When Tom and I got home from Fort Frederica in April, construction was just beginning on a roundabout at the intersection of Lewis Center Road and Worthington Road.  We live on a street just off Lewis Center Road, the next street up from Worthington, so we were expecting construction to begin.  In fact, we had been watching for the previous year as they moved utility lines and reset easements.

Tom and I are big fans of roundabouts. Roundabouts are a safer alternative to traffic signals and stop signs. The tight circle of a roundabout forces drivers to slow down.  The most severe types of intersection crashes — right-angle, left-turn and head-on collisions — are unlikely.  At intersections that formerly had two stop signs and one through street (Lewis Center Road and Worthington Road), roundabouts reduced crashes by 62% and injuries by 85%.

Roundabouts also improve traffic flow and are better for the environment. Research shows that traffic flow improves after traditional intersections are converted to roundabouts. Less idling reduces vehicle emissions and fuel consumption.  And roundabouts are fun!  I always feel a little like I am on an amusement park ride when we go around a roundabout.

Being the old, retired folk that we are, we kept a close eye on the progress of the roundabout at “our” intersection.  They worked on it during daylight hours six days a week, so on Sundays I would walk over to the roundabout and check out what had been done in the last week.  I enjoyed seeing it evolve week by week.

We had to leave for Kentucky before it was finished, but we drove around it during many times during our three days back in Ohio.  I didn’t get any good pictures of it because there is a lot of traffic around the circle and no sidewalk, so it was dangerous to walk around it.

Our roundabout is peanut-shaped instead of circular.  I’m not sure why, but I suspect it has something to do with the amount of property that had to be taken from the four houses on each corner of the intersection.  A peanut shape sticks more to the previous roadway.

In a way, it was nice while the intersection was shut down.  There was a huge decrease in traffic on Lewis Center Road during the time the roundabout was being constructed.  Tom and I were only mildly inconvenienced, having to go south a mile to get to Worthington Road.  The intersection, however, was dangerous.  Every week there was a serious crash because drivers thought it was a four-way stop instead of just a stop on Worthington Road.

No intersection is ever going to be perfect, but the roundabout at Worthington and Lewis Center Roads should be a big improvement over the previous intersection.  I will enjoy zipping around it in the Prius.