The Road Commission for Oakland County (RCOC) has scheduled a public information meeting for Thursday, May 31, to share information about the planned construction of a roundabout at the Orion, Miller and Flint roads intersection on the Lake Orion/Orion Township border.

The meeting is from 4 p.m.-7 p.m. in the gymnasium of Blanche Sims Elementary School, 465 E. Jackson Street in Lake Orion. The meeting with be an open-house format — there will be no formal presentations, but RCOC staff will be present to answer questions throughout the meeting.  

 Construction of the roundabout is expected to start in early September and conclude in late fall, so it won’t conflict with the Dragon on the Lake Festival in late August. The roundabout will provide improved safety and traffic flow at the intersection and on nearby roads including “downstream” from the roundabout. Currently, the three-legged intersection operates as an all-way stop.

The approximately $570,000 project will be funded primarily by RCOC, though there is also expected to be a contribution from the Village of Lake Orion and Oakland County general government through the Tri-Party program. 

In addition to the construction of the roundabout, the project includes:

• Raised, Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)-compliant pedestrian crosswalks that will help draw motorists’ attention to the crosswalks
• Improved drainage
• Updated signage
• Street lighting

            The intersection will be completely closed during construction.  During the closure, the detours are as follows:

• The detour for eastbound or westbound Flint /Miller roads traffic is Flint Road to Lapeer Road (M-24) to Atwater Road to Orion Road to Conklin Road to Miller Road and vice versa.  

• The detour for northbound Orion Road traffic needing to access Flint Road is Orion Road to Atwater Road to Lapeer Road (M-24) to Flint Road and vice versa.
• The detour for northbound Orion Road traffic needing to access Miller Road is Orion Road to Conklin Road to Miller Road and vice versa. 

Crash data has consistently demonstrated that roundabouts result in far fewer traffic fatalities and serious injury crashes than signalized intersections. Additionally, roundabouts generally handle 30 percent to 50 percent more traffic than a signal – meaning fewer backups and delays, due to the fact that traffic moves continually in all directions through a roundabout.

For information on roundabouts, visit: http://www.rcocweb.org/374/Roundabouts. For information on this project, visit:  http://www.rcocweb.org/443/Flint-Miller-and-Orion-Road-Roundabout