GAMBIER — One message was clear at Gambier’s March council meeting: The Ohio 229 roundabout must be built.
The proposed roundabout, with a June 2024 project start date, has been in development since last summer — after a 21-year-old Gambier woman was killed at the Ohio 229/Laymon Road intersection. Flashing lights have been installed on stop signs to alert motorists of the intersection into Gambier.
Previous discussions of making changes to the intersection were met without success. One suggestion was the addition of traffic lights, but it was later learned that the Ohio Department of Transportation wouldn’t do the project since it didn’t meet specific criteria.
Another option discussed at March’s meeting was the addition of a retaining wall, which was met with opposition by Kenyon College.
“There was this urgency to give ODOT our opinion on what the village would prefer and there was this concern that we would like to be in accord with Kenyon College,” Gambier councilmember Rakia Faber said.
The possibility of narrowing the rock slope near the proposed roundabout was introduced, rather than adding a six- to seven-foot retaining wall in its place, though it’s uncertain if that will be possible, awaiting ODOTs response on what options are allowed.
“If push came to shove and you cannot get the roundabout to work with ODOT, the college will put a pretty substantial sum of money into a traffic signal,” said Ian Smith, Kenyon’s Vice President for Facilities, Planning, and Sustainability.
Smith said the college would prefer a traffic light over a retaining wall.
“I gotta ask this question,” village administrator R.C. Wise said at the meeting. “Do you feel that Kenyon understands how serious the village is about the roundabout being the solution? I mean, I’ll be honest with you, I think the traffic light was kind of a big curveball.
“(We) got $3 million sitting here and we’re gonna throw it all away because Kenyon doesn’t like the way something looks and we’re gonna build a $300,000 traffic light that doesn’t solve the original problem that we came to. I think that part of it was very, very surprising to me.”
More than a week has passed since the meeting and Kenyon College and Gambier have indicated to ODOT “our collective preference is for a natural looking slope be constructed without a retaining wall,” Wise said. “It would likely require more of the hill to be removed but that is the college and village’s preference rather than a retaining wall.
“ODOT has told us they will engage their geotechnical team to continue studying that option to make sure it can be done in the manner we prefer. We expect the Stage 2 plans to be submitted back to us by mid-May. We should know then if our first choice is feasible.”
