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“The emphasis will be on traffic calming,” said City Manager Mark Wendling. “This will be in anticipation of the extension of the Great Miami River trail through Marsh Park, and the trail will cross River Road near the roundabout area.”
Fairfield Public Works Director Dave Butsch said this project is “kind of in a unique location” as the city won’t need to acquire any right-of-way.
The intersection of River and Gray roads is just south of the Muskopf property, which the city purchased earlier this year to help with the expansion of Marsh Park.
“A lot of times what makes (roundabouts) cost-prohibitive is you have to acquire private property,” said Butsch. “In this location, we own the one corner of where the farmhouse is, and then the wide right-of-way right there. We’ve got the property.”
The engineering is expected to be completed by the spring, and bidding for the project could happen this summer, according to a city staff report. If Ohio Public Works Commission funding becomes available this July, construction could begin as early as fall 2018, officials said.
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Preliminary construction estimates for the roundabout construction is around $635,000, and the city is requesting $400,000.
The Butler County Engineer’s Office has installed more than a dozen roundabouts around Butler County, which have reduced overall crashes by 60 percent, crashes with injuries by 80 percent and serious and fatal crashes by 100 percent — all better than the national averages.
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