A roundabout is anticipated at Fortville Pike and CR 300N in 2025.
Mitchell Kirk | Daily Reporter
HANCOCK COUNTY – Officials are planning for new roundabouts on Greenfield’s northern and southern edges in the coming years.
The motivation for one of the traffic circles is an intersection’s hazardous past while the desire for the other is due to expected development nearby.
One of the roundabouts will be at CR 300N and Franklin Street, or Fortville Pike. The second will be at Morristown Pike and Davis Road, or CR 100S.
Jason Koch, Greenfield city engineer, said the two intersections are in active design development and are preliminarily slated for construction in 2025.
The roundabout coming to CR 300N and Franklin Street will cost about $1.4 million, with 10% coming from the city and the rest from the federal Highway Safety Improvement Program for high-hazard intersections.
Koch recalled how prior to making the intersection a four-way stop in recent years, a lot of crashes occurred there.
“The four-way stop has helped immensely, but as traffic grows, a four-way stop is going to eventually fail with the congestion it will cause, so we’re looking to put a roundabout there to make that work better,” he said.
Koch described the roundabout coming to Morristown Pike and Davis Road as opportunistic, noting a subdivision planned for the southwest corner of the subdivision. Arbor Homes announced plans for nearly 270 houses there in 2021.
While that project has since been paused, Koch said, the city knows something will eventually be developed there and wants to be ready for the extra traffic it will create.
Koch expects that roundabout to cost about the same as the other, adding it may be more due to water and sewer line extensions that will accompany the project. He said the project is not yet funded for construction, but the city has plans for doing so by 2025.
“We’ve got some funding streams identified we’re hoping to land in the next year,” he said.
With the intersections for both roundabouts being on the edges of Greenfield’s corporate boundaries, land that will be involved in the projects fall under the jurisdictions of both the city and Hancock County.
Gregg Morelock, Greenfield city attorney, said at a city council meeting last month it’s anticipated that the county’s assistance may be needed in acquiring right-of-way for the roundabouts. Both sides have entered into an inter-local agreement over the projects.
Koch said both roundabouts will likely take a full construction season to complete, assuming the intersections are completely closed down. If traffic is maintained throughout the work, it may take longer, he added.
