By Gene Kemmeter

Getting into Stevens Point from the north and traveling around the far north side of the city is providing a challenge to residents and travelers.

More than a week ago, Thursday, June 7, the intersection of Division Street North and North Point Drive was closed for construction of a roundabout. Also closed were the off-ramps from Interstate 39 onto Business Highway 51.

The ramp closures divert southbound travelers on 39 to the interchange at Highway 66 East, where temporary signal lights have been installed at Green Avenue on the west and the off-ramps on the east. Traffic for Stevens Point is then sent onto Stanley, Fremont and Main streets. Northbound travelers on 39 stopping in Stevens Point are detoured into the city at the interchanges at Main Street (highways 10 East and 66 West).

Area travelers from the north heading for downtown Stevens Point or the central city know they can take the Casimir Road exit from 39 and then North Second Drive/Second Street North into the city as a quicker route.

Getting to the Sentry Insurance and SentryWorld complex requires motorists to approach from the east. The closure on the east side of the intersection is located at Sentry Insurance’s westernmost driveway, meaning traffic can access the east side via North Reserve Drive (Michigan Avenue), Stanley Street, Maria Drive and North Point Drive.

The closure on the west side of the intersection is located 400 feet west of Prentice Street at a driveway to parking at SPASH. Prentice is closed for the new Sentry Insurance office building construction project, so traffic can access the west side of the project via Maria Drive, North Second Street and North Point Drive.

The closure on the south side of the intersection on Division Street is located on the north side of the entrance to Culver’s and the Stevens Point Visitors and Convention Bureau.

The intersection is scheduled to reopen Thursday, Aug. 30, just four days before school reopens at Stevens Point Area Senior High School and other schools in the Stevens Point Area School District Tuesday, Sept. 4.

The roundabout will be the first in the city and the second in Portage County. That first one opened Sept. 2, 2015, at the intersection of Highway 54 (Business Highway 51) and Maple Drive in Plover.

The completion of the roundabout will mean travelers to the Stevens Point-Plover area will now have roundabouts greeting them at both the north and south entrances to the urban area.

Roundabouts aren’t necessarily popular among motorists, possibly because motorists are unfamiliar with them and the signing sometimes leaves much to be desired. However, a study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) found roundabouts reduced injury crashes by 75 percent at intersections where stop signs or signals were previously used for traffic control.

Drivers entering a roundabout turn right and yield to the one-way traffic from the left, then stay in their lane to their exit. That sounds easy, but heavy traffic can slow the process. Information on roundabouts in Wisconsin can be found online at http://wisconsindot.gov/Pages/safety/safety-eng/roundabouts/works.aspx.