Drivers in Daphne were set to see a significant change at one of the area’s busiest intersections, with construction of a new traffic roundabout scheduled to begin in January. The circle, planned for the intersection of Baldwin County 13 and Baldwin County 64, was the first of three roundabouts envisioned for the corridor.
A Mobile-based contractor, H.O. Weaver & Sons Inc., won the roughly $1.17 million low-bid contract in November for the joint project involving the city of Daphne, the Baldwin County Commission and the Alabama Department of Transportation. The company was given 120 days to complete the work once construction started in early January.
How the project was funded
The overall cost of the project was expected to reach about $1.77 million. Roughly 80 percent of the construction cost was covered by a grant through the state’s Alabama Transportation Rehabilitation and Improvement Program, or ATRIP. The county and city agreed to split the remaining 20 percent along with engineering, design and other fees, with each side contributing about $215,959.
The Daphne roundabout had originally been slated to begin in early 2014, but right-of-way purchases and utility relocations pushed back the bid process. County officials said utility work was largely on schedule at the time, aside from one provider they were still waiting on before construction could move forward.
Why a roundabout
County Engineer Cal Markert said the single-lane roundabout would handle current traffic far better than the existing signal and would be even more effective as traffic grows in the years ahead. Before settling on the circle, officials had weighed other options, including adding turn lanes at the existing signal, but concluded that a roundabout would move vehicles more efficiently. Markert cautioned that it could take six months to a year for drivers to adjust before the intersection reached its full potential.
Baldwin County pursued the design after research pointed to safety benefits. According to the Eastern Shore Metropolitan Planning Organization, national studies found that roundabouts tend to reduce crash rates compared with traditional four-way intersections, lowering the number of collisions involving vehicles as well as pedestrians and cyclists. Local officials had also cited the intersection’s history, including a fatal bicycle accident there in 2011, as part of the push to make the crossing safer.
Two more roundabouts were expected to be put out for bid the following year in the Fairhope area, planned for Baldwin County 13 at its intersections with Baldwin County 48 and Baldwin County 30, also known as the Gayfer Road Extension. Together, the projects reflected a broader effort by county and city leaders to rethink how traffic moves along one of the Eastern Shore’s growing corridors.