INDOT set to break ground on Bretzville Junction roundabout spring 2025

Indiana Department of Transportation announced that the new single-lane traffic roundabout planned for Bretzville Junction, the intersection of Indiana Highways 64 and 162, will begin construction in the spring of 2025.

The roundabout, scheduled to open in 2026, will replace the red-light intersection at the Bretzville Junction. The Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) announced its construction in 2022.

The estimated $2.86 million update is necessary for two reasons, according to INDOT.

First, improving the safety of an intersection that has seen hundreds of crashes over the years is important. From 2017-2019, 116 crashes took place, involving nine incapacitating injuries, 19 others with less serious injuries, and 88 with property damage only.

Two highway safety rating indices place the intersection at a 2.74 for crash frequency and 2.85 for crash cost. Intersections rated “safe” are 1.0 or lower on both indices. Increased road safety measures especially benefit younger and inexperienced drivers and motorists around them.

Second, traffic flow and volume will increase. According to INDOT, since there are no mandatory stops other than waiting to enter, roundabouts keep traffic moving. Studies also show that roundabout vehicle capacity is 30 to 50 percent higher than traditional intersections. Moreover, roundabouts are becoming a fact of everyday life in both urban and rural America, their number multiplying almost 600 percent from 2007 to 2023.

INDOT also announced that residents can now sign up for text alerts that will soon keep them informed about construction, road closures, and other updates.

BTW: The Jasper Courthouse Square is a form of traffic circle, not a roundabout. Traffic circles work opposite of roundabouts. Vehicles traveling around a traffic circle yield to those entering the circle, while vehicles entering a roundabout yield to vehicles already traveling in the roundabout.

Visitors to the project website at insafepassage.com can sign up for text alerts that will begin as we get closer to the groundbreaking.

In addition, INDOT and local officials will be scheduling a roundabout practice day in the spring of 2025. This will give all drivers, from students to seniors, a voluntary opportunity to practice “getting into the flow” of yielding, entering, and exiting a roundabout, said Gary Brian, Southwest INDOT Public Relations Director