MANSFIELD — Two Lexington-Springmill Road improvement projects, with total estimated costs of about $4.8 million, took another step forward on Tuesday morning.
Richland County commissioners approved project design services contracts for a new roundabout and a shoulder widening project on the busy two-lane road that connects Lexington and Ontario.
Design work for both safety-based projects is expected to be done in 2025 with actual construction in 2026, according to Richland County Engineer Adam Gove.
Above is the concept plan Richland County used in a safety grant state application for a roundabout at the intersection of Lexington-Springmill and Home roads. It is not the final design, according to county Engineer Adam Gove. (Richland County Engineer’s Office image)
The roundabout at the intersection of Lexington-Springmill and Home Roads is estimated at about $3.2 million while the shoulder work on the road is planned for about $1.6 million, the engineer said.
Both design contracts are included in the total price tags — 90 percent of which are funded through grant dollars, Gove said.
The $591,755 design contract for the roundabout was awarded to EMHT of Columbus.
A $358,427 design contract for the shoulder-widening project between Home Road and Marion Avenue Road was granted to Engineering Associates Inc. of Wooster.
Gove said the projects will be done in tandem, thereby reducing the length of time traffic will be impacted along the Lexington-Springmill corridor.
Though some traffic may be maintained during portions of the work to widen the 1.42-mile stretch, the entire road will be closed during the roundabout phase of the project, according to Gove.
A section of the B&O Bike Trail near the intersection will be relocated as part of the roundabout work, along with a bridge replacement south of the intersection, 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.
“Until we get the design work done, there is no way to tell how long Lex-Springmill will need to be closed,” Gove wsaid. “We want to bid these projects together and try to have them done at the same time to reduce the amount of time travel is impacted.”
During a Richland County Regional Planning executive committee meeting in September, Gove said there had been eight accidents at the intersection of Lex-Springmill and Home Roads in 2022, including one fatality.
“It’s averaging six-plus accidents a year (at the intersection) for the last five years,” Gove said at the time. “There are a couple of other locations through (that corridor) where we have seen an increase in accidents.
“We are starting with Home because that has been the worst one out of four or five intersections in that area,” Gove said.
He said a traffic study found people headed south on Lexington-Spingmill in that area were consistently traveling more than 60 miles per hour in an area designated 45 to 50 mph.
Gove said one motorist was speeding in the upper 90s coming down the hill toward Home Road.
That speed, coupled with people not stopping on Home Road before entering the intersection, has led to the accidents.
The engineer said the state agreed with the proposed roundabout solution. Gove said there has not been a single injury accident reported at the site of the roundabout constructed in 2022.
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,” said ODOT Director Jack Marchbanks.
The “roadway departure” project will also improve safety between on Lex-Springmill between Home Road and Marion Avenue Road, Gove said.
He said the need was identified during a study of the heavily traveled, 55-mile-per-hour corridor done in 2020-2021.
“This is an area that doesn’t have much shoulder and also doesn’t have much berm,” the engineer said. “There are ditches, brush and trees along the roadway, also.”
He said each side of the road will get an additional three to four feet of berm and another two feet of shoulder, a total of about six feet on each side of the two-lane road.
In addition to helping motorists stay on the road, the improvement should also reduce animal accidents in the area, including deer-vehicle crashes.
“It will help open things up so people can more easily see what’s along the edge of the road,” Gove said.
