Roundabout planned for Cunningham Road and State Route 17 intersection

OTHELLO — The intersection of Cunningham Road and state Route 17 near Othello will get a roundabout in 2023, with Washington State Department of Transportation engineers designing the project in 2022.

Cunningham Road is one of the main entrances into Othello and is renamed Main Street where it cuts through town. James Reynolds, WSDOT project engineer, said the Cunningham Road and state Route 17 intersection has been identified as an intersection with a high number of serious injury collisions.

“This is a safety project,” Reynolds said. “We’ve already done a few things (traffic revisions) that didn’t work out.”

For instance, the intersection has a left turn lane for both northbound and southbound traffic, and a right turn lane for southbound traffic. The speed limit on state Route 17 has been dropped to 50 mph, and the intersection was reworked to improve sight lines, Reynolds said.

The benefit of a roundabout, Reynolds said, is that it reduces speeds.

“It (lower speed) reduces injury collisions by almost 85 to 90%,” he said.

When it’s built, the roundabout will be one lane north and south, Reynolds said. The goal is to complete the project before harvest begins.

There are some detours, but the DOT will be required to keep routes available on state Route 17.

“It will definitely have some traffic impact,” he said.