Uptown Jackson traffic may be improved in a roundabout way

Representatives from The Missouri Department of Transportation laid out plans to improve traffic flow in uptown Jackson at the Jackson Board of Aldermen meeting Tuesday evening.

The city of Jackson and MoDOT entered into a cost-sharing agreement to look at ways to deal with traffic volume a few years ago for the intersection at U.S. 61 and East Main Street in front of the Jackson courthouse.

MoDOT transportation project manager Eric Krapf and his staff explained there are two options: a roundabout and a traffic signal.

"Both would work as an option," he said. "But our recommendation as your partner in this project is that we build a roundabout. A roundabout provides better service than a signal, both now and over the long term."

Engineers at MoDOT have conducted on-site research and run models of both options and have concluded a roundabout would not only decrease average traffic delays for motorists, but would be less expensive in the future for taxpayers.

"There are expenses for signals called 'legacy costs,'" Krapf said. "The costs things like electricity, hardware and maintenance costs can be anywhere from $75,000 to $100,000 over 20 years."

In addition to "not having to baby-sit a roundabout like you would have to do with a signal," Krapf said roundabouts also decrease average wait times considerably. MoDOT found the current wait times at the intersection, depending on which direction a person is traveling, are a minute or more on average.

A traffic signal would cut that wait in half, according to engineers' predictions, but a roundabout would make average wait times about 15 seconds.

Several Jackson residents attending the meeting expressed skepticism, but Krapf assured them the proposition is designed to handle all sorts of traffic, including school buses, emergency vehicles and even 53-foot-long tractor trailers. Residents urged the board to opt for a traffic signal, but questions posed by aldermen seemed receptive to the idea.

"I think anyone who has traveled outside the United States and has seen these roundabouts in action would say it's reasonably clear that the future is roundabouts as opposed to lights," Alderman Dave Hitt said.

The proposed roundabout, with an elliptical center 140 feet wide at the narrowest point, would require some modifications to existing parking lots uptown and, if begun immediately, could be under construction by July.

"We will have to move some utilities," Krapf said. "But this whole project could conceivably be completed in one construction season. We've demonstrated in Cape and Perryville that we can put one of these in in a single construction season."

tgraef@semissourian.com

388-3627