COVINGTON, Ga. - Newton County will soon have another roundabout built to improve safety and traffic operations at a key intersection.
Recently the Georgia Department of Transportation awarded a $2.718 million construction contract to rebuild the existing four-way stop configuration at State Route 81 and SR 162/Salem Road to Vertical Earth Inc.

Citizens should expect work zone setup in the coming months. Traffic will be maintained on-site and staged during construction set to end May 31, 2020.

This intersection is located 2.9 miles southwest of Covington. The project length is 0.43 miles on SR 81 and 0.24 mile on SR 162. 

As with Newton County and many other communities across Georgia, drivers are seeing more roundabouts large and small. Recent research found that when three-leg and four-leg conventional intersections are converted into roundabouts in our state, they experience a 56 percent average crash frequency reduction and a 69 percent drop in fatal or injury collision results.

Nationally roundabouts lessen fatal and injury crashes by nearly 64 percent. 

Some keys to remember next time drivers approach one include:

• Slow down.
  
• If there's more than one lane, follow the signs and markings to select the correct lane for your destination.
  
• Yield to pedestrians and bicyclists.
  
• Yield at the entry to circulating traffic.
  
• Stay in your lane within the roundabout, and use your right-turn signal to indicate your intention to exit.
  
• Always travel counterclockwise around the center island.