Public Hearing Suggested for Roundabout Proposal
A large number of citizens came to the Barnesville Village Council meeting on Nov. 2 to hear about a proposed traffic roundabout at the intersection of East Main Street and Shamrock Drive to address traffic congestion that occurs mostly during the school week and when large sporting events are staged at the high school.
Sam Richardson of the Belomar Regional Transportation Authority that covers Belmont County was on hand to answer questions related to a “Roundabout Concept” that is a suggested solution for the issue that came out of the Safe Route to Schools study grant that the agency wrote and submitted for the village.
“It is my understanding that this intersection will not warrant a traffic signal,” Richardson said. “Traffic engineers are not willing to make amends with traffic counts. If it doesn’t meet the counts for the number of cars at the intersection, then they will not. There’s no situation where they’ll approve a traffic signal if there’s not the right number of cars.”
“So there’s not enough traffic to warrant a traffic signal, but there’s enough traffic to warrant a roundabout,” Councilmember Terry McCort asked.
“No, you don’t actually need enough traffic necessarily to warrant a roundabout or traffic circle,” Richardson responded.
Richardson said the federal funds ODOT would use for the project are Congested Mitigation and Air Quality (CMAQ) funds that would cover 80 percent of the cost. “With this being a safety project as well, the federal code allows us to go up to 100 percent in federal funding,” the planner said.
These funds would also be used for the design phase. “We can cancel this project at any time during the design phase,” Richardson said. “So if we get to 30% of the design and we have a public open house and we’re not liking the design, we can cancel at that point and there will not be any loss to us (Belomar) or the village.”
A number of individual residents and business owners spoke in opposition to the project while offering a variety of solutions ranging from placing a police officer in the intersection to direct traffic to widening the entry area onto Shamrock Drive or routing buses out onto the state highway at Roosevelt Road.
Richardson pointed out that the left turns out of Shamrock were the most dangerous.
And as the traffic backs up in the eastbound lane some drivers pull left into the East Main turn lane in an attempt to get around the congestion. The initial report by Belomar reveals “community feedback indicates that motorists exiting Shamrock Drive often feel pressure to ‘shoot the gap’ when entering SR 147, particularly during peak school periods. This behavior increases the risks of angle and rear-end crashes and creates less desirable access conditions for pedestrians and bicyclists.
Mayor Jake Hershberger said November 10 is the date for engineering firms to submit letters of interest for developing the design concept.
The general consensus was a public hearing on the project is warranted if the project moves into the design stage.
A 16-page study prepared for Mayor Hershberger by Belomar lists 30 accidents within 500-feet of the intersection at East Main Street and Shamrock drive in the past five years. (Study cover image)
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Several at the meeting questioned the need for a round about or traffic circle in a town the size of Barnesville. A quick internet search reveal the following in Southeastern Ohio:
• SR 664 & Sauerkraut Road Roundabout: Located in Hocking County, this highly traveled single-lane intersection opened in October 2026. Managed by ODOT District 10, it serves locals and tourists traveling through the popular Hocking Hills region to ensure continuous, safer traffic flow.
• SR 160 & SR 554 Roundabout: Situated in Bidwell (Gallia County), this marks the very first roundabout constructed in Gallia County. It was strategically built by ODOT District 10 to counteract a persistent pattern of severe angle and pull-out crashes at the original intersection.
• Somerset Village Roundabout: Located in Perry County, the historic village of Somerset successfully converted its old, confusing central traffic circle into a modern, compliant roundabout. The upgrade fixed dangerous right-of-way confusion and enhanced pedestrian safety at crosswalks across the public square.
• SR 204 & Tollgate Road Roundabout: Positioned along the edge of the southeastern/central Ohio transition in Fairfield County, this critical intersection was converted into a roundabout by ODOT District 5 to alleviate high-speed commuter traffic conflicts and improve daily regional travel safety.
One each were identified in northern West Virginia and western Pennsylvania:
• Morgantown (Monongalia County): A turbo roundabout connects U.S. Route 119 and West Virginia Route 705, serving as a study site for the West Virginia University (WVU) engineering team to evaluate safer multi-lane designs.
• Eighty-Four (Washington County): Route 519 near Eighty-Four (two dual-lane roundabouts).
An Ohio Department of Transportation White Pater on Roundabouts is accessible here.
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