ADOT: Chino Valley may be getting three new roundabouts - The Prescott Daily Courier

Driven in part by this past summer's multiple-injury school bus crash, three new roundabout intersections are under review for northern Chino Valley.

Arizona Department of Transportation District Engineer Greg Gentsch reported this week that Highway 89 intersections at Road 4 North, Road 5 North, and Perkinsville Road could be the future sites of roundabouts.

A state Highway Safety Improvement Program study currently is under way on all three intersections.

Chino Valley Town Councilman Ron Romley, who serves as chairman of the executive board of the Central Metropolitan Planning Organization (CYMPO), emphasized the hazardous conditions at the three intersections.

Because Highway 89 consists of only two lanes at the north-Chino Valley intersections, he said, drivers trying to make left turns off of the highway face a precarious situation.

"Right now, it's scary," Romley said. "I would not make a left turn at 4 North."

The dangerous conditions reportedly contributed to a high-profile June 2009 accident, in which a school bus crashed into the back of another bus that had slowed for a vehicle waiting to make a left turn.

The crash, which involved a total of four vehicles, caused more than a dozen injuries.

This past December, state officials announced that an ADOT hazards elimination study was under way at Road 4 North, which is about a mile north of the McDonald's restaurant in Chino Valley. And this week, Gentsch said the state also is studying Road 5 North and Perkinsville Road.

While Gentsch originally said a roundabout configuration was just one of several options under consideration, this week he said, "It looks like that's what the town prefers."

Romley said the recent construction of a roundabout at Road 4 South has helped to convince the community that the traffic circles are effective.

"The existing roundabout on the south end of town is working very well," Romley said. "It moves the traffic, and people aren't afraid of it. I personally have not had a single complaint."

He added that Chino Valley officials told ADOT they had no problem with roundabouts as long as the future structures are as wide as the existing one at Road 4 South. The heavy truck traffic on Highway 89 would make a narrower roundabout unworkable, Romley said.

While ADOT Resident Engineer Alvin Stump said the cost estimate for the three intersections is not yet complete, he said the standard cost to build a roundabout is about $800,000 to $1 million each.

Stump added that the design process could take as long as a year and a half, and "the funding source is still being determined."

Chino Valley Town Engineer Ron Grittman suggested during Thursday's meeting of CYMPO's technical advisory committee that the area's expected money from the next round of the federal stimulus program could go toward the roundabouts.

But other committee members pointed out that the stimulus program requires "shovel-ready" projects that have complete designs. The committee opted instead to recommend the resurfacing of Pioneer Parkway as its top priority for federal stimulus money.

CYMPO is a regional transportation-planning group, which includes representatives from ADOT, Yavapai County, Prescott, Prescott Valley, Chino Valley and Dewey-Humboldt.