NEW PALESTINE — The first roundabout scheduled to be installed in the New Palestine area is slated for construction this spring. The single-lane project, some five years in the making, will be similar to ones in Greenfield.
Gary Pool, engineer for the county highway department, noted the roundabout, to be built at County Roads 500W and 300S, will be the first of several planned for that part of the county over the next few years. All will be designed to make traveling safer in the southern part of the county.
Timeline for the project calls for construction to begin in early May.
“Every one we get done is a good one to get out of the way,” Pool said. “I’ve got lots of intersections we’re chasing.”
Officials with the town of New Palestine held their first meeting late last week with county, state, utility and project representatives from the contractor, Rieth-Riley Construction. They discussed plans to make sure construction is ready to start once the utilities have been relocated.
Steve Pool, street supervisor for the town, said the $1.14 million project will close the intersection of County Roads 500W and 300S for at least 60 days.
Officials said the timetable will depend in large part on the weather.
“The actual closure dates will depend on utility workers being able to get in and get out to relocate the utilities,” Steve Pool said. “We will hope for the best.”
The intersection has a history of being a dangerous spot, with crash reports showing an average of as many as five collisions there a year, including the death of a 15-year old Greenfield teenager, Andrew Hall, in 2015.
Steve Pool said there is no doubt the roundabout will help save lives and cut down on accidents.
“Oh, 100% this will be a benefit to drivers and the community just on a safety level,” Pool said. “Research shows roundabouts can reduce fatalities by 90% and serious accidents by 75%.”
The Indiana Department of Transportation will fund 80% of the project. The county and New Palestine will pay for the rest.
Leaders say the road improvements are being planned with the thought of growth in the area.
Chet Mosley, an area farmer, expressed concerns to town officials during the most recent New Palestine Town Council meeting about the width of the single-lane roundabout. He wondered whether it will be wide enough to accommodate farm equipment.
“This community is full of farmers with trucks,” Mosley said.
Steve Pool said 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.
“I wanted it designed that way because of the agriculture in the area with combines and trucks,” Pool said. “You never want to build something and then wish five years down the road it were bigger. It should accommodate any vehicle.”
County officials have secured funding to install more roundabouts in the southern part of the county, on Mt. Comfort Road at County Roads 200S and 300S, within the next three to four years, Gary Pool said. He’s also hoping one can be built at County Roads 500W and 200S as soon as possible.
“Everybody always wants you to install four-way stops, but those don’t really help, but roundabouts will,” Gary Pool said.
Town officials have ordered the sod and a flag pole for their first roundabout. They also have plans to ask art students at New Palestine High School if they’d like to create some type of art structure to go in the center of the circle.
The roundabout project is the only one planned for Hancock County in 2021. In 2022, the county highway department plans to add four more, which will be located in the area of Indianapolis Regional Airport and the planned Walmart distribution center. Those projects had been scheduled to be built this year but were pushed back.
