Utility work begins at site of county’s first roundabout (From the Feb 25th County Press)

[William Gavette]

BY JEFF HOGAN

810-452-2640 • [e-mail]

Construction on the roundabout at Lake Nepessing and Davison roads will be completed by July 4. Photo by Alex PetrieLAPEER — Lapeer County’s first traffic roundabout will be built this summer.

Orange and white construction site barrels already line the roadway as some preliminary utility work has begun at the three-way intersection of Lake Nepessing, Davison and Genesee roads at the city limits line between the City of Lapeer and Elba Township.

  

The Lapeer County Road Commission project, paid largely by a $388,000 grant courtesy of the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement (CMAQ) fund administered by the Federal Highway Administration, will get underway in full force in early May and is expected to be complete around June 18.

Additional funding will be paid by the road commission. The total cost will be determined whether the general contractor, Kennedy Excavating of Davison, will be able to use some substructure road bed at the site. Dependent on that variable, the project could cost closer to $485,000.

Ryan Doyle, a county highway engineer with the road commission, said the roundabout must be complete by the Fourth of July because shortly after that the second phase of the reconstruction of Main Street (M-24) from DeMille Road to West Nepessing will resume and Lake Nepessing Road will become part of the detour routing for that Michigan Dept. of Transportation-funded project. That project will include the construction of a pedestrian tunnel below the highway near where the Canadian National Railroad tracks cross M-24.

County road officials have said the current intersection and road alignment is “terrible.” Traffic frequently backs up on Lake Nepessing Road because people trying to turn right on to Davison Road have a hard time seeing eastbound traffic.

To enhance safety as well as congestion relief at the busy intersection, the roundabout project was designed. The roundabout will be a circular intersection where entering traffic yields to motorists circulating counterclockwise around a central island.

Motorists are reminded that once construction gets underway in early May the intersection will be closed and detour routes will be established. The closure will impact only the intersection area, said Doyle, allowing access to businesses to customers using Lake Nepessing and Davison roads.

The project will include storm sewer and additional underground drainage work. Once complete the intersection will include curb and gutter to move water off the roadway.

The contractor will likely work the weekdays, though has the option to work weekend hours as well.

“This project is scheduled to be done in a relatively short time period,” said Doyle. “It has to, just to move it along since the intersection is a busy one and also because that area will carry a lot of traffic once the detour on M-24 starts up to finish that project this summer.”