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Media Contact: Fred Strohl
Communications and Media Relations
865.574.4165


Audio Spot: Roundabout under construction at ORNL

 Audio Clip  
OAK RIDGE, Tenn., June 28, 2005 — Construction begins this week on a traffic circle or roundabout along Bethel Valley Road near the Visitors Center at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

Construction project manager Norm Durfee said the roundabout will slow laboratory traffic.

"The cars have to slow down to go around the roundabout," Durfee said. "It also reduces conflicts and potential conflicts between cars. It reduces traffic accidents and, therefore, is a safer means of handling traffic going through an intersection."

Durfee added the roundabout will increase traffic safety throughout the Oak Ridge campus.

"It provides slower traffic through the campus, and we feel this will achieve a long-range goal of trying to develop more of a campus atmosphere driving down Bethel Valley Road."

Plans are for roundabout construction to be completed by the end of August.

ORNL is managed by UT-Battelle for the Department of Energy.