The county will extend Stinemyer Road, which currently ends at CR 550W, and connect it to CR South 500W (Gem Road) by School Street near the administration building for Southern Hancock Schools. This view is from School Street looking west. This is where a new roundabout will be added. The project is slated for 2026.
NEW PALESTINE — The roundabout project on CR 500W, (Gem Road) near the west side of the New Palestine High School (NPHS) campus is an official “go” after Southern Hancock school board members and county engineer Gary Pool were able to iron out last-minute details to secure the project and get it on the books for 2026.
“I did have to move the project back one year to get it refunded and they (district officials) wanted a commitment that the roundabout would happen regardless of what is going on, so we are all moving that way,” Pool said. “It cost us a year of time, but it is officially a go.”
The work is now officially a part of the Stinemyer Road extension project, which will connect a couple of roads on the south side of the county with roundabouts at each end. That project was initially designed to help take traffic off of U.S. 52, Pool said. One of the catches originally slowing the idea for the project was the fact county officials needed about a quarter acre of the school district’s land in order to add the roundabout near the NPHS campus by the district’s corporation offices.
In March, county officials approached superintendent Lisa Lantrip and asked if they could purchase part of a parcel of district land to build a roundabout on the east end of the connector road between CR 550W and CR South 500W (Gem Road) instead of a four-way stop which district officials had originally expressed as wanting.
District officials had winced some at the idea of the roundabout installation near their district offices, saying they could not have that entrance to the NPHS campus shut down for any length of time.
“We always wanted the roundabout,” SH community relations director Craig Smith said. “We just didn’t want that access to the campus shut down.”
One of the last minute details added included the county agreeing to add a new drive off of Gem Road into the NPHS parking lot where students park. The new drive is expected to go in between a storage barn and the corporate office building, allowing access to the campus so that cars will be able to flow when work on the roundabout starts.
Dan Walker, school board president, shared information at the most recent board meeting saying the board has always been in favor of the roundabout, but district officials wanted to make sure access to the main district campus would not be cut off during construction, and moving forward was simply a matter of ironing out some details.
In addition to getting a new driveway added, Pool has agreed to go with school district officials when they meet with officials from the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) to ask for a stop light to be installed at the intersection of U.S. 52 and Bittner Road. Many students use Bittner Road to enter onto the NPHS campus via that newer back east drive. Adding a stop light at that intersection, which doesn’t have the greatest sight lines, Smith said, would be best to help keep student drivers safe as they cross and enter onto U.S. 52.
“I did agree I would go with them (district officials) and help pitch the stoplight project with INDOT, but that is not my jurisdiction, so the decision is not up to me,” Pool said. “But, I do think it’s a good idea to get one installed there.”
Even though the district’s school board worked quickly to get a memo written to assist the county with securing what was needed for submitting the roundabout project to INDOT to secure the 80-20% funding, the project was pushed back a full year.
Walker noted the cooperation between the school district and the county was very productive and stated all parties are feeling good about moving forward.
