Local, state data show how roundabouts improve intersection safety

TOLEDO, Ohio (WTVG) – More roundabouts keep popping up across northwest Ohio and officials say the trend of transforming traditional intersections isn’t ending any time soon.

Lucas County now has more than 30 of them. The county engineer’s office built its first one in 2009 at King Road and Nebraska Avenue.

Data shows the revamped intersections have made passing through them safer for drivers.

Keep scrolling to see before and after comparisons of other local roundabouts

Finzel Road at Waterville-Swanton Road before and roundabout construction.(WTVG)

Success stories

There were 16 crashes in the four years (2019-22) leading up to the construction of a roundabout at the intersection of Angola Road and King Road in Springfield Township.

Since then, there have been five wrecks. One crash resulted in an injury that officials said happened due to the driver suffering a medical episode. The other four crashes involved a single vehicle, including one that crashed during a police chase.

“Our goal is to save lives,” said Lucas County Engineer Mike Pniewski, who has overseen the construction of roughly 20 of the county’s roundabouts.

Around 15 more are planned over the next five years, he said.

“As long as they keep on working, as long as they keep on saving lives, we’ll keep putting them in,” Pniewski said. “That’s our driving force. We want to make our roads safer so that people get home at the end of the day.”

The Ohio Department of Transportation says one of its best roundabout success stories comes from the intersection of state routes 41 and 235 in Clark County. It previously had a long history of serious crashes.

A traffic signal installed in 2000 reduced crashes overall, but deadly and serious injury crashes actually increased.

But in the 11 years since a roundabout was installed in 2014, the intersection hasn’t seen any fatal crashes.

ODOT also touts the success of a roundabout southeast of Fostoria in Seneca County.

The intersection of US 224 and State Route 587 averaged about four crashes each year. Since ODOT built a roundabout there in 2022, it says it hasn’t seen any crashes.

In Hancock County, a dogbone roundabout at I-75/U.S. 68/SR 15/Lima Avenue has led to an 86% total reduction in crashes since it opened in 2021, ODOT said. The area saw 48 crashes (8 injury crashes) from 2016-18. After construction from 2021-24, the area saw 9 crashes (1 injury crash).

The cost of crashes

A report from the Toledo Metropolitan Area Council of Governments in 2023 analyzed the effectiveness of roundabouts in reducing crashes.

It found declines in injury crashes across the board, especially with single-lane roundabouts.

The report used federal standards to calculate the average annual cost of crashes at local intersections replaced by roundabouts.

In the three years prior to construction, crashes in intersections replaced by roundabouts came with an annual price tag of $33.4 million. In the three years after construction, the cost fell 81% to $6.2 million.

The data wasn’t as impressive for two-lane roundabouts, the report found.

Some, like the roundabout on McCord Road at Hall Street and West Mall Drive in Holland, saw crashes increase after construction.

Still, the percentage of severe and injury crashes decreased.

Future Roundabouts

The final roundabout of the season for Lucas County crews is currently under construction at Frankfort Road and Crissey Road.

The intersection saw nine total crashes from 2015-19. Seven resulted in injuries.

A majority of the crashes came from drivers blowing through stop signs, according to the county. It received a safety grant for the intersection in 2020.

Pniewski said roundabouts make rural intersections safer than a four-way stop sign.

“People have a false sense of security about how that intersection will work,” he said. “They’ll think that people will stop when they actually won’t. When you put in a roundabout, especially in a more rural area, you stop that. People can’t blow through the roundabout. Once you put that in, you’ll eliminate the serious and fatal accident occurrences at that intersection.”

More are planned across Lucas County in the coming years, including five that the county will build in 2026.

ODOT is also funding additional roundabout upgrades at more than two dozen intersections across the state over the next five years.

Sylvania will transform the area of Brint Road/Main Street/Holland-Sylvania Road into a roundabout in 2028. Williams County will upgrade CR-13 and CR-G into a roundabout the same year. The intersection of SR579 and Fostoria Road in Wood County will get a roundabout makeover in 2029.