An early rendering of a proposed roundabout at the Averitt Road and Smith Valley Road intersection near Greenwood Community High School is seen in March at the Greenwood City Center. Construction is expected to begin in 2024.
DAILY JOURNAL FILE PHOTOS
Greenwood’s plans to build a roundabout at the intersection of Averitt Road and Smith Valley Road is facing criticism from neighbors.
A $2.3 million roundabout was announced in March for the intersection of Averitt and Smith Valley roads, just west of Greenwood Community High School and Southwest Elementary School. City officials say the roundabout, which will have two lanes for traffic, would alleviate daily traffic backups at the intersection. The project would be completed in 2024.
Smith Valley Road is considered one of the city’s primary arterial east/west roadways, which means it serves traffic within, through, into and out of the city. Averitt Road is considered a secondary arterial, meaning it is designed to serve trips within the community and link more local streets to a main road, according to the city’s comprehensive plan.
City officials say the project is needed because the city continues to grow rapidly, and residents need to be able to get to where they need to go as quickly and smoothly as possible. Because Smith Valley Road will connect to Interstate 69 in unincorporated Johnson County, so the road will also serve as a connector between Interstates 69 and 65 and U.S. 31.
Greenwood officials hired an engineering firm to look at the intersection because of its proximity to U.S. 31 and State Road 135. The firm found that a roundabout would alleviate the backlog and improve public safety. The roundabout is also being designed to accommodate future needs on Smith Valley Road, including additional lanes, which could be built if the city decides to expand the road, officials said.
The city has received about $2 million in federal funds from the Indianapolis Metropolitan Planning Organization to pay for the project. The city would pay the remaining balance, Mayor Mark Myers said.
Residents blindsided
Neighbors to the project have concerns about the project’s timing and say they feel they were left out of the process.
The reason why residents may feel as though the roundabout came up unexpectedly is because the project was moved up a year or two from when officials originally planned to announce it, Myers said. The funding for the project became available sooner than expected, so the city had less lead time to reach out to residents, he said.
The engineering firm hired by the city for the project did reach out to specific residences were going to be affected, and one property owner who was going to be especially affected by construction came to a planning meeting about the project.
However, two people who rent homes a few houses down from the intersection say they would have liked to know. Additionally, Paul Nesses, who owns the home on the southeast corner of the intersection, said he is disappointed that no one in the city government had reached out to him before the announcement, he said.
Rose Pawlowski, who lives near Southwest Elementary School, also didn’t hear from anyone.
“No one communicated with us,” Pawlowski said. “All of the sudden I saw the flags going up.”
An initial post about the roundabout made on city social media said the roundabout would be built this summer. That caused the tenant renting the home from Nesses to announce their intent to leave, he said.
The post also didn’t make clear the design wasn’t finalized and if the roundabout is built as the design shows, it would take half of the front yard at Nesses’s property.
“I can’t find a renter because no one wants to deal with it,” he said. “Financially, it’s going to be a burden to me.”
Despite the initial post, construction on roundabout cannot begin until 2024 because funding for the project cannot be used until then. The flags that are up right now are for preliminary surveying and the design is not final, city officials say.
Residents should expect to hear more from the city and the contractors hired for the project. Residents are welcome to call the city’s planning and engineering departments if they have questions or want more information, Myers said.
“There is an opportunity to comment and to ask the … departments questions,” Myers said.
When Nesses reached out to the city, he did not get a satisfactory answer. He attended a planning meeting where he felt like his input wasn’t valued, Nesses said.
“If they planned this two years ago and are just now telling people, that’s not right for the homeowners and investors,” he said.
Traffic concerns
Residents are also concerned about how the roundabout will impact the already difficult traffic conditions on Smith Valley Road.
Whenever Pawlowski leaves her home to commute to her job on the east side of Indianapolis, she often has trouble getting out of her driveway, she said.
“Ninety-nine percent of the time, I can’t turn left. I can turn right and go through school or get around the school to where the light is,” Pawlowski said. “The only time it’s easy to get out is when its before 7 a.m. or the middle of the night.”
Pawloski is concerned a roundabout will make the problem worse. Already, she has been late to work because traffic wouldn’t let her out of her drive way, she said.
“For me to have to leave an hour or more early because I can’t get out of my driveway is ridiculous,” Pawlowski said.
Pawloski is not alone.
Anita Ellis, who rents a home a few houses down from the intersection, had similar feelings on the roundabout.
“They’re not going to stop and let someone out of their driveway. If they do they’ll get slammed in their rear,” she said. “It won’t work there. I know it won’t.”
Nesses does not believe the road is wide enough for the roundabout being proposed, and said some of the city’s roundabouts are confusing. However, there are many that work well, he said.
Like Nesses’s tenant, Pawlowski is also thinking of finding a new place to live. She was in conversations with her landlord to buy the property, but now she’s reconsidering, Pawlowski said.
“It’s not going to make sense to continue living there,” Pawlowski said.
Pawlowski fears the stoplight at the Greenwood schools campus could counteract the roundabout’s benefits of moving traffic more quickly through the intersection and that it could lead to more backups, Pawlowski said.
Greenwood Community Schools Superintendent Terry Terhune is more optimistic about the roundabout. He is aware of the roundabout and says the city has already done traffic studies and has worked with the district to adjust the light as best as they can, he said.
“Until it’s actually done, we don’t know,” Terhune said. “Our biggest concern is getting kids out safely. We will have to wait and see how that works.”
Terhune says the city has done a good job about identifying intersections where roundabouts will be beneficial, and is excited to see one come to this intersection.
How to give input
Anyone with questions about the project can reach out to the Greenwood’s planning department by calling 317-881-8698, or by calling the engineering department at 317-887-5230.
