$1.6M contract awarded for new roundabout

An Dublin intersection that has been the site of bad wrecks will soon see work done that will hopefully keep the traffic moving safely.

The Dublin City Council approved a bid in the amount of $1,697,506.11 to Total Earth Services LLC to do the construction of a new roundabout at the intersection of Woodlawn Drive and Claxton Dairy Road. During the council’s Thursday morning meeting, Dublin City Manager Josh Powell said the project had been in the works for a while and the city had completed the right-of-way acquisition and easement that were needed.

“This is a (Transportation Investment Act) T-SPLOST-funded project, so it will be 100 percent funded by the TIA funds,” Powell said. “We will get a construction begin date as soon as we are able to get them the notice to proceed. The total project is expected to take 12 months to complete. There will be some times where there will be interruptions in the area, and we’ll work to get the message out on that during those times.”

According to Dublin Mayor Joshua Kight, the bid was a good price for the project, that will include drainage and utility work.

“That is a very large intersection and one of the most dangerous intersections in town,” Kight said. “We’ve had some accidents there and the roundabout will dramatically improve the safety of that intersection, and it will keep the cars flowing. Claxton Dairy is an artery route for people coming into Dublin to work. This will keep that traffic moving so that they don’t get stopped at the stop sign, trying to figure out whose turn it is to go. They will just keep moving safely.” 

Will Curry, president of Curry Companies, attended Thursday’s meeting to speak about a subdivision they plan to build off Woodlawn Drive (more on this in a later edition of The Courier Herald). The subdivision will add traffic to the Woodlawn/Claxton intersection.

“There is a lot of traffic there, especially with the proposed development on Woodlawn,” Kight said. “We are going to have even more people who will be coming into that intersection. Going ahead and doing this before those houses are built, and preparing the infrastructure, is going to meet the future number of cars is great planning and getting ahead of the problem.” 

Curry liked the idea of a roundabout at this intersection.

“I’m a very strong proponent of roundabouts, especially at that location,” he said. “There is high traffic there ,and we’ve had a lot of accidents at that four-way stop. I think the four-way stop has slowed down some of those accidents, but now we have moving congestion and traffic. I think the roundabout will help with safety and will keep traffic moving.”

Kight agreed, adding that the funding is coming from regional TSPLOST. 

“It’s not coming from local property taxes, and it’s not even coming from local people’s sales taxes,” the mayor said. “It’s mostly coming from sales tax revenue that is generated by people who shop here and come here from out of town, so this is a TSPLOST-funded project. The city submits projects of regional impact and this is one that was approved by the TSPLOST board because they understand that Claxton Dairy has become this route that moves people from the county, and even outside the county, into the city of Dublin.”

Just down the road from the Claxton Dairy and Woodlawn intersection is a roundabout built years ago at Claxton Dairy and Moore Street. Since it was built, the roundabout has allowed the traffic to keep moving at a safe speed.

“There are a couple of other benefits to roundabouts,” Kight said. “They are expensive to install initially, but you don’t have all of the maintenance that comes with traffic signals.” 

Traffic signals need electricity and can be damaged or knocked out by storms. When they do not work, law enforcement has to respond to direct traffic.

“Roundabouts are put in one time and you are done,” Kight said. 

“Over a long period of time, they create a tremendous cost savings for the city. And when there are accidents at roundabouts, they are usually fender benders. When you have wrecks at a stop sign intersection, it is usually because somebody runs through it and those cause very serious accidents. So, the roundabouts reduce serious accidents tremendously.”