Another rural crossroads will become a roundabout in northern Johnston County
The spot where two state highways meet in northern Johnston County will be the next rural intersection in the Triangle to become a roundabout.
Work will begin soon to build the roundabout at N.C. 42 and N.C. 96, about 10 miles east of Clayton. The N.C. Department of Transportation recently awarded a $3.4 million construction contract to S.T. Wooten Corp. of Wilson, which has a year to finish the project.
The new roundabout will be less than two miles west of one at N.C. 42 and N.C. 39, which was completed in 2018.
NCDOT converted the N.C. 42/96 intersection to an all-way stop in 2019 as an interim step toward the roundabout. There had been 37 crashes at the intersection in the previous five years, according to NCDOT. About 75% of them occurred when drivers on N.C. 96 pulled into traffic on N.C. 42, which did not have to stop.
Since last year, NCDOT has converted several rural intersections in Johnston County from two-way to all-way stops in a bid to improve safety. In 2010, NCDOT studied 53 two-way stop intersections that had been converted and found that all-way stops reduced crashes by 68% and crash deaths and injuries by 77%.
Roundabouts also reduce crashes by forcing drivers to slow down and pay attention as they enter the intersection. But they also keep traffic moving better than stop signs and traffic signals.
Roundabouts have become fairly common in urban and suburban areas. But NCDOT is increasingly using them at rural intersections as well.
NCDOT converted the intersection of N.C. 98 and N.C. 96 east of Wake Forest to a roundabout in 2018. In the following 4.5 years, the number of crashes at the intersection declined 31% compared to the same period before the roundabout was built, according to NCDOT. The number of crashes that resulted in injuries dropped nearly 80%, from 24 to 5.
NCDOT plans to build another roundabout nearby where N.C. 98 meets Moores Pond Road.
