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POSTED: Sunday, Mar. 08, 2009

Crews to begin construction of new Guide Meridian roundabouts; Ten Mile Road roundabout expected to open in one month

Within a month, the first of four large roundabouts along Guide Meridian will open to traffic.

Construction of the one at Ten Mile Road will begin Monday, March 9. It will be the first of many planned highway roundabouts in Whatcom County.

Transportation officials say roundabouts are more efficient and safer than stoplight intersections. But some drivers still have their doubts.

They'll get their answer in mid-April, when the Ten Mile Road roundabout opens, followed a week later by one at Wiser Lake Road.

"Years of planning and talking about these and we're finally here," said Dustin Terpening, spokesman for the state Department of Transportation, which has spent about four years working on the Guide roundabout project.

Spokane-based contractor Max J. Kuney Company will build roundabouts at Ten Mile, Pole, Wiser Lake and River roads. The $54 million contract includes widening Guide Meridian from two lanes to four and installing roundabouts from Ten Mile Road to Lynden. The entire project will cost about $106.7 million.

PROJECT TIMELINE

Here's a rough timeline of upcoming work:

May-June: The Pole Road roundabout will open. It is delayed from the others because the concrete they're using on it needs a longer stretch of good weather, said Chris Damitio, DOT project engineer.

Fall: The River Road roundabout should open, but it's dependent on the construction schedule for the new bridge spanning the Nooksack River.

By Dec. 31: State officials say all new lanes and roundabouts should be open for traffic.

Early 2010: Cable-median barriers likely will be installed.

Harsh weather the last few months delayed the Guide-widening project. Crews are trying to make up the lost time, but the barriers now might not go in until after the February 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, B.C., Damitio said.

The barriers are being put in to help stop cross-over crashes, a major problem with Guide Meridian, Terpening said. When a vehicle crosses the center line and collides with another vehicle, it's an extremely dangerous type of crash, especially at high speeds.

The barriers will make left turns impossible. That's one of the reasons for the roundabouts, Terpening said. They're spaced about a mile apart so drivers can go down to the nearest one and make a U-turn.

Though more than 120 roundabouts have been built around the state since 1997, the Guide project is an innovative use of them, Terpening said, especially because they stretch along a 50 mph highway. The state more commonly uses them at the bottom of on- and offramps at interchanges.

ROUNDABOUT SAFETY

With only a handful of roundabouts currently in Whatcom County, many drivers still don't know how to drive them. Some people are so uncomfortable with them that they take routes to avoid the ones along Cordata Parkway at West Kellogg and Westerly roads.

"I think there's still going to be a learning curve on the Guide," Terpening said.

The DOT has produced a Web site and videos to help educate drivers. Officials plan to work with the Whatcom County Sheriff's Office and Washington State Patrol to have police stop drivers near the Guide roundabouts and educate them on proper driving in them, Terpening said.

One of the most common fears people have about the Guide roundabouts is truck traffic. Drivers who have been through the Cordata roundabouts can't see that working for a regular flow of semi-trucks.

Terpening said the Guide roundabouts are sized to accommodate semi-trucks.

"We did our homework and our research and these are going to work for freight," he said. The speed limit within them will be 15 mph.

Dave Lamphier, an employee at Ameda Auto Sales, is still not convinced. The car dealership is located at the intersection of Guide Meridian and Pole Road.

"It's going to be exciting," Lamphier, a five-year dealership employee, said, dubbing it an "accident circle." "I think just extra lanes and a traffic light would be fine, but they want to go with a roundabout."

"We have our fair share of accidents with the traffic light," he added. "With a circle, it's going to make it more interesting."

Reach Jared Paben at 715-2289 or jared.paben@bellinghamherald.com. Read his Traffic Talk blog at TheBellinghamHerald.com/blogs.