Roundabout work set to begin
GONZALES — State highway officials plan to start construction on the first state-funded roundabout in the Baton Rouge area early next spring, officials said this week.
The $1.24 million roundabout in northeastern Ascension Parish will be built at La. 431 and La. 42 near the Amite River Bridge, state highway officials said.
Dustin Annison, spokesman for the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development, said the project is designed to improve traffic flow and safety of the “T” intersection.
The La. 431/42 intersection is a heavily traveled area for commuters who live in the Florida Parishes and work along the Mississippi River.
In 2010, average daily traffic heading from the west and south into the La. 42/431 intersection totaled 18,120 vehicles, with the load closely split between La. 42 and La. 431, the DOTD website says.
Both are two-lane highways and meet at a three-way stop intersection.
Roundabouts are one-way, circular intersections that look and work generally like traffic circles, but they are said to be better designed for safety. In an email, Annison cited Federal Highway Administration data saying roundabouts reduce fatalities by up to 90 percent.
Drivers enter and exit roundabouts through a series of right-hand turns. Left turns are eliminated. Traffic generally does not stop through a roundabout but slows down.
“Greater safety is achieved primarily by having slower speeds and the elimination of more severe crashes, and operation is improved by smooth-flowing traffic with less stop-and-go than a signalized intersection,” Annison said in the email.
Port Vincent Police Chief Norris Hull said traffic is “just horrible” in the morning and afternoons on La. 42 through Port Vincent, which is on the Livingston Parish side of the Amite River Bridge.
He said drivers are coming through the area from as far away as St. Tammany Parish to go to work along the Mississippi. Hull said he does not know how much the roundabout will help but is hoping it will reduce traffic in Port Vincent.
“I’m all for something that might do it to some degree. I guess in that situation, something is better than nothing,” Hull said.
The roundabout is being paid for with 2009 surplus dollars and was let for construction on Nov. 16, Annison said.
Two other roundabouts are being planned by Ascension Parish government. One in the Gonzales area is still under study. The other in Prairieville has been designed but is stalled in a dispute over an underground pipeline, according to report this week to the Parish Council Transportation Committee.
According to DOTD online bid records, the apparent low bidder for the La. 431/42 roundabout is Command Construction Industries LLC of Metairie with an offer of $1.24 million.
The offer is slightly above the construction estimate of $1.196 million but beat bids from five other companies.
Annison said it typically takes 90 days from letting before DOTD clears the contractor to start work, putting the start in early spring, or roughly mid-February.
Work is expected to take about seven months, he said.
DOTD has also built roundabouts in recent years is Lafayette, the New Orleans area and Leesville, he said.