City sets off on long road that could lead to roundabout

Mike Crowley, The Meadville Tribune, Pa.
·2 min read

Meadville City Council this week gave the go-ahead for what would be the city’s first roundabout, but a Pennsylvania Department of Transportation spokeswoman said there is currently no timeline for completing the project.

“That project is in very early stages,” PennDOT spokeswoman Jill Harry said of the proposed roundabout at the intersection of North Main Street, Limber Road and Allegheny Street. “We are still identifying exactly what the funding would be and what the timeline would be.”

Prior to seeking funding, Harry said, PennDOT confirmed that both the city and Allegheny College still supported the project.

In presenting the possible roundabout to City Council this week, City Manager Maryann Menanno framed the proposal in more urgent and more certain terms, citing the availability of safety-related funding.

“PennDOT’s allocation of resources to this project is time-sensitive and requests city support by the end of July,” Menanno told council, “with design and construction to follow as soon as possible and completion of the project perhaps no later than 2028.”

The single-lane roundabout would be constructed at no cost to the city, Menanno said.

The idea for a roundabout at the intersection grew out of traffic studies conducted following the 2015 death of an Allegheny College student who was struck by a vehicle when she was crossing North Main Street outside of any crosswalks less about 100 yards south of the intersection.

In 2017, City Council recommended including the proposal among projects to be considered by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation.

The city’s Planning Commission recalled the pedestrian death in a letter of support for a roundabout at the intersection.

“The placement of a roundabout would be an ideal traffic calming method for traffic entering town from the north as it heads into a heavy pedestrian area immediately south,” commission Chair Jason Ramsey wrote. “This safety improvement will go a long way to preventing another tragic death and many on the commission (including myself) have looked forward to this possibility for many years.”

The design and the precise placement of the roundabout remain to be determined, according to Harry.

“Once some funding is secured,” she said, “we can get closer to answering those questions.”