Drivers traveling through Marion this summer will see construction crews hard at work as the town’s four-way stop is set to become a roundabout.
In a meeting Tuesday, the Board of Aldermen approved the roundabout plan by a 3-2 vote. Aldermen Norman Coleman, Stacy Black and Lou Ann Baylor voted for the roundabout, while Aldermen Barbara Anthony and Tammy Young voted against.
Mayor Larry Gill said he and the board have worked hard since taking office in 2021 to set the town up for future growth. Addressing the four-way stop, which sits at the intersection of Dale Drive and Lindley Road, is another aspect of Marion that needs to change to keep the town on track, he said.
“We’ve got to put ourselves in a position to be on the map to support new businesses and things like that coming here,” he said.
Gill said the town has received a letter of support from Central District Commissioner Willie Simmons in support of the roundabout, and a traffic engineer from Madison has studied the roads and agreed a roundabout was the way to go.
“All their data pointed to a roundabout,” he said. “If it had pointed to a red light, we’d be having a different conversation today, but it didn’t.”
While not everyone will be happy with a roundabout, Gill said change is necessary to prepare Marion for the future. Decisions like the roundabout, he said, should be made looking 10 to 20 years in the future.
Alderman Baylor said she wants Marion residents to understand the amount of research and discussion that went into reaching a decision about the four-way stop. Each alderman, she said, brought their own concerns and ideas, as well as the concerns and ideas from their constituents, to the table to be addressed.
“I think the board has really come together and brought every pro and con we could think of,” she said.
A rough design of the roundabout presented to the board Tuesday showed the proposed roundabout with a 40-foot lane. Town Engineer Shawn Miles said normal traffic lanes are about 11 feet wide, so that will be roughly equal to a four-lane highway.
Marion Police Sgt. James McCarty, who also works as a semitruck driver, also helped ease aldermen’s concerns that frequent 18-wheeler traffic between the industrial park and Henderson Steel would have issues making the turn.
McCarty said he frequently drives large trucks through similar roundabouts in other cities without issues. Turning at the current four-way stop, he said, is the more difficult of the two.
“I go through theses all the time,” he said.
Miles said the plan also calls for a sloped apron in the center instead of a hard curb so drivers who do unintentionally cut the corner too close will not damage their vehicles.
Based on his experience, McCarty said the biggest problem he sees arising from the roundabout will be older residents not understanding when it is their turn to go. However, he said, the town already has that problem with the four-way stop.
Gill said the town is looking to include the roundabout construction in the upcoming bridge replacement project on Dale Drive.
Lauderdale County was awarded $1.1 million from the state’s Emergency Road and Bridge Program in 2022 to replace the aging bridge that sits just south of the Hamas Temple Shrine. The county is working to get the necessary right-of-way properties from neighboring landowners and hopes to begin construction this summer.