Officials Float Plan for 2 Roundabouts on Summit Street

"If you've driven down Summit Street, and you all have, you've seen the congestion along that corridor near campus," Kent City Engineer Jim Bowling said at the beginning of a public Thursday to talk about the roadway improvement project.

"It's the fourth most congested street in Portage, Summit and Wayne counties," he said.

City and Kent State University officials held the on Thursday in order to gather input from residents about the proposed changes. Roughly 20 people attended the meeting in

Bowling explained how the city wants to add two roundabouts to Summit. One is proposed at the intersection of East Summit Street and Campus Center Drive, and the other is proposed for the East Summit and Ted Boyd Drive intersection. Both are in the heart of the Kent State campus.

The road would be widened slightly to add bike lanes and bus stops as part of the $14 million project, which has the overall goal of improving traffic flow on the busy roadway. A median, with landscaping and pedestrian crossing blocks, would stretch from the Michael Schwartz Center past Ted Boyd Drive.

"We have a lot of delays and congestion on this road," Bowling said. "We have a rating scale (A is the best, F the worst) and the intersection at Summit and Lincoln is an F. At peak hour, every car waits one and-a-half minutes to get through."

And with congestion comes accidents. Bowling said Kent has four of the top six worst intersections in the county for total accidents. The second worst for accidents is the Summit Street and South Lincoln Street intersection.

"Summit Street has 17,000 automobiles on it each day," Bowling said. "Compare that to S.R. 261 that has only 10,000 each day."

The project costs $13.7 million, and will be paid with 80 percent state money and a 20 percent local match, Bowling said.

Roundabouts tend to be safer than standard intersections for several reasons, Bowling said, including:

• There is a 35 percent reduction in crashes
• There is a 76 percent reduction in injury accidents
• Fatal crashes are reduced by 89 percent
• There are fewer vehicle conflict points
• Cars are traveling at lower speeds, which means pedestrians are also safer.

Roundabouts are also lower maintenance once built compared with standard intersections, Bowling added.

Those in attendance Thursday questioned the actual construction process more than they expressed concern about the roundabouts. Construction is expected to start in 2014 and last two seasons. Officials are unsure if Summit Street will be shut down for the duration, but they're leaning toward keeping at least part of the road open at all times.

Click here for more information about the success rate of roundabouts in other cities.