Roundabout OPEN

 That $2 million roundabout in west Muncie finally opened Wednesday afternoon to only a modicome of traffic. Yahooooo was the word Angie Moyer, project director for the county engineering staff, said in a e-mail to many people around 4 p.m.  Todd Donati, president of the Delaware County Commissioners, sees it as a great traffic mover in one of the busiest places in the community. What an improvement that means not stopping too long at one of the busiest intersections at Morrison Road and Jackson Street which carries as many as 20,000 vehicles a day. The project took a few years to plan, design and build, especially in the final weeks where rain plagued the smallest of details like lights, signs and traffic markings. E&B Paving did its job with all the tactical problems of building a roundabout over a creek that carries millions of gallons of water from west Muncie to Yorktown and ultimately to White River. Those large drainage structures that took a piece of Sam Pierce's front yard and others hopefully won't become overwhelmed by water or traffic. Motorists might notice that the roundabout is a one laner unlike the one in downtown Muncie that has two lanes. That means traffic will still back up during peak times in the morning and evening during weekdays when only yield signs control the flow. It's sad that Jackson and Morrison  did not get some work which illustrates the continued poor conditions of local roads and streets even with a new wheel tax that costs motorists another $25 on the vehicle registration. It too late for any more paving this year, but it will be interesting to see if Muncie and Yorktown can work together instead of how they paved portions of River Road instead of the entire stretch between the city and town. Still traffic will move alot better after motorists had only River or Ind. 332 to go west where thousands live. 

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