More roundabouts planned for Elizabethtown

“All of this is safety improvement and efficiency improvement,” he said. “What you’re going to see at the end of the bypass is going to be very large, even larger than the one in Rineyville.”

Much more easily navigated for larger vehicles.”

The roundabout at New Glendale Road and the 31W Bypass is the largest of 10 the transportation cabinet bid out as a group, Jessie said, adding attempts were made to bid the projects individually but either they received little interest or cost more than anticipated.

“By grouping more of them together brought in more contractor interest,” he said. “So these were all packaged together.”

The total cost of the $4.998 million. Projects can begin as early as Feb. 15 and must be completed by Oct. 31, 2024, Jessie said.

Because of the proximity to East Hardin Middle School near the intersection with New Glendale Road and the 31W Bypass, Jessie said it will be one of the first projects to start and should be completed by Aug. 1.

“So it can be as less impactful for school,” he said, adding earthwork that won’t affect traffic can begin when the contractor is ready. “So they can do a lot of that work without making things worse so to speak out there in the meantime.”

The other planned roundabouts in Elizabethtown will be at the intersections of Ky. 251 at Pear Orchard Road, Dolphin Drive at Josale Drive, Commerce Drive at Executive Drive, Woodland Drive at Layman Lane, Ky. 251 at Panther Lane, Ky. 251 at Beech Street, West Poplar Street at Sycamore Street, Ky. 251 at West Poplar Street, and West Poplar Street at North Mantle Avenue.

The order of the projects are yet to be determined as final meetings with the contractor have yet to take place, but Jessie said the contractor most likely will choose to construct two or three at a time “depending on logistics and what makes sense for the contractor.”

The money for the projects come from the Highway Safety Improvement Project fund and Jessie said the projects have been on the drawing board for about five years.

“It’s a specific pot that is budgeted for highway safety improvement projects each year,” he said. “We have a list of things we want to do with that money, and these have been in that pot for a while now.”

The projects also are part of a continuing effort to construct roundabouts within the city, building on top of two built in the downtown sector on Main Street.

“They probably weren’t the two best examples to start with, but they were the two that got let and built first,” he said.

While Jessie said crash data is minimal since the roundabouts installation, they have served its purpose.

“I know that not everybody loves them,” he said. “But in fairness, they have done what we designed them to do, which is slow people down.”

Many of the roundabouts are being completed as part of an agreement with the city of Elizabethtown, Jessie said.

Elizabethtown Public Information Officer Amy Inman said the city welcomed the cooperation from the state.

“We are good partners with the state and we work well with them,” she said.

While the city had some input, Inman said the decision ultimately laid with state officials because many of the roundabouts are on state, or numbered, roads.

“They came to us with a list and internally, the city looked at them,” she said, adding Mayor Jeff Gregory, City Administrator Ed Poppe and city engineers reviewed the plans. “They may have had some that were thought were too close together or would not be as beneficial. … There’s maybe one or two the city asked the state to eliminate altogether.

“Again, we have very little jurisdiction over those,” she added. “They listened to us and they responded.”

Inman did say the city shared concerns about previous groundouts with the state and had meaningful discussions.

“We received lots of feedback from the community,” she said. “We know that people had concerns about them. We tried to relay that to the state and the state knows that.”

And while they shared concerns, Inman said they defer to the state and its expertise.

“They’re being very thoughtful and thorough,” she said. “There’s a lot that goes into their decision-making process prior to them bringing it to the city level. They are professionals, they do this for a living.”

While the first two roundabouts have not been well received in some circles, Jessie said the state takes “emotion out of the equation when determining what is the most effective solution to improve safety” in a data-driven approach.

“Roundabouts do their job,” he said. “It reduces conflict points and time drivers spend waiting.

“It’s hard to argue the numbers,” he added. “Some folks don’t like to talk about the numbers but when we’re talking about the reduction of injuries and the reduction of fatalities, those numbers are very important. While we may or may not like certain things, it’s hard to argue with the effectiveness of them when it comes to collecting data.”