Cars maneuver the new mini-roundabout in Milford at the intersection of Beechwood Road and Chamber Drive.

Cars maneuver the new mini-roundabout in Milford at the intersection of Beechwood Road and Chamber Drive.
By Brian Behrman
Sun Intern

A new mini-roundabout in the city of Milford is causing problems due to its lack of visibility and conformity with the road.

The roundabout is at the intersection of Beechwood Road and Chamber Drive and serves as a circular yield crossing with no stop signs. It was built to fix traffic flow issues.

Council member Lisa Evans raised concerns at the April 5 Milford City Council meeting.

Evans began by saying that the roundabout has gotten a lot of compliments and she loves the idea of it, but remarked on the obscured visibility of the mountable dome in the middle and questioned its design.

“You can’t see it, it’s just flat with the road,” Evans said.

Evans is worried about cars driving east on Chamber Drive heading toward the Homewood Suites by Hilton hotel that’s situated across the roundabout. At night, if she hadn’t known it was there, she would have continued across the intersection, Evans said.

“I’m afraid people are going to drive like they used to straight to the hotel where it’s going to be an accident waiting to happen,” Evans said.

Council member Justin Bonnell also recalled how Brian Dunlap, President and CEO of RiverHills Bank, told him that he had been in a near accident using the roundabout.

“There was some concern about the way that it was so easily able to be drove over,” Bonnell said.

The mountable dome serves as a median that can be driven over by emergency vehicles or large trucks.

“I knew the purpose was so that fire trucks and things could get around it, but I thought you’d be able to at least know that it’s there,” Evans said.

Current ideas to make the roundabout more visible are to install some reflectors or apply noticeable paint. Interim city manager Pam Holbrook said that she would ask Ron Roberts from Roberts Engineering Inc. for suggestions.

Council unanimously approved construction for the roundabout on Feb. 2, based on findings from a survey done by Roberts Engineering Inc. that a mini-roundabout would relieve traffic congestion. Adleta Construction built the roundabout at the cost of $57,357.40.

The intersection is near River’s Edge at Milford and was finished on June 15, 2005 after the Beechwood Road connection to Chamber Drive was built across Round Bottom Road.