Traffic study suggests roundabout solution for 61/Deerwood in Jackson

Another roundabout could be coming to Jackson based on results of a traffic study presented to city officials earlier this week.

The study, performed in early March, determined a roundabout is the best solution for periodic traffic congestion at the intersection of U.S. 61 and Deerwood Drive near the entrance to the Jackson Civic Center.

“We have been hearing more about traffic at that intersection because of the Civic Center, because of the amount of development in subdivisions off of Deerwood and the recent opening of Connection Point Church,” Jackson Mayor Dwain Hahs said.

The church at 358 E. Deerwood Drive opened in late 2019 and draws hundreds of worshippers to its Sunday morning services, most of whom travel through the intersection where the roundabout is being proposed.

At their study session Monday night, members of the Jackson Board of Aldermen heard from a representative of the Lochmueller Group, a traffic and infrastructure consulting firm from St. Louis that studied traffic patterns at the intersection earlier this year. The study took place in early March before schools and many businesses were closed and resident were asked to stay home due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Although the study found there were certain peak times of traffic congestion at the intersection, the traffic volume did not rise to the level that would require a four-way traffic signal.

“The two options we looked at were installing traffic signals and building a roundabout,” Lochmueller representative Cheryl Sharp told the aldermen. Sharp, Lochmueller’s manager of traffic and multimodual analysis, said traffic volume at the intersection “does not meet signal criteria” and a roundabout would have a “higher safety benefit as compared to a traffic signal.”

In addition, she said roundabouts have been shown to reduce intersection traffic crashes by 44%, whereas “signals can reduce potential expected crashes by anywhere from 16 to 29%.” Since 2014, there has been an average of one accident a year at the intersection.

“A roundabout is a viable alternative (to a signal) at this location in terms of capacity and safety,” according to Lochmueller’s 15-page study report. “It can also act as a gateway into Jackson, indicating that vehicles should begin to slow down as they approach the more urban area.”

The report also stated “while installation of a roundabout has a higher fixed cost than traditional traffic control measures such as a traffic signal, there are no future operation and maintenance costs.” According to the report, a roundabout at the U.S. 61 intersection with Deerwood Drive would cost between $1.3 million and $1.7 million.

Based on traffic volumes along U.S. 61 since 2014, which have remained relatively unchanged, Sharp said a roundabout will likely be able to accommodate traffic at the intersection until at least 2040.

Hahs said the Deerwood intersection has been on the city’s priority list for several years.

“We did a traffic study a few years ago that studied traffic and identified the biggest issues we had in Jackson and what priorities we needed to fix,” he said.

As a result of that study, the city installed a traffic signal at the junction of East Main Street and Oak Hill Road and is adding a roundabout at the intersection of Shawnee Boulevard and East Main Street, scheduled for completion by the end of June.

“I thought it was interesting the recommendation (from the traffic consultant) was a roundabout instead of a traffic signal because it will do more to keep the flow moving and improve congestion at the interchange,” the mayor said. “A light wasn’t called for because the traffic levels weren’t as high as anticipated, which is what drove the roundabout recommendation.”

Hahs said the roundabout recommendation will be forwarded to the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) for its review. It will also be submitted to the Southeast Metropolitan Planning Organization (SEMPO) for its consideration.

“It will go into a prioritization process and we’ll look at funding for it and where it falls on the priority list,” Hahs said.

One of the top priorities, he said, is the addition of a third lane for left hand turns from the Cape Girardeau County Courthouse north along U.S. 61 all the way to the Interstate 55 interchange at Exit 105.

“If they (MoDOT and SEMPO) decide to go ahead and do that, I certainly would encourage them to look at this (the roundabout project) at the same time and possibly those two projects could be put together,” Hahs said. “I would think in five years we could get something done.”

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