HURON, Ohio — The City of Huron is celebrating the opening of its first roundabout.
The city held an opening ceremony Monday for the roundabout, which sits at the intersection of Center Street, U.S. 6 and Jim Campbell Boulevard.
City Manager Stuart Hamilton said it was a five-year process to complete this roundabout. He said talks about a roundabout began five years ago during a resurfacing project along U.S. 6. Shortly after, Hamilton said ODOT asked the city to remove the stoplights along Center Street.
Those events, coupled with the entrance to Huron High School nearby, started conversations about rethinking the main entrance into town.
Hamilton said the city settled on installing a roundabout in the hopes of improving pedestrian safety, congestion from the high school, and the layout of intersections.
He said it took 60 days to complete the project, which included reconfiguring Center Street and repaving.
With the project's completion, Jim Campbell Boulevard now dead-ends at Center Street.
The city manager said the project was $2.7 million, with the Ohio Department of Transportation and Erie County Planning assisting with funding. Hamilton said the city paid $1.7 million with low-interest bonds.
Hamilton said safety was the number one driver of this project, but there are city beautification elements as well.
"We don't want to just leave it as is and say 'Hey! We're good," he said. "We'll end up putting a sign in the roundabout. By the time we put up our decorative street lights, it will truly feel like you've got to Huron, instead of just driving through Huron."
Hamilton said the majority of feedback on the roundabout has been positive. He said funding will determine whether other intersections in Huron could see similar upgrades in the future.
