By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
Bowling Green’s new $10 million gateway will be open for business on Saturday.
“This gives us a whole new front door – not only to the city and the university, but also the industrial sector,” Mayor Dick Edwards said on Friday.
The double roundabout interchange at East Wooster Street and I-75 will open Saturday afternoon, beginning what will be a series of planned roundabouts on the Wooster Street corridor in the city.
The first designs for the roundabouts were presented by the Ohio Department of Transportation to Bowling Green officials in 2015. The construction started three years later – in August of 2018.
A year after work began, the roundabouts will be open for business.
“This is long-awaited. A red letter day,” Edwards said Friday morning as he toured the new roundabouts on the East Wooster overpass at Interstate 75. “I look at it almost with disbelief.”
Now it will be up to Bowling Green motorists to learn how to navigate the first roundabouts in the city.
Bowling Green Public Works Director Brian Craft has confidence that citizens are up to the challenge. He noted that the speed limit in the roundabouts is 15 mph.
“I think most people may be looking around at first,” and being extra cautious, Craft said.
ODOT project engineer Aurora Biggs said roundabout novices will have an easier time since the rotaries are single lane.
“There will be a learning curve,” Biggs said.
Most of the BGSU students are likely accustomed to roundabouts, she said.
“They are probably used to them. They’ve grown up with them,” Edwards said.
“It may take other people time to get used to them,” the mayor said. “But if they take it slow, it should be OK.”
Motorists unfamiliar with roundabouts may want to get used to them – since more are planned for the city at East Wooster and Dunbridge Road, East Wooster and Campbell Hill, and Campbell Hill at Napoleon Road.
The new interchange also features a 10-foot wide pedestrian and bicycle lane across the overpass. There are decorative lighting fixtures which will extend from Dunbridge Road to Campbell Hill Road.
The fencing stretching up from the overpass will have lettering stating the home of “Bowling Green,” and beams under the overpass will be painted “bright BGSU orange,” Biggs said.
“It makes Bowling Green look very inviting,” she said.
“It really meets all of my best hopes,” the mayor said. “It gives us a new front door.”
The costs of the project were shared, with the city taking out bonds for about $5 million, Wood County Commissioners putting in about $300,000, and ODOT paying for the rest of the $10 million project.
According to ODOT, among the most prominent features of the Wooster Street interchange roundabout project are:
- Improved safety by reducing crash severity.
- Rehabilitated bridge deck.
- Safe pedestrian and bike travel via a multi-use path.
- Decorative lighting and artful bridge design, creating a gateway to the city.
The project was completed on schedule, despite construction occurring during one of the wettest springs on record. It was ODOT’s plan to have the interchange open before the university’s move-in day for new students this August.
“We kept an aggressive schedule on this project, despite the weather, and were able to coordinate with the community to keep Wooster Street open for special events,” said Pat McColley, deputy director for ODOT District 2.
The roundabouts are not only intended to improve the aesthetics of the city’s entrance, but also ease the flow of traffic and reduce accidents.
“It will not be at a standstill,” during events at the university when a great deal of traffic enters and exits at I-75, Edwards said.
“Roundabouts are much more efficient than a standard signalized interchange and can easily handle additional traffic demands,” said McColley.
That will be welcome during BGSU move-in weekends, graduation days, the National Tractor Pulling Championships and other local events, Biggs said.
“Hopefully it will make those events run a lot smoother,” she said.
Later in August, there will be three overnight closures, from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m., of the Wooster Street bridge over I-75 for final surface paving. Some lane closures on I-75 can be expected during painting. And work continues on a city sanitary pump station at the site.
