Roundabout completed, drivers relieved

by Logan Gruber

operations@thenewsleaders.com

An intersection with a history of serious injuries, but thankfully no fatalities, has been transformed into a roundabout.

CR 133, at the junction of 19th Avenue in west Sartell, was officially finished Wednesday morning. The intersection sits midway between where 133 intersects CR 4/Veterans Drive in the west, and where it intersects Pinecone Road in the east.

After the “road closed” signs came down, drivers began to pass through the new roundabout. Pedestrians were also spotted enjoying the trails alongside 19th Avenue that lead to the roundabout early Wednesday. While some orange cones are still up and some additional work needs to be done, the road is ready for action.

The construction of the roundabout was first announced in October of last year, when federal grant money in the form of a Highway Safety Improvement Project was received to make the intersection safer. JR Ferche Excavating of Rice won the contract for completion of the roundabout. The total cost of the project was $775,146, with a projected completion date of September 2014. The HSIP share of the cost was 90 percent, or $667,400, while the City of Sartell and Stearns County split the rest of the $107,746. The amount was split between the two groups based on the number of roads entering the intersection: three for Sartell, one for Stearns County. That left $80,810, which was paid by Sartell and $26,937 to be paid by Stearns County.

Construction began on July 23, 2014, with drivers being detoured via 2-1/2 Street N., Pinecone Road, CR 120 and CR 4/Veterans Drive. The virgin asphalt was a welcome sight for those drivers used to traveling those extra four miles or so between Sartell and St. Joseph.

The roundabout is a four-legged configuration, as the old intersection was, with CR 133 going west and east of the roundabout and 19th Avenue going north and south.