some residents questioned why a traffic light can’t just be installed.
Heimann said there was no study done in regards to a traffic light.
“(The intersection) does not meet the criteria for installing a traffic signal based on the type of high-energy crashes,” said Mary Hoy, ODOT traffic engineer.
Bishop said ODOT is up against certain constraints.
“We can’t do it just because the public wants it,” she said. “It’s just not consistent with sound engineering and design standards.”