Roundabout coming to busy Jackson intersection

After years of studies and discussion, Jackson city officials have decided to install a roundabout to remedy the notoriously congested intersection in uptown Jackson.

Mayor Barbara Lohr said at a Wednesday night town-hall meeting that representatives from the Missouri Department of Transportation presented the findings of a traffic study, as well as their recommendation that a roundabout would be a better solution than a traffic signal.

"Our board then agreed with that and we are ready to proceed with the roundabout," Lohr said.

Jackson Public Works director Rodney Bollinger said it's good to see the project finally take off, as improving traffic flow in the affected area has been on city officials' radar for over a decade.

"A traffic study years ago identified [the corner of U.S. 61 and East Main Street] as one of the most important intersections that would have to be updated. It was in the top five on the list of priorities," he explained.

The project's $1.5 million price, combined with the anticipated effect to traffic during construction, made pursuing other projects more attractive for a time, such as widening Highway 72 and others.

"But we were at a point where all the other projects on that priority list had been completed," Bollinger said.

So in 2011, the city of Jackson entered into a cost-sharing agreement with MoDOT, in which both parties would contribute half the project's total cost.

"At the time, we didn't know if it was going to be a roundabout or a signal," he said. "The objective was to accelerate the project's completion. Since Highway 61 is a MoDOT route and Main Street is a city route, it might have taken five, 10, maybe 20 years extra before it would have gotten done."

Around the time the city and MoDOT officials agreed on the cost-sharing venture, Cape Girardeau County officials shared their plans for a county facilities study. They asked the city to work with them as architects studied county buildings -- many of which sit a short distance from the intersection -- and determined a long-range plan. Lohr said city officials were happy to comply.

Once architects delivered plans to the county, a citizen advisory board that formed in 2014 used the three plans and other information gathered from county officials to determine the best move forward. The group presented its recommendation in late January, which included consolidating court services into a new courthouse near the jail, razing the administration building and constructing a parking garage near the new courthouse.

The absence of the administration building would leave room for MoDOT to reroute U.S. 61 diagonally through the property, but that hinges on the county following through with its plan. The county is asking voters in April to approve a 1 percent use tax to provide a funding source for the plan. Without a revenue stream, the county will not be able to go through with the plan.

Still, Lohr said whatever the county may do in its future, it will not interfere with the roundabout project.

MoDOT project manager Eric Krapf explained the department's recommendation by pointing out a roundabout will benefit the community more than a signal.

"Roundabouts are more efficient most times," he said. A roundabout would reduce peak traffic waits by about 75 percent, where a light would only improve it by about 60 percent, or about 25 seconds on average.

"So right off the bat, you end up with a much-reduced wait time," he said.

Additionally, roundabouts tend to experience less severe accidents compared to intersections, making traffic not only quicker, but safer as well.

While traffic signals inadvertently create the risk of head-on collisions, accidents that occur at roundabouts are typically sideswipes or bumper-on-bumper.

Although MoDOT engineers designed the roundabout as part of the traffic study and proposal, the working design has yet to be finalized -- a process Bollinger said is happening now.

"Once the engineers at MoDOT get the design worked out, we can begin acquisition of property," he said.

The land that will bear the brunt of the roundabout's footprint is a city-owned parking lot that sits next to the county administration building. The city will donate the necessary land at the northwest corner of the intersection.

To minimize the effect on nongovernment land, MoDOT proposed an elliptically shaped roundabout instead of the traditional circular type.

"Or as we here in Jackson might call it, a 'football-about,'" Lohr joked with the crowd at the Wednesday meeting.

The chamber building at the southwest corner will remain, although part of the lawn will be used and an Indian sculpture will have to be moved.

Meanwhile, MoDOT officials will work with the federal government to arrange the acquisition of part of the Post Office parking lot, and its assessors will handle the acquisition of the building at 108 N. Hope St. that houses the Southeast Missourian Jackson offices.

"That building was always going to have to come down, whether it was a signal or a roundabout," Bollinger said. "But MoDOT will make sure they're compensated for it."

During his presentation before the board of aldermen, Krapf said the project could be completed in one construction season.

Although the roundabout technically is MoDOT's project, part of the cost-sharing agreement stipulated the city be responsible for rerouting utilities before construction begins.

Bollinger said if everything stays on track, that could begin this time next year.

The project is on track and on budget, and Lohr explained the $1.5 million proposed budget is set aside and once it's installed, residents will reap returns in fewer traffic headaches.

"It seems like to get anywhere in Jackson, you have to go through there," she said.

tgraef@semissourian.com

388-3627

srinehart@semissourian.com

388-3641

Pertinent address:

East Main Street and U.S. 61, Jackson, Mo.

1 Barton Square, Jackson, Mo.