Stories of 2022: Ohio 13 reopens downtown with roundabouts

After downtown Newark spent much of the year under road construction, many of the projects were completed and intersections reopened by November.

Mid-November, the intersections of Ohio 13/Fourth Street and Main and Church Streets were replaced with roundabouts, allowing a continual flow of traffic on the state route from the traffic signal at Fourth and Locust Streets near the Ohio 16 entrance/exit to the stoplight at West National Drive, Wilwood Avenue and Calburn Street.

In November, City Engineer Brian Morehead said he's heard positive feedback about the projects.

"People are happy they're not sitting at lights and can move continually," Morehead told The Advocate. "Speeds seem reduced."

The city's $28 million Fourth Street infrastructure project complied with an Environmental Protection Agency mandate to separate sanitary and storm sewers to prevent combined sewer overflows of sewage into the river. City officials opted to make changes to the roads after the mandated underground utility work had been completed.

According to Morehead, the Church Street roundabout was a city project, while the Main Street traffic circle was an Ohio Department of Transportation funded job. ODOT's $1.45 million project transformed one of the city's busiest intersections into a single-lane roundabout, which includes walkways, curb ramps, drainage, signage, pavement markings and landscaping.

The intersection of Fourth and Main was identified as the highest pedestrian crash location in Licking County, according to a March 2019 report from Toole Design Group and Mead & area, according to the report. The large intersection footprint makes navigating the intersection more difficult for pedestrians and drivers, the report said.

From 2013-2017, there were 53 crashes occurred in the area, according to the report. Two crashes involved pedestrians and two crashes involves bicyclists. Three of the four pedestrians and bicyclist crashes involved injuries.

Since those intersections opened, West Locust Street has closed on either side of Fifth Street, although Fifth Street traffic can travel through the intersection. Granville Street is closed from North Fifth Street to Central Avenue.

The traffic pattern currently in place is expected to remain through the winter, according to Morehead. When the school year ends, construction is expected to begin on the roundabout at the five-points intersection of Fifth, Granville and Locust Streets.

After completion of the project next year, the city’s sewer separation work moves north and south of downtown, including work on Mount Vernon Road to Rugg Avenue, and side streets like Jefferson Road, Moull Street and Fairfield Avenue, as well as Hudson Avenue, in 2024-28, and the interceptor sewer on South Second Street in 2024-26.

This article originally appeared on Newark Advocate: Stories of 2022: Ohio 13 reopens with roundabouts