Duquesne seeking bids for roundabout
2/17/09
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By Derek Spellman
dspellman@joplinglobe.com
DUQUESNE, Mo. - The city of Duquesne is ramping up for a roundabout for the intersection of 20th Street and Duquesne Road.
Bids are due next week for the project, said Mayor Denny White. Tentative plans call for the work to begin in March or April and be complete by mid-July, in time for the planned opening this fall of the new East Middle School being constructed by the Joplin School District.
"It was a far better deal for us to go with a roundabout," White said of the plan.
To address the anticipated increase in traffic around the new school, the city originally planned to insert additional left-turn lanes for the intersection.
But White said bids for that plan came in "way higher" than cost estimates last fall, prompting the city to pursue the roundabout.
He declined to release the city's cost estimates for the roundabout, but he said it would be "quite a bit cheaper" than the old plan.
White said the roundabout would be an efficient way to accommodate the traffic flow and could handle about 1,100 cars an hour.
"It's a win-win for everybody," he said.
Duquesne police Chief Tommy Kitch said about 12,000 vehicles now pass through the intersection a day.
The proposal calls for installation of a circular island in the center, a one-lane roundabout, repaving the intersection and relocating utilities.
Doug Domer, an assistant superintendent with the Joplin School District, said the district has been working with the city on transportation plans for the new school.
"We knew that intersection would become more congested," he said.
Construction of the $17 million, 131,000-square-foot school is on track for opening in time for the 2009-10 school year, Domer said
East Middle School will receive pupils from Duenweg, Duquesne, Eastmorland, Kelsey Norman and McKinley elementary schools.
Elsewhere
Several roundabouts are operating in the area. One opened in December at the intersection of U.S. Highway 69 Alternate, U.S. Highway 400, Kansas Highway 66 and Beasley Road at Riverton, Kan. A two-lane roundabout opened last summer off Exit 1 on Interstate 44, at the entrance of the Quapaw Tribe's Downstream Casino Resort. A roundabout opened in 2005 at Grand Avenue, Fairlawn Drive and Airport Drive in Carthage.
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