CLOSER LOOK: Are roundabouts really safer?
The $4 million project, funded with federal, state and local monies, also includes bridge work and widening Yankee Road from two lanes to three between Dutchland Parkway and Princeton Road. A dedicated center left turn lane will be added to the current stretch of roadway that passes several subdivisions and the Lakota Family YMCA.
The installation of a bridge went faster than expected, officials said.
Construction was expected to continue into October, but County Engineer Greg Wilkens said contractors and his department understood the disruption the project has caused.
“We understand the pressure is building and we really need that open,” he said. “I wouldn’t say we’ve gotten a lot of complaints, but we know that is a major arterial in the area and it surely has disrupted traffic by its closure.”
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When the roundabout opens Princeton Road will be fully open but only the north leg of Yankee Road will be passable. Crews will be working on the south leg throughout the rest of this construction season and in the spring next year.
Liberty Twp. Trustee Tom Farrell said everyone is very excited to have that intersection reopened.
“Expansion is always a big headache, but because it was closed is why it was done so quickly,” he said. “So we have to put up with the road being closed for a short period of time in order to get it open quicker.”
Trustee Christine Matacic said “woo hoo” when she heard the road was opening early. She said when the stop signs were the only traffic controls at that intersection people had to wait five minutes or more to get through at times.
Roundabouts are less expensive and safer than signalized intersections, and with the township’s growth, this was a a much needed project.
“That’s the pains of growing,” she said. “We have to experience some of those short term pains to get long term gains.”
Schwieterman said the final layer of asphalt and striping in the roundabout won’t occur until mid-October, after construction crews have tied up loose ends and removed all their heavy equipment.
Wilkens said this won’t be the last of the traffic headaches in the southern part of the county. Over the next two years he has major roadwork planned for the Union Centre Boulevard interchange, Ohio 747, Cincinnati Dayton Road and Liberty Fairfield Road.
“The next two years we’re going to have a lot of construction projects on,” he said. “So that becomes its own ever loving challenge.”
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