CARSON CITY, Nev. – A newly-installed traffic roundabout will open to traffic the morning of May 22 at the U.S. 50 and U.S. 95 Alternate junction in Silver Springs as part of a Nevada Department of Transportation project to widen the highway.

Motorists are advised to travel safely through the new traffic configuration and follow all roadway signage. Speed limits will be 15 mph through the roundabout, with speed feedback signs to alert drivers approaching the roundabout at higher speeds. 

Motorists will also see intermittent lane reductions and brief travel delays for paving of the roadway approaches into the roundabout between 7am-7pm weekdays over coming weeks. 

Since August 2019, traffic has used temporary frontage roads around the junction while the roundabout was constructed. The roundabout replaces a previous flashing traffic light. 

A one-way circular intersection in which traffic flows around a center island without stop signs or signals, the concrete roundabout will make intersection travel safer and quicker. Because traffic enters and exits through right turns only, the occurrence of severe right-angle crashes in roundabouts is substantially less than in many four-way intersections. Roundabouts also have the ability to reduce potentially deadly rear-end crashes which can occur at certain traffic lights. 

The roundabout is part of a continuing project to widen U.S. 50 from a two-lane to a four-lane divided highway between Roy’s Road in Stagecoach and the U.S. 95A junction in Silver Springs. Eight frontage roads are also being constructed, tying local access roads into major intersections for safer designated turns to and from the highway. Roadside lighting will be installed and enhanced for improved visibility and safety at major intersections. Roadway drainage improvements are also being made. Fourteen miles of new four strand, four-foot high livestock fencing will be constructed on both sides of the highway to reduce vehicle-animal collisions and enhance safety. The nearly ten miles of highway to be widened is traveled by approximately 6,000 drivers daily.

Project updates are available at nevadadot.com or by calling (775) 888-7000.

DRIVING IN A ROUNDABOUT 

• Roundabouts do not use stop signs, but often use yield signs to notify drivers to yield to approaching vehicles already in the roundabout. Entering a roundabout is much like making a right turn from an intersection.
• When readying to enter a roundabout, look in each direction, paying particular attention to vehicles circling the roundabout to the driver’s left. 
• Give the right-of-way and yield to traffic and/or pedestrians or bicyclists, then enter the roundabout when there is an adequate gap in circulating traffic flow. Do not pass bicycles or other vehicles in a roundabout.
• If there are no vehicles immediately approaching, it is legal to proceed into the roundabout without stopping, as long as all traffic laws are followed. 
• Following posted speed limits, proceed through the roundabout following the roadway counterclockwise to the right of center island. Within a roundabout, do not stop for vehicles waiting to enter the roundabout. Those driving within the roundabout have the right-of-way.
• Before exiting, use turn signals to indicate where you will exit the roundabout.