Prineville holds open house on roundabout
ODOT and Prineville city officials saw a full house Thursday night for an open house for a large new roundabout that’s set for construction at the intersection of Highway 126 and Tom McCall Road.
Many of the attendees are in the trucking industry, and they were concerned about how they’ll be able to navigate it, once it’s finished this fall.
On one of the walls in the room, a video was playing that showed a ‘truck rodeo’ held last year that tested different sized trucks on an outline of this roundabout. The biggest truck that made it through was 107 feet long, making good use of the sloped curb at the center of the roundabout called the apron.
“What we found out after testing is that even the longest loads a trucker might have would fit into this particular style of roundabout,” ODOT spokesman Peter Murphy said. “They’re going to rise up over the apron, but that’s a design factor. We know that’s going to happen. But that was the longest load, so average loads are going to be just fine going through it, and that’s what the truck rodeo proved.”
Several of the truckers in attendance said they’re happy with the way the roundabout will look and work.
“I have been involved in this,” T&R Trucking owner Teresa Rodriguez said. “I went to the roundabout rodeo when it was at the Deschutes County Expo Center, and that was educational and very interesting. I was glad to see that they implemented a lot of the suggestions that the truck drivers that attended asked for.”
As far as roundabouts go, it’ll be one of the biggest in Oregon — anywhere from 170 to 175 feet across.
Not everyone in attendance was a fan of the plan, though.
“Why aren’t we spending money on lighted crosswalks through the city?” Prineville resident Jason Mudd said. “This is the only place I’ve lived in my entire life — I’m 43 years old — that I’ve almost hit the amount of people I have because you can’t see them at night.”
Another ODOT spokesperson said there actually is a plan set to be finished in 2020 or 2021 that will light and update Prineville crosswalks, in compliance with ADA standards. That project is going to cost about $5 million, with $3 million coming from a grant given to the city of Prineville.
The roundabout is expected to be completed in September.
For more information on the project: http://www.oregon.gov/odot/projects/pages/project-details.aspx?project=18728
