After starting construction in June, the first two new roundabouts in Lucas County are now open to the public.
The intersection at Monclova and Weckerly roads in Monclova Township opened Wednesday, August 3 and Brint and Kilburn Road in Richfield Township followed Thursday, August 4. Minor, cosmetic work will continue for the next few weeks on both sites.
These mark the 23rd and 24th roundabouts installed by the Lucas County engineer’s office. Two more are slated for completion this year. The first is currently underway at Berkey Southern Road/State Route 295 and Waterville Neapolis Road in Providence and Waterville townships. The second will begin in late August at Angola and King roads in Springfield Township.
After this year, the county–not including the City of Toledo–will be home to 26 total roundabouts, 17 countybuilt and nine constructed by the Ohio Department of Transportation.
“Roundabouts are proven to be more safe than traffic signals or traditional two and four-way stops,” said Mike Pniewski, county engineer.
“This is because they have only eight points of conflict compared to 32 at a traditional intersection.”
Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) studies have shown that roundabouts achieve a 44 percent reduction in crashes and reduce serious injury and deadly crashes by nearly 90 percent at twoway stop intersections. When roundabouts replace a traffic signal, FHWA found a 48 percent reduction in crashes and nearly 80 percent drop in serious injury and deadly crashes.
Safety isn’t the only benefit. Roundabouts also are more efficient for time and save on gas. This is because traffic generally doesn’t need to come to a full stop at the intersection.
In addition, taxpayers save money since there is no signal equipment to install, maintain and repair, which results in an average of $5,000 per year in electricity and maintenance costs.
The service life of a roundabout is 25 years versus the 10-year service life of signal equipment.
