By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
Wood Countians seem to prefer their intersections squared off like tidy plus signs – none of that fancy circular stuff.
But local drivers may want to brush up on their roundabout etiquette since at least a couple rotary intersections will pose a learning curve in Bowling Green starting in 2018.
Bowling Green’s plan for its East Wooster Street corridor calls for four roundabouts. Two are definite and coming sometime in 2018 – at the interchanges on each side of Interstate 75. The other two are just possibilities – at Dunbridge Road and Campbell Hill Road.
Surveys submitted recently 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.
Wood County Engineer Ray Huber has spent a few years trying to convince people that roundabouts make sense for several reasons. They are safer for motorists, take less land to construct, are easier to build, and cost less to install and maintain.
So why aren’t roundabouts being embraced here like elsewhere in the nation?
“It’s called change,” Huber explained.
The single roundabout currently operating on a public road in Wood County is at the southern edge of the county on Ohio 18 in North Baltimore.
North Baltimore Police Chief Allan Baer confessed that motorists there had a difficult time adapting to the rotary at first.
“They had no idea how to enter, exit or drive in a roundabout,” he said.
The roundabout, which was put in three years ago to handle the additional traffic created by the CSX railroad intermodal hub west of the village, has now become routine for local drivers.
“They seem to like it,” Baer said. “When people get in there, it flows great. It’s like a ballet.”
Since installed, the intersection has been the site of two minor crashes, both weather-related, the police chief said.
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. 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.”
Craft is aware that some city residents are firmly opposed to the use of roundabouts. The surveys completed by citizens on the corridor plans included some strong language referring to the rotaries as “the dumbest thing ever.”
But Craft remembers another time when local residents spoke out against change.
“I heard the same thing when Heritage 2000 came,” he said, referring to the project aimed to make downtown Bowling Green more visually attractive with the installation of brick, more decorative lighting and planters. “You can’t deny the success,” of that project, he said.
Craft also knows that roundabouts are becoming more customary in places like Columbus, Carmel, Indiana, and Colorado. And Bowling Green motorists can handle the change, too, he said.
“They are becoming more common. I don’t think people freak out about them as much,” he said.
According to the Federal Highway Administration, roundabouts improve safety with:
- More than 90 percent reduction in fatalities.
- 76 percent reduction in injuries.
- 35 percent reduction in all crashes.
- Slower speeds generally safer for pedestrians.
The highway administration also credits roundabouts with:
- Reducing congestion by being more efficient during peak hours and other times.
- Reducing pollution and fuel use by requiring fewer stops, fewer hard accelerations and less time idling.
- Saving costs by needing no traffic signal installation, power and maintenance.
Though much of the East Wooster corridor project has yet to be approved by council, the portion at the I-75 overpass with the two roundabout intersections is already in the planning stages, with the blessings and some funding secured from the Ohio Department of Transportation.
“The biggest challenge for city council is figuring out if it’s worth it,” Craft said of the overall project that stretches from Dunbridge Road on the east end to Prospect Street on the west. The estimated cost for the entire project is $10 million.
