Circular movement: Grape Drive roundabout construction set for 2022

MOSES LAKE — Engineers with the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) will present an update on construction of a roundabout at Grape Drive and state Route 17, scheduled for spring 2022, at the Moses Lake City Council meeting Dec. 14.

Jeff Deal, WSDOT project engineer, said the Grape Drive intersection, controlled with a traffic light, has a higher accident rate than similar intersections. Previous traffic revisions designed to alleviate problems haven’t worked, he said. The WSDOT installed warning lights at the intersection a few years ago.

“It (the warning light) hasn’t performed as well as we would hope,” Deal said.

“We could start as early as April,” he said of construction. “That comes with an asterisk. It just depends on a lot of things.”

The roundabout is designed to reduce the number of serious accidents, Deal said.

“Roundabouts really just blow the doors off a signal when it comes to safety,” he said.

Roundabouts force drivers to slow down, Deal said, and accidents are more likely to be fender-benders than a direct collision in the intersection.

But roundabouts do take some getting used to.

“There’s a bit of a learning curve with learning to navigate roundabouts,” Deal said.

The main thing for drivers to remember is cars already in the roundabout have the right of way, he said. Drivers yield to cars coming from the left through the roundabout.

“People are starting to get the hang of them,” he said.

And, even though cars are slowing down, the roundabout should improve the flow of traffic, he said.

“The amount of delay time should be reduced,” he said.

Like other businesses, road construction is struggling with supply chain issues and increases in material costs, and Deal said those could affect the project timeline. Whenever it starts, construction will take about four months.

Deal said a preliminary cost estimate is $2-$2.5 million, including design.

The roundabout will be two lanes in each direction on state Route 17, and one lane in each direction on Grape Drive. North Grape Drive (the Home Depot side) will have a right turn only lane. The roundabout will be designed with traffic separators to make it easier to navigate.

Construction will require periodic closure of the intersection, Deal said, with detour routes on Valley Road to Airway Drive northbound. The southbound detour route will be Maple Drive to Stratford Road.