County engineer outlines ODOT-backed roundabout plan for County Road 13; commissioners approve LPA agreement

Todd Weber, Williams County engineer, told the Board of Commissioners on March 17 that the county applied for and received ODOT funding to study a roughly 3‑mile corridor that included the intersection of G and County Road 13 and that the resulting safety study was approved in January 2024. "We applied for a safety study. In January 2024, we got approved," Weber said, noting the study cost about $39,000 and the state paid roughly $35,100.

Weber said the county has also secured roughly $64,000 in state funds for additional signage and has applied for federal construction funds "up to $3,860,100" for a roundabout. He described the drawing in the study as conceptual rather than final engineering and said the county is seeking a consultant scope of services and an executed local public agency (LPA) agreement with ODOT before moving to detailed design. "Those are the 2 things. Once those are both done, then we can move forward with the design of it," Weber said.

On design, Weber advocated for a "simple" single‑lane roundabout sized to allow trucks and farm equipment to navigate using curb run‑up where necessary. He warned the project will likely require limited right‑of‑way acquisitions and that utility relocations could raise costs. "That number ... includes the design and includes the right away. It includes the purchase of right away," Weber said, adding that the county's share could be about $400,000 if the project costs approximately $4.18 million.

Board members and attendees pressed Weber on operational and safety questions. Dave (speaker 6) raised concerns about heavily loaded landfill trucks, saying they "look like they're ready to fall over when they turn the corner." Weber and others replied that modern roundabout geometry can be designed to accommodate large vehicles and that roundabouts tend to reduce severe head‑on and T‑bone crashes even if lower‑speed collisions still occur. "The beauty of a roundabout is it takes away the head on collisions or the T bone type action," one attendee said.

Weber said construction staging options exist — including building a temporary alignment to maintain traffic — but that, for this location, the county expects a period when County Road 13 will be closed to traffic to limit extra right‑of‑way needs. He also outlined approaches to recovering county engineering costs under the LPA agreement and said road‑and‑bridge funds (primarily from gas tax and license plate fees) would likely fund the county's share.

After the presentation and discussion, the board voted to enter into the federal LPA project agreement with ODOT, a step Weber said is necessary to secure the federal funding and advance the consultant scope and design work. The board and Weber agreed that outreach and driver education about roundabout operations will be part of the project as it moves forward.

The LPA agreement authorizes the county to pursue the federally funded project but does not finalize design, right‑of‑way or utility relocation plans; Weber said those elements will determine the county's ultimate cost and timeline.