Roundabout construction to close Independence Street intersection starting next week

Fronabarger Concreters will close the Independence Street and East Rodney Drive intersection to traffic for the next two months, starting early Tuesday, for construction of a roundabout.

Construction work near the intersection began in August when the city closed Gordonville Road at Independence Street to facilitate relocation of underground utilities, city engineer Casey Brunke said.

“There will be detours in place,” Brunke said. Signs will alert motorists to detour routes, she said.

Traffic east of the intersection will be able to detour via South Broadview, while traffic west of the intersection will be routed on Themis Street. Eastbound motorists will be able to detour via Silver Springs Road, according to the city’s website.

Federal grant money will pay for 80 percent of the $741,000 project. The city’s sales-tax funded transportation trust fund will pay the remainder, city officials said.

This will be the city’s fourth roundabout. The single-lane roundabout will have a 63-foot center island filled with landscaping rock, allowing for vegetative landscaping or public art in the island in the future.

City officials said earlier this year the roundabout would be made of concrete, with a darker-colored concrete for the truck aprons designed to allow for smoother passage of large trucks and emergency vehicles.

A section of the sloping ground will be raised about five feet to create a flatter section of driving space to accommodate the roundabout’s size and provide necessary sight distance, according to the city’s website.

City officials have said the roundabout will be less costly to maintain than traffic signals and improve traffic safety. About 12,000 vehicles daily travel on Independence Street between East Rodney Drive and Kingshighway, according to a traffic study.

A four-way intersection with traffic signals has about 20 conflict points where accidents may occur, while a roundabout has eight, according to the Missouri Department of Transportation.

City officials said Independence Street also will be closed to traffic at the nearby Silver Springs Road intersection at some point while the roundabout work is progressing. The closure at Silver Springs Road will expedite completion of construction of a drainage structure for the Whitener Street detention basin, officials said.

The city will announce that closure once a date is final, according to the city’s website.

mbliss@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3641

Pertinent address:

Independence Street and East Rodney Drive, Cape Girardeau, Mo.