OTTAWA COUNTY, Ohio — The first roundabout in Ottawa County opened to traffic on Tuesday.
Ohio Department of Transportation officials and local leaders say it is a long overdue improvement.
"I think it's going from one of the most dangerous intersections in the county to probably one of the safest," Danbury Police Chief Mike Meisler said.
State Route 163 is east of Port Clinton and is the primary way to get to the many tourist destinations on the Marblehead peninsula.
But the intersection of 163 with Englebeck Road or North Shore Boulevard became one of the more accident-prone intersections in the county, due to the offset angles of the side roads.
"There is heavy traffic on 163," Kacey Young, capital programs administrator for ODOT District 2 said. "So people either trying to turn left or right onto either Englebeck Road or North Shore Boulevard, or people trying to get onto 163 from those side roads, have a really difficult time finding gaps in traffic. Especially when traffic is going 55 miles per hour."
This is why Danbury Township leaders reached out to ODOT to transform this dangerous intersection into a roundabout.
"You actually decrease the number of conflict points that vehicles come into contact with each other, from 32 of a traditional intersection down to eight in a roundabout," Young said.
Work began the day after Labor Day and was scheduled to finish before Thanksgiving. The $2 million project wrapped up right on time.
Officials are convinced this stretch of 163 will be much safer for both locals during the winter months and visitors once tourism season kicks off next year.
"There's so many campgrounds. We have marinas. Lakeside at this end. You've got the Marblehead Lighthouse down here and then the rest of the township," Diane Rozak, chairperson of Danbury Township Board of Trustees, said. "So this just has to improve the flow and the safety."
Permanent lighting still needs to be installed and some street markings still need to be painted. But for the most part, construction is completed and Ottawa County's first roundabout is now officially open to traffic.