Busy Marion intersection closing to get mini-roundabout

MARION — A major Marion intersection will be closed for around eight weeks later this month to install a mini-roundabout.

The intersection of 10th Street and 10th/Central Avenue will be closed beginning June 21.

Closing the intersection shortens the construction time, City Engineer Mike Barkalow said.

“We could’ve left it partly open and directed traffic through, but that would take all summer,” he said. “So we decided to shut it down, We also wanted to wait until school was out so buses didn’t have that detour.”

Rathje Construction of Marion is the contractor.

The roundabout will cost $543,834, with $293,000 coming from the Iowa Department of Transportation’s Traffic Safety Improvement Program and $207,000 coming from Marion’s local-option sales tax.

Barkalow said the city decided on a roundabout at the intersection after a traffic study by the DOT’s Transportation Engineering Assistance Program and engineering firm HR Green of Cedar Rapids.

“A lot of people think we just put roundabouts in every intersection, and that’s not the case,” Barkalow said. “They did a full-blown traffic study for us to look at all the alternatives — retiming the signal, roundabouts, and mini roundabouts. This is the solution they came up with.”

Comments: (319) 398-8255; gage.miskimen@thegazette.com