Stemilt roundabout almost finished

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Stemilt roundabout almost finished

Monday, October 15, 2012

10/15/2012 World photo/Christine Pratt

The new roundabout at Highway 97A and Ohme Garden Road should be virtually finished by the end of the week. State Department of Transportation officials say the structure will improve traffic safety and cost less to build and maintain than an intersection with traffic lights. Stemilt Growers, seen in the background, contributed $150,000 to the project.

WENATCHEE — When paving and concrete work is finished late this week, the new roundabout at Highway 97A and Ohme Garden Road will be virtually finished, Bob Romine, project engineer for the state Department of Transportation said this morning.

The roundabout is part of a $2.9 million collection of roadway improvement and paving projects that includes 1.5 miles on Highway 2/97 between Sunnyslope to Easy Street, 2 miles on Highway 97A from the Odabashian Bridge north, new expansion joints on the Wenatchee River Bridge and a block of new sidewalks on Easy Street.

Stemilt Growers contributed $150,000 to the roundabout, which will make it easier for its employees and fruit trucks to access its nearby plant.

The roundabout is actually oval-shaped. It measures about 100 feet long north to south, but only about 85 feet from east to west.

Roundabouts cause anxiety among many North Central Washington motorists, but Romine said the structure is less expensive to build and maintain than an intersection with traffic lights.

It also reduces the severity of accidents, since traffic from all directions needs to slow down to negotiate the loop, he said.

“People are generally resistant to roundabouts, but they do have a place in society and in traffic,” he said.

Signs and provisional on-road markers should be placed by the end of the week, he said. Crews have to wait at least three weeks for the asphalt to cure before installing permanent on-road directional markers, he said.

Christine Pratt: 665-1173

pratt@wenatcheeworld.com

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wencitizen 7 months, 1 week ago

I was wondering why they would put a roundabout in the middle of a busy highway....now I know....Stemilt paid $150,000 for it....it all makes sense now....the money could have been spent on something better....

lonedog3 7 months, 1 week ago

anyone travled that lately and actually looked at the nightmare this thing has created?

Seven 7 months, 1 week ago

yep

Dudleydoright 7 months, 1 week ago

I travel to Yakima and you should see the THREE in a row they have in Union Gap. I went in trying to get to a motel just across the street and ended up on my way to Sunnyside : ) Let me tell you, some of them are too small for truck and trailer traffic, I assume this one isn't.

H 7 months, 1 week ago

"new expansion joints on the Wenatchee River Bridge" Anyone besides me think they did a terrible job on those expansion joints? That bridge now rides like a washboard road.

cbuick 7 months, 1 week ago

One of the most difficult intersections to negotiate in Wenatchee is the Orondo/Okanogan/Washington/Methow complex intersection. It was made even more difficult a few years ago when the city "improved" the intersection, making it even more difficult to make left turns from westbound Orondo onto Okanogan, and from northbound Okanogan onto westbound Orondo. It's particularly difficult to go from Okanogan Ave to westbound Washington. A solution to this would be to construct a roundabout, or traffic circle (a traffic oval?). The center of the roundabout would be paved level so that the Apple Blossom parade could go straight through the intersection; plastic water filled jersey barriers could be used to close off the center for the rest of the year.

Dave 7 months, 1 week ago

which will make it easier for its employees and fruit trucks to access its nearby plant. The public used to have priority on state highways. I guess money talks............

ScottRAB 7 months, 1 week ago

The FHWA has a video about modern roundabouts that is mostly accurate (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhHzly... ). Modern roundabouts are the safest form of intersection in the world. Search www.iihs.org for FAQs and safety facts. The safety comes from the ‘slow and go’ operation instead of the ‘stop or go fast’ way a stop light works. The smaller size of the modern roundabout is what makes them safer and keeps speeds in the 20 mph range. This makes it much easier to avoid a crash or stop for pedestrians. It also means that if a crash happens the likelihood of injury is very low. Safety is the #1 reason there are over 2,400 modern roundabouts in the US today and many more on the way.
Slow and go also means less delay than a stop light or stop sign, especially the other 20 hours a day people aren’t driving to or from work. Average daily delay at a signal is around 12 seconds per car. At a modern roundabout average delay is less than five seconds. Signals take an hour of demand and restrict it to a half hour, at best only half the traffic gets to go at any one time. At a modern roundabout four drivers entering from four directions can all enter at the same time. Don’t try that with a signalized intersection.

avisys 7 months, 1 week ago

There are two big, serious issues with roundabouts:

Western road designers and contractors have no clue about how to design and build a roundabout, otherwise known as a "traffic circle" on the east coast.
After the so-called roundabout is completed, the locals need to be "educated" about how to deal with it.

These things are dangerous unless properly designed and used by a population that knows how to deal with them. On the east coast, they are real slick --- folks merge in, and out at their desired exit, with no problems.

In the west, the roundabouts are either badly designed, or the populace has no clue what to do when entering one and trying to get out without killing somebody.

wonderstar 7 months, 1 week ago

Definitely a solution looking for a problem. I have not seen enough traffic on the highway or enough trucks leaving Stemilt to warrant this "improvement".

lonedog3 7 months, 1 week ago

wonderstar you are so correct! there is absoulty no reason for this! traffic issues?? the state just created the biggest traffic issue on that highway.

Dixie 7 months, 1 week ago

Chelan County gets a roundabout and not one person blames the county commissioners. In Douglas County the commissioners are being accused of plotting the entire thing just to waste money and irritate citizens. I think if those complaining about the Grant Road roundabout would actually do a bit of investigating they would learn that the Batterman Industrial site was the main instigator of that roundabout and like Stemilt paid for a substantial part of it.