Early June construction due for new stoplight

Tuesday, May 29, 2018

By the time school reopens again in August, a changed landscape should be in full bloom at the intersection of State Road 240 and Percy Julian Drive in Greencastle.

Not only is the new Greencastle Community School Corporation bus barn near completion just down the road along the south side of 240 but the busy intersection at Percy Julian Drive/Zinc Mill Road is due for a major upgrade with a fully functional stoplight to be put in place.

The long-awaited Greencastle project is one of three new traffic signals to be installed this summer in the Crawfordsville District of the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT), the state announced Tuesday.

Construction will begin in Greencastle on or after June 4 to install the new traffic signal to replace four-way stopsigns that were implemented in 2010 at State Road 240 and Percy Julian Drive/Zinc Mill Road.

INDOT projects a June 25 completion date for the new signal that is designed to ease the traffic burden created by the presence of the Greencastle High School/Middle School complex, Ivy Tech State College and nearby industrial concerns like Heartland Automotive and the Walmart Distribution Center.

Hoosier Co. Inc., Indianapolis, was awarded an overall $422,757 contract for the three area projects.

The Greencastle project will be the first of three traffic signal sites to be constructed. In addition to a June 25 completion date or the Greencastle site, the contractor’s current schedule shows the traffic signals to be operational, weather permitting at:

-- U.S. 40 and Waterworks Road at Brazil in Clay County by July 9.

-- U.S. 52 and U.S. 231 at Montmorenci in Tippecanoe County by July 16.

When Greencastle Mayor Bill Dory announced last July that the East Side stoplight would indeed become a reality in 2018, applause actually broke out among the City Council and a sparse crowd attending its meeting.

The state-funded project is part of Gov. Eric Holcomb’s Next Level road construction program. The mayor called it “a $178,000 investment by the state.”

INDOT seems to be living up to the promise they told the mayor last month, indicating an expected June 4 construction start.

“They said, ‘we’ll let school get out and start work in early June,’” Mayor Dory told the Banner Graphic in sharing INDOT’s plans.

In addition to nearby schools and industry, recent developments have occurred south of the intersection, including the new Whispering Winds Subdivision, located beyond Woods Edge subdivision off Zinc Mill Road at County Road 200 South, and an announced second phase of the Zinc Mill Terrace apartment complex.

While replacing the four-way stopsign at the wide intersection with a stoplight has been well received locally, the possibility of utilizing a roundabout instead was at least under consideration by the state, Mayor Dory told the Redevelopment Commission earlier this year.

“There was legitimate discussion,” he assured the group after at least one member thought he was joking.

How serious the state might have been was likely tempered by the cost, however. Dory said a roundabout can cost six times that of a stoplight because of the added cost of all the necessary right-of-way acquisition and pavement work involved.

The volume of truck traffic on State Road 240 was also likely a consideration for sticking with a stoplight and not putting semis through the maze of a roundabout.

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    "The volume of truck traffic on State Road 240 was also likely a consideration for sticking with a stoplight and not putting semis through the maze of a roundabout."

    Fact or opinion? Is this an article or the opinion page?

    Since a recent study found a majority of truck drivers don’t understand how to drive a modern roundabout, it stands to reason most drivers don’t understand how a truck is supposed to drive a modern roundabout.

    Modern roundabouts are designed for trucks, large vehicles, and trailer towing vehicles by including the center flat area around the circle. It’s not a sidewalk, it’s called a truck apron, and it’s for trucks to begin a sharp right or end a left or U-turn on. But they should obey the warning speed and know their vehicle.

    Roundabout Trucks Videos:

    STAA, Porterville, CA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zPsUisOz_c&t=6s

    FHWA: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nVzsC2fOQw

    Washington County, WI: http://tinyurl.com/trucksRABwi

    U-turn: http://tinyurl.com/rabtruckuturn

    Windsor-Essex Parkway, Canada: http://tinyurl.com/windsoressexRAB

    WSDOT simulation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JI0L2AolOCQ

    ODOT tests: Deschutes County Fairgrounds https://tinyurl.com/y7yfpw5q

    Portland Meadows Parking lot https://tinyurl.com/ycxpqf3u

    Opelika, AL: http://opelika-al.gov/CivicMedia?VID=3#player

    -- Posted by ScottRAB on Wed, May 30, 2018, at 4:09 PM
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    People using the road make mistakes (like running stop signs and red lights), always have and always will. Crashes will always be with us, but they need not result in fatalities or serious injury.

    Modern roundabouts are the safest form of intersection in the world - the intersection type with the lowest risk of fatal or serious injury crashes - (much more so than comparable signals). Modern roundabouts require a change in speed and alter the geometry of one of the most dangerous parts of the system - intersections. The reduction in speed and sideswipe geometry mean that, when a crash does happen at a modern roundabout, you usually need a tow truck, not an ambulance. Visit the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety for modern roundabout FAQs and safety facts. Roundabouts are one of nine proven road safety features (FHWA).

    The life saved may be your own.

    https://safety.fhwa.dot.gov/provencountermeasures/roundabouts/

    https://safety.fhwa.dot.gov/intersection/innovative/roundabouts/

    -- Posted by ScottRAB on Wed, May 30, 2018, at 4:10 PM
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