Intersection of state highways may change

    The Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT) will hold two informational meetings for the public in a few weeks concerning road projects in the county. The DOT has proposed replacing the bridge on Highway 92 over Crooked Creek, which is about four miles northwest of Washington. It will hold a meeting to discuss the matter on Tuesday, April 27, at 5 p.m. in the Washington Public Library.

    The DOT is also considering making changes to the intersection of Highway 92 and Highway 1 in Washington. The meeting to discuss those proposals will be Thursday, April 29 at 5 p.m. again in the Washington Public Library.

    Washington Economic Development Group Director Ed Raber said the problem at the Highway 92 and 1 intersection is that traffic is not managed well. The traffic coming from the south on Highway 1 has to stop at the intersection, but the traffic going east and west does not. Raber said that motorists on Highway 1 who wish to turn left can sit at the stop sign for an awfully long time.

    Raber said that the DOT has talked about two ways of solving the traffic problem at the intersection. One way is to simply install a traffic signal. The other way is to put in a roundabout, also known as a traffic circle or rotary. A roundabout is an intersection in which the vehicles travel in the same direction around a central island. Vehicles must make right turns to both enter and exit a roundabout, thus dispensing with left turns altogether.

    Ottumwa and Coralville are two nearby cities that utilize roundabouts. Raber, who once worked as a transportation planner, said roundabouts seem to work well. He did not express a preference for either a roundabout or a traffic signal, but said that the intersection needs to be upgraded somehow.

For more, see our April 16 print edition.