Rossford council approves single‑lane roundabout at Glenwood and Route 65 after safety, parking discussion

Rossford City Council on April 14 adopted an ordinance authorizing the city administrator to enter into an agreement with the Ohio Department of Transportation to construct a modern single‑lane roundabout at the intersection of State Route 65, Glenwood Road and Bergen Street.

The council approved the measure after a presentation from design consultants and statements from local safety officials. Jack McDonough, a landscape architect with Edge, and consultants from Tetra Tech described the roundabout as part of a broader vision for the Superior Corridor and downtown that aims to improve safety, calm traffic and create a more walkable downtown. “I should really emphasize that this is a vision. This is not necessarily the answer,” McDonough said during the presentation.

Tetra Tech staff detailed the project’s parking impacts and possible mitigations. Austin (Tetra Tech staff) summarized preliminary parking counts: the roundabout would eliminate about 15 on‑street spaces immediately adjacent to the roundabout (nine on the south side of Glenwood and six on the north side), while striping changes could increase the number of spaces in front of the school from 27 to 31. “If this design were to go forward, we could increase that by 4,” Austin said, and consultants noted options such as angled parking, temporary bollards for trial layouts, or extending the project limits to recover or add stalls.

Local safety officials and the sheriff urged the council to move forward. Fire Chief Rick Soroka said, “Roundabouts are safer intersections that result in fewer severe crashes requiring emergency response,” and the sheriff recounted safety and traffic flow improvements at other roundabouts, telling the council a common pattern is initial resistance followed by strong public approval after installation. Officer Jody Johnson, who works traffic near the school, raised pedestrian safety concerns and said the project’s proposed changes would slow traffic and “make the whole downtown area, not just the school area, more pedestrian safe.”

Funding and next steps were discussed at committee and in council remarks. A facilities committee summary stated the project would be funded in part by a grant from Timucog (referenced by committee minutes) with remaining costs supplemented by TIF funds; staff representatives told council the TIF funds are designated for public infrastructure and would not be diverted from other general street projects. The ordinance adopted authorizes the administrator to enter the ODOT agreement and was declared an emergency before adoption. On the vote the council recorded Heben, Owen, Oberdorf, Toth and Reynolds as voting “aye”; Councilwoman Echol and Councilwoman Tinney were excused earlier in the meeting.

The project is in a planning and design phase with Tetra Tech noted as the engineering consultant; council members and staff said the rounds of community vetting and corridor design work will continue before construction. The agreement with ODOT moves the project toward design and funding coordination with the state.