Cleveland has installed five mini roundabouts along Bridge Avenue in Ohio City as part of a low-cost pilot program designed to slow vehicles and improve safety.
The roundabouts are located between West 38th Street and West 58th Street. Instead of permanent concrete islands, the new installations use painted circles and flexible delineator posts to guide drivers around the center of each intersection.
Cleveland City Councilman Austin Davis said the pilot was developed primarily as a safety measure. A June speed study found vehicles traveling at high speeds along Bridge Avenue, including one driver recorded at 80 mph in the residential area.
The city installed the five roundabouts last week.
The pilot also illustrates the cost difference between temporary traffic-calming treatments and traditional infrastructure. Davis told News 5 that the Bridge Avenue roundabouts, curb extensions and speed tables cost about $30,000.
By comparison, federally funded roundabouts installed along Franklin Avenue cost approximately $3.4 million.
Traffic signals can also be expensive. Davis said new signals can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, depending on whether city employees or outside contractors perform the work.
The Bridge Avenue project is not the final traffic-calming work planned for the area. Additional speed tables are expected, along with 225 delineators intended to make pedestrians more visible to drivers.
The city is using the pilot to test whether lower-cost street designs can reduce speeds without the expense and construction time associated with permanent roundabouts.
Bridge Avenue runs through residential sections of Cleveland’s near West Side and connects several Ohio City streets.
The mini roundabouts require drivers to move around the marked center of each intersection rather than traveling straight through at full speed.
Cleveland officials will be able to evaluate the installations as the pilot continues and additional traffic-calming improvements are added in Ward 7.
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