The city of Daphne has opened its new roundabout at the intersection of County Road 13 and Milton Jones Road to through traffic, wrapping up a construction project city officials say will improve the flow of traffic in a fast-growing part of Baldwin County.
Daphne Mayor Robin LeJeune thanked residents and crews for their patience during construction. “Thank you to everyone for your hard work and to our community for your patience, as we continue to improve our infrastructure,” LeJeune said in a statement.
Western Connector Coming Soon
City officials said the roundabout is only part of a larger road improvement in the area. Daphne expects to open a western connection linking Milton Jones Road to Friendship Road within the next couple of weeks, which should give drivers another route through the area once complete.
Roundabouts have become an increasingly common tool for Alabama municipalities looking to manage traffic at busy intersections without installing traditional signals. Unlike a signalized intersection, a roundabout keeps traffic moving continuously in one direction around a central island, which transportation officials say tends to reduce the severity of crashes by eliminating high-speed, right-angle collisions and reducing the number of conflict points where vehicles can cross paths.
Drivers unfamiliar with roundabouts are generally reminded to yield to traffic already circulating in the intersection, stay in their lane through the roundabout, and use turn signals when exiting to help other drivers anticipate their movements.
Growth Along County Road 13
The intersection sits along County Road 13, a corridor that has seen substantial residential and commercial growth as Daphne and the broader Eastern Shore area of Baldwin County have expanded in recent years. City leaders have pointed to infrastructure projects like this one as part of an ongoing effort to keep road capacity in step with that growth.
The roundabout and its accompanying road extension carried a price tag of about $3 million, according to earlier reporting on the project. The work is part of a broader plan to connect Highway 181 to Pollard Road, a route city and county officials say should help ease congestion on County Road 64, one of Daphne’s busier corridors. City leaders had targeted completion of the roundabout before Baldwin County students return to class Wednesday, Aug. 12, when traffic in the area typically increases. The city has not announced an exact start date for construction of the Milton Jones Road to Friendship Road connector, but said updates would follow as that portion of the project nears completion.