WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP — Richland County commissioners on Tuesday approved a traffic study that could one day lead to a roundabout at the intersection of Middle Bellville and Orchard Park roads.
Commissioners approved county Engineer Adam Gove’s request for a $12,975 contract with EMH&T from Columbus to do a five-year study of accidents at the intersection with 90 percent of the costs covered by state grant funds.
“This will identify crashes, any crash pattern that may exist out there and also develop (short-term) counter-measures, whether it be additional signage (or) clearing of the right-of-way,” Gove said.
“It will also explore future possible solutions, whether it’s a four-way stop, a (traffic) light or even possibly a roundabout,” the engineer said.
“Those are the long-term solutions (for) which we need this study if we were ever to go after additional safety grant funds, like we have with past intersections,” Gove said.
“This is kind of that first step in identifying what the problem is,” the engineer said.
Commissioners in February approved Gove’s request to seek proposals for the study at the troublesome intersection, site of some of the most severe accidents in the county.
In a five-year traffic study commissioned by Richland County Regional Planning from 2017 to 2021, that intersection was the second-worst in the county based on the Ohio Department of Transportation’s “severity scoring,” Gove said in February.
Currently, there are “stop signs” for north/south bound traffic on Middle Bellville and nothing to slow traffic on Orchard Park, a busy road that connects the Village of Lexington to Ohio 13/Interstate 71.
The engineer said a roundabout is just one potential solution.
“I think it will be whatever the study concludes. Maybe we do some short-term fixes and see if there is an improvement with those actions or if we need to pursue another project at that point,” Gove said.
If a roundabout was constructed at the intersection in future years, it would be third on county-controlled roads in Richland County.
The first roundabout on a county road was built in 2022 at the intersection of Cook/Illinois Road and Mansfield-Lucas Road.
A second one is in the design phase at the intersection of Lexington-Springmill and Home roads, a project which may be constructed in 2026.
The City of Mansfield built its only current roundabout in 2012 at the intersection of Middle Bellville and Straub roads.
According to ODOT, there were only six traffic deaths at Ohio roundabouts from 2017-2021 compared to 1,126 deaths at a signalized or stop-controlled intersection.
“Roundabouts save lives. They reduce severe crashes, move traffic more efficiently, and are cheaper to maintain than signalized intersections,” ODOT Director Jack Marchbanks has said.
