Fairhope council favors single‑lane roundabout as preferred Twin Beach fix after corridor study

The Fairhope City Council work session heard a detailed Twin Beach corridor study and traffic‑safety recommendations, and council members signaled a preference for a single‑lane roundabout at the Founders/Booth intersection as the long‑term solution.

City Engineer presented four alternatives, beginning with an all‑way stop as the lowest‑cost, short‑term measure. The engineer said the all‑way stop is “very inexpensive” and “pedestrian friendly,” but warned it would “be an instant failure of eastbound and westbound approaches” during school peak periods. He said the study identifies both pedestrian crashes and vehicle collisions near the high school and recommended weighing safety gains against traffic queuing at peak school arrival and dismissal times.

On the roundabout option, the engineer said a single‑lane roundabout “eliminates serious crashes” and is a proven treatment that “works very well,” but noted substantial drainage and construction work would be required. He described the scale of the work and budget implications: “If you know, if it’s a $2 million roundabout, theoretically this could be a $4 million project,” because significant subsurface drainage piping and other infrastructure improvements would likely be needed.

Councilman Burrell and other members argued the roundabout’s operational flexibility made it attractive. “I like the way roundabouts flow,” Burrell said, noting they can “move through” when demand is low but manage heavy, skewed flows during peak periods. Members discussed phasing construction, restricting major work to school summer breaks and using bidding requirements and contractor traffic‑management plans to minimize closures.

The study also described signalized options with dedicated turn lanes; staff said signals are feasible and pedestrian‑friendly but increasingly expensive and potentially an intermediate step that could later be replaced by a roundabout as traffic grows. The engineer said the traffic committee favored the roundabout while the consulting engineer was more tentative on a single preferred solution.

Council members asked staff to return with more detailed cost, phasing and traffic‑management plans and to seek county participation through the county’s so‑called “30 cube” project funding opportunity to defray infrastructure costs. The council did not take a final vote on construction but formally directed staff to pursue funding and next steps.

What’s next: staff will refine cost estimates, staging and mitigation plans and return with a recommendation and a formal funding request to the county.