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Last updated on Thursday, September 22, 2016
(BEDFORD) - Bedford city officials are taking steps to prepare for the roundabout.
The intersection of Williams Boulevard and Lincoln Avenue is slated to be redesigned as a roundabout intersection in 2017 to relieve traffic congestion.
Once the roundabout is complete Mayor Shawna Girgis says the city will host a public meeting to explain to motorists how to maneuver through the roundabout.
Street Commissioner Dan Kirk says he met with the owner of one property Chester Batman, who owns a building at the southwest corner of the intersection at Lincoln Avenue and John Williams Boulevard which the city will need to purchase to construct the roundabout. The board of works on Tuesday gave Kirk permission to seek appraisals of the property. No other homes or businesses will be displaced for the project.
The city has hired Bledsoe Riggert Cooper James to do the engineering specifications and land surveying for the roundabout at a cost of $46,850. That amount will be paid by the city since the Community Crossings grant from INDOT will pay only for construction.
Whether the city needs to purchase additional right of way won't be known until after engineering specs are completed.
The city of Bedford received $528,000 from the Indiana Department of Transportation to make road improvements through the state's Community Crossings matching grant funds and will use an additional $750,000 received from the state in March from Local Option Income Tax.
Bedford Plan Director Dan Kirk says as more businesses have opened on or near Williams Boulevard it has increased traffic flow calling for the need of a roundabout.
The project includes resurfacing of Lincoln Avenue from 18th Street to Sixth Street and the replacement of some sidewalks along Lincoln Avenue if funding is available.
Bidding should begin this winter with construction beginning in the spring.
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