MANSFIELD — It’s a sign four years in the placing.
Bright orange signs have been placed along Lexington-Springmill and Home roads, informing motorists that the road will close at the intersection for 120 days, beginning June 15.
The highly-traveled corridor connecting Lexington and Ontario will be shut down while a traffic roundabout is built at the intersection, which Richland County Engineer Adam Gove has said is the most dangerous in the traffic corridor between Lexington and Ontario.
That corridor is one of the busiest in the county, according to the engineer.
Planning for the $2.4 million roundabout began in 2022.
Grant funds from the Ohio Department of Transportation and the Ohio Public Works Commission will cover 90 percent of the construction costs for the project, according to Gove, who has said about $350,000 in local funds will be needed.
Adena Corp. of Mansfield was awarded the $2.4 million construction contract in March for the project. K.E. McCartney & Associates of Mansfield was awarded a $241,990 contract to oversee the construction.
Adena had the lowest of three bids submitted for the work. Richland Construction offered to do the work for $2.72 million and Shelly & Sands submitted a bid for $2.96 million, according to Gove.
Gove’s office had estimated the project at $2.9 million.
A separate $591,755 design contract for the roundabout was awarded to EMHT of Columbus in 2023.
Lexington-Springmill Road, between Cook Road and Marion Avenue Road, and Home Road, between Lexington-Springmill Road and Marion Avenue Road, will be closed, according to Gove.
The signed detour will utilize Lexington Avenue (U.S. 42)), Trimble Road and Park Avenue West (Ohio 430).
“We realize those familiar with the area will find a shorter detour,” Gove has said.
The Richland B&O Trail will initially remain open at its crossing with Lexington-Springmill Road at Home Road.
The bike trail will then close on June 30 and will remain closed for 90 days. There is no detour available for the bike trail and thru access will not be available, Gove said.
These closures will allow for the installation of the roundabout and two small bridges at the intersection.
A traffic safety study done by EMH&T in 2021 examined crash trends along a three-mile segment of Lexington-Springmill Road from Cockley Road to Marion Avenue Road.
“The study identified the segment as an area of focus due to the crash frequency and operational concerns at some of the intersections along the corridor. From 2017 to 2019, the study area experienced 95 crashes with the majority being rear end crashes near intersections,” the study found.
Gove has said there was a fatality at the intersection just before the planning process began on the intersection.
He said a traffic signal was not the preferred solution.
“Traffic lights have issues as well. It’s not as cheap as everybody thinks. It can cause unnecessary stops on Lexington-Spring Mill, and roundabouts have proven to be more effective, safer and more efficient than traffic lights,” Gove said.
The county’s first roundabout at the intersection of Cook Road/Illinois Avenue and Mansfield-Lucas Road was constructed in 2022. That intersection was closed for around 75 days while the work was done.
The city of Mansfield built its first roundabout in 2012 at the intersection of Middle-Bellville and Straub roads at a cost of $500,000. It’s the only such structure in the city.
The engineer has said the three-legged roundabout at Lexington-Springmill and Home roads will be identical in lane size to the one at the intersection of Cook Road/Illinois Avenue and Mansfield-Lucas Road, which has proven to be an effective traffic control device.
The single-lane traffic control device helped to reduce accidents by 40 percent at the intersection, averaging three per year, ODOT said in January 2025.
Perhaps more importantly, there had been zero injury crashes at the site, according to the state.
