Published: 1/12/2021 10:28:23 AM
WORTHINGTON — Route 143 isn’t the busiest of roadways. But thanks to a multimillion-dollar federally funded project, it now has a roundabout.
The roundabout is at the intersection of Old North Road, Huntington Road, Buffington Hill Road, and Williamsburg Road. So far reactions to the roundabout, which opened to traffic in 2020, have been mixed.
“People don’t like change,” said Charley Rose, chairman of the Worthington Select Board.
Rose said that some of the feedback has to do with how it feels to drive around the roundabout without its second layer of paving, which is scheduled to be put in this year. He also said that if a vehicle is too big to make the turn, the roundabout can be driven through.
“It’s designed to be driven right over,” said Rose. “It’s kind of like a big speed bump.”
Rose himself is a fan of the roundabout.
“I think it’s working great,” he said.
The Select Board chairman also said there have been some difficulties in plowing the roundabout, and that its design may be modified in the future.
“It’s up for consideration again in the spring,” Rose said.
The roundabout came as a result of redoing Route 143 from Cold Street to the Chesterfield line. Rose said that the Department of Transportation informed the town that a stoplight, which was on the route beforehand, would not be permitted, and either a roundabout or a four-way stop would have to be put in. The town opted for the roundabout.
Jared Sena, a Worthington resident and an owner of Sena Farm Brewery, said that he likes the roundabout.
“I’ve done a few loops around it,” he said.
Town resident John Tobin, however, said he would have preferred a four-way stop at the intersection.
“I think it was a big a waste of money,” said Tobin, of the project.
Rose said that redoing Route 143 to the Chesterfield line cost nearly $8 million federal Transportation Improvement Program money. Additionally, almost $1 million in Chapter 90 highway money and a small amount of town money for engineering was spent on the project.
Redoing the rest of Route 143, using an estimated $10 million in TIP money, is on the schedule for the federal program in a future year, and will use the work paid for with the Chapter 90 money.
“We’re on the list,” Rose said.