NEW PALESTINE — A wooden stick with a pink flag on top sits a few feet north of the middle of the intersection of County Roads 500W and 300S.
“That’s where we want to put a Christmas tree this holiday season,” said Jim Robinson, New Palestine town manager.
Construction on the first of what county officials hope will be four roundabouts in the southern part of the county is well underway, and officials are keeping their fingers crossed that good weather will allow it to be finished well ahead of schedule.
The intersection has been closed for a couple of weeks. The work, projected to cost $1.14 million, was slated to take 60 days, but if all goes well, it could be completed within 45 days, town officials said, meaning reopening by early to mid-November
The project was originally supposed to be completed during the summer — before the school year started — but numerous delays pushed the timetable back by weeks.
Robinson, who has been visiting the construction site most days, likes what he sees with crews getting major parts of the project done this week.
“It’s looking good and they are really doing good as far as the schedule goes,” Robinson said.
Rain this week created some flooding in the northwest corner of the roundabout, but that was quickly addressed. Robinson also noted the soil borings came back differently from what was expected, causing some changes in excavation.
“But, they’ve done a lot of work just a couple weeks in and you get a real feel for what it’s going to look like,” Robinson said. “It’s a pretty big-sized roundabout.”
The driving lane in the roundabout will be 18 feet wide, with an inside buffer space of 8 feet in case trucks have to roll up on it while making the turn. That means, Robinson said, there should be no issues for bus drivers and farmers who use the intersection often.
After smoothing out the new area, crews will then roll the surface, bring in new stone and add another layer of stabilization before the area is finally paved, then marked.
County engineer Gary Pool is pleased the work is finally getting done. It’s a project he and town officials have been working on for years. The roundabout is the first of four he said needs to be added to the area to make travel safer.
He has two other roundabouts slated: At County Roads 600W and 200S scheduled for 2023 and another one at 600W and 300S in 2024.
“That’s if everything goes as planned,” Pool said.
While he’d like to have another roundabout installed as soon as next year, Pool said there is no way they can move that quickly in the current working environment.
Pool is also seeking funding to build a fourth roundabout, at 500W and 200S, but that project won’t take place until 2025 at the earliest.
“We’ll eventually get it. I just don’t know when,” Pool said.
As for the roundabout now under construction, its center is being placed a little farther north than one might think in alignment with the old intersection. Pool said that’s done purposely by engineers.
“You’re supposed to make the roundabouts a little uncomfortable for the driver so that they slow down,” Pool said.
Robinson noted while drivers are a little put out with road closures and will be for the next several weeks, neighbors who live right by the intersection are happy with the process they’re seeing.
“We’re getting comments from neighbors saying they think the roundabout is going to make things a lot safer,” Robinson said.
The intersection has a history of being a dangerous spot, with crash reports showing an average of as many as five major collisions there a year, including the death of a 15-year old Greenfield teenager in 2015.
Town officials noted research shows roundabouts can reduce fatalities by 90% and serious accidents by 75%.
