Roundabout proposed at intersection near Rockford

ROCKFORD, Mich. (WOOD) — The Kent County Road Commission has proposed a roundabout construction project at the intersection of 10 Mile Road and Myers Lake Avenue near Rockford.

“We look at the congestion, we look at the backups, we look at the traffic volumes,” said Jerry Byrne, managing director of the road commission. “Four-way stops are reasonably safe, [but] there are still accidents. There are still backups at peak times because a lot of people don’t know how to go through a four-way stop efficiently and it’s just a slow movement.”

The project is still in its preliminary stage but if approved, half of the $1.5 million cost would come from federal funding.

“We actually have police officers that come in and ask for footage quite often because we have quite a few wrecks here,” said Jaimie Noakes, manager at NuVu Fuel. “People will either blow through the stop sign or they will come and peel through our parking lot as well.”

Crashes and people not stopping for the four-way stop are common, said Rachel Harvey.

“People like to fly down especially 10 Mile and then Myers Lake here. So it should help slow things down a little bit too,” she said.

According to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration, there is an 82% reduction in fatal and injury crashes when a two-way stop becomes a roundabout and a 78% reduction when a signal light becomes a roundabout.

While some are not looking forward to the tentative detour that would come with the project, driver Grant Keller said the overall result and increase in safety is welcomed.

“I’m actually a big fan of roundabouts,” Keller said. “It improved traffic much faster than some of these stop signs around here cause it gets backed up all the time.”

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