If all the stars align, the roundabout at Main and Second streets in Columbus could be complete and open by the end of the month, city engineer Kevin Stafford said.
If not, it will be open early in 2021, possibly in January, and the intersection will be much safer for both drivers and pedestrians, both Stafford and city spokesman Joe Dillon said.
“It’s a new, fresh, beautiful entrance into the city, and it’s something we’ll be very proud of,” Dillon said.
The roundabout was planned as a traffic calming measure to slow down drivers traveling in and out of town at high speeds, since roughly 60 percent of the accidents along the corridor happen at the intersection, Stafford said in July.
Construction began in July after the city council approved the $761,000 project in April. The Mississippi Department of Transportation is responsible for 80 percent of the cost, or $668,000, while the city covers the remaining $172,000.
Phillips Contracting of Columbus is working on the roundabout, and Neel-Schaffer Engineering is in charge of conducting inspections and testing at the site.
One of the final steps of the project is to apply a “friction surface treatment” to minimize friction and accidents on the road, and this can only be done after the asphalt has set for 28 days, Stafford said. The curing period started in mid-November, and the friction surface treatment can only be applied if the weather stays above 50 degrees for a few days, he said. The final step is striping the road 10 days after applying the friction surface treatment.
Construction workers’ schedules and contracts are also variables in the timing of the project’s completion, especially during the holiday season, so there is no guaranteed end date for the project, but Stafford said it is “95 percent done.”
Crosswalks are being built in all four directions at the intersection to offer better connectivity for pedestrians so employees of Harvey’s — who park across Main Street from the restaurant — will no longer have to run across the busy thoroughfare unprotected to get to and from their vehicles. The four-lane roadway on Main Street east of the intersection will turn into three lanes, including two through lanes and a central turn lane for those who wish to access Harvey’s or the gas station across the street from it.
Meanwhile, the detour route the city set up via Second Avenue North has worked out well, since drivers adjusted to it after about a week, Stafford said.
Harvey’s owner John Bean said city officials have communicated well with him throughout the project.
“I think when it’s over, it will be a nice improvement,” Bean said.
Farm Bureau Insurance across the street has seen less walk-in traffic than it did before the project started, agency manager Bubba Cole said, but it was worth it to make the intersection safer.
“Somebody was eventually going to cross in front of another vehicle and get T-boned, and thank God that never happened,” Cole said.
Meanwhile, the roundabout under construction at the intersection of Military Road and Highway 82 will be complete before Christmas, with the final striping and touch-up planned for next week, project manager James Gill said.
“The week of the 14th, we should be done with everything,” he said.
Tess Vrbin was previously a reporter for The Dispatch.
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