A project to convert a busy traffic circle at the intersection of Pearland Parkway and McHard Road to a roundabout in an effort to slow traffic and prevent accidents is set to start in March.
To change the traffic circle to a roundabout, the the structure’s diameter of 425 feet will be reduced to 180 feet.
The decreased diameter circle forces traffic to slow down, said Skipper Jones, the city’s assistant director of engineering and projects. A traffic circle, with its larger diameter, is designed to allow vehicles to travel at relatively high speeds.
Approved Jan. 25, the $4.11 million agreement with Teamwork Construction also includes two other projects.
One is construction of a new traffic signal to the south at the parkway’s intersection with Forest Park/Summit Spring Lane. A third project in the deal includes putting in a left turn lane at Pearland Parkway and Oak Ridge Drive; installing a signal at Windward Bay and Broadway and constructing a left turn lane at Long Oak on Dixie Farm Road.
City officials said bundling the projects together under the construction umbrella of one company helped lower costs.
“This strategy brought the cost of the Windward Bay project down $589,000 from previous bids for the same work,” city spokesperson Josh Lee said. “The low bid for the traffic circle modifications came in approximately 8 percent below the engineer’s cost estimate at $2.69 million.”
The traffic circle originally was estimated to cost $3.2 million.
Work on all three projects is set to start in March. Improvements to the traffic circle will take 534 days; the other two projects will last approximately 310 days.
Last year, Pearland’s engineering department was forced to alter the project’s design on the parkway after realizing the initial plans wouldn’t adequately handle traffic related to the University of Houston-Clear Lake Pearland Campus, which lies just north of the traffic circle.
The issue was that drivers leaving the campus were having a hard time navigating their way onto the parkway, particularly during rush-hour afternoon commutes.
Like the changes set to be made to the traffic circle, the traffic signal to be installed at the intersection of Pearland Parkway and Summit Springs/Forest Park Lane is aimed at reducing the number of traffic accidents in the area. Currently, the intersection allows for uncontrolled left turns in all directions and presents safety concerns. The city hopes the upcoming work at Windward Bay work and associated projects will mean safer left turns without sacrificing traffic flow.
February 02, 2021 at 02:13AM
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Work to alter Pearland Parkway circle to start in March - Houston Chronicle
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