COAL GROVE — The construction work on the two roundabouts on Ohio 243/Marion Pike, on both sides of the U.S. 52 interchange, is done for a bit.

Coal Grove Mayor Andy Holmes said that all four ramps are open now, after a couple months of closures.

“I was catching some heat from my local business owners when the ramps were closed and it has been detrimental to our local businesses,” he said, adding that employees at the Subway had their hours reduced to offset losses from having less sales. “So I couldn’t be happier that all four ramps are open to get people in and out of Coal Grove again without having to take a detour.”

The $2.9 million project, paid for through federal funds, is to help the area, known for traffic backups in peak driving times and is being led by the Lawrence County Engineer’s Department. Holmes said County Engineer Patrick Leighty has been good at keeping him apprised of how it has been going.

The project is in a lull right now, due to the winter weather.

“Their communication to me is, when the weather gets a little warmer and the asphalt plants open back up, they will get back to doing the construction in the roadway.”

Holmes said it looks like the crews have been working on lighting for the roundabout.

“So that is a testament to that, even when asphalt isn’t being made and they can’t work on the road, that they are still doing parts of the project that they can get done with the current weather,” he said. “I’m excited to see how it is going to look once it is done and happy the village is making this type of upgrade.”

As for when the asphalt plants open up again, it just depends on the weather. If it is warm winter, they could open up as early as February or as late as April, depending on the forecast.

Holmes said that intersection of highway and village road has always been a problem area.

“It has been a problem area for our first responders. They have had to report there often for high-impact collisions, T-bones and things,” he said. “I’m tickled these roundabouts are going to alleviate these problems.”

He said that, at a town hall meeting about roundabouts, the state had a presentation about how roundabouts are safer than the older intersections because the vehicles are going slower and that the impact of the angle of the collision is different.

“I can attest to that because my wife had a T-bone collision at that intersection that sent her and my boy to the hospital,” Holmes said. “They were alright. But it was a high-impact collision.”

He said the data shows that a collision in a roundabout is a glancing blow, rather than high-impact.

“So, I feel like we are moving in the right direction,” Holmes said.

And it will help with traffic flow since there won’t be 15 cars stopped on the ramps trying to turn with oncoming traffic.

“Depends on the spirit of the person that is out front,” Holmes said. “If they are conservative, they might want to wait until they have a big open section. And of course, you see people darting out there when they probably didn’t have enough space because they were tired of sitting there for 12-15 minutes on the ramp.”