By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
Bowling Green motorists may want to get ready for a learning curve.
City Council heard the first reading last week of an ordinance authorizing ODOT to put two roundabouts at the Interstate 75 intersections on East Wooster Street in 2018.
The work will include upgrades to the intersections, such as “two roundabouts to enable continuous and safer traffic flow, pedestrian access across the bridge deck and aesthetic improvements that will be visible from I-75 as well as those entering the community.”
ODOT has allocated $750,000 in safety funding for the construction, and has agreed to fund the entire cost for engineering and construction administration. The city will be responsible for the remaining costs.
The city is also considering two other roundabouts for the East Wooster Street corridor – at Dunbridge Road and Campbell Hill Road.
Surveys submitted earlier this year by Bowling Green residents, about the proposed East Wooster corridor work, showed a great deal of suspicion about the roundabouts. But city officials believe that once citizens realize the safety benefits, and experience the ease maneuvering around them, that most motorists will be sold.
Though roundabouts are common intersection features in many parts of the nation, Wood County has been slow warming up to the idea. Efforts to install a couple in northern Wood County have met with great resistance.
Bowling Green Public Works Director Brian Craft, who has done his research on the circular intersections, believes the roundabouts would be good for the city for a variety of reasons.
First, they are safer. “They are designed to intentionally make you slow down,” Craft said earlier this year. Head-on and high-speed right angle collisions are virtually eliminated with roundabouts.
Second, they can save money by not requiring stop signal installation and maintenance.
And third, they can help the city meet its goal of making the east entrance to the city more aesthetically pleasing. The center areas of roundabouts are often landscaped. “That’s the front door to our city and it’s the front door to the university,” Craft said. “This would dress up the corridor a little bit.”
Also at last Monday’s City Council meeting, Craft was presented with an American flag to fly at the restored veterans monument in City Park. Veterans Dave Ridenour and Steve Benner recognized Craft’s efforts to get the monument restored.
When the monument was originally dedicated in 1931, a parade was held which included veterans from the Civil War, Spanish American War and World War I.
Over the years, the monument became overgrown by trees. However, Craft made it a mission for the city to restore the memorial, add lighting, landscaping and flag poles to the site. The inscription on the monument is “Bowling Green has not forgotten,” which touched Craft, whose father was a veteran.
“It really has been an honor to work on this,” Craft said Monday evening, noting involvement by the public works, parks and recreation, and electric departments in the effort.
In other business, Bowling Green Planning Director Heather Sayler said the firm working on the Community Action Plan had visited the city last Monday. The next public event planned will be on Feb. 7, when an open house will be held.
Also at last week’s meeting, Municipal Administrator Lori Tretter reported the Bowling Green Police Division has earned accreditation from the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies. This is the eighth time over the last 23 years that the BGPD has received the CALEA Law Enforcement Accreditation.
Police Chief Tony Hetrick said the department had to meet 480 standards to earn the accreditation. “We continue to work very hard to serve you,” Hetrick said.
Tretter noted that Bowling Green is one of six cities in Ohio where both the police and fire departments are accredited.
In other business at last week’s meeting, council:
- Heard the first reading of a resolution authorizing the city to enter into a renewal agreement with the Wood County Public Defender to provide legal representation to indigent people charged with violations of city ordinances. The city pays a fee of $100 per case.
- Authorized a contract with the Bowling Green Convention and Visitors Bureau for the promotion and publicizing of the city, to bring patronage and business of cultural, educational, religious, professional and sports organizations into the city. The contract authorizes the payment of 60 percent of the revenue generated by the city’s hotel-motel tax for the promotion purposes.
- Heard from Mayor Dick Edwards about the positive events in the community recently, including the Not In Our Town Peace March, the Christmas tree lighting and the Holiday Parade.
