Roundabouts can be terrific traffic tools.
They keep motorists moving, reduce accidents and eliminate the need for stop signs and traffic signals.
But they also disrupt neighborhoods and business districts while they are under construction — and sometimes after — and they can be confusing if there are multiple lanes with vehicles entering, exiting and continuing on.
Northeast Ohio has added numerous roundabouts over the last decade. (Green feels like it added 47 of them in a short stretch along Massillon Road — a huge exaggeration, but there are several back-to-back-to-back at intersections in the community.) They are no longer foreign or motorist mazes to fear.
The intersection of Cleveland Avenue NW and State Street NW in Greentown, a neighborhood in Lake Township, is the latest spot targeted for a roundabout. The Stark County Engineer’s Office is studying how to make the intersection safer and to move traffic through there. That includes the possibility of a roundabout — it also may not.