Love ‘em or hate ‘em, roundabouts are beginning to pop up in a few corners of Wayne County.
Currently, only one roundabout exists on a road maintained by Wayne County – in comparison to 15 in Macomb County and a whopping 45 in Oakland County.
But the Wayne County landscape is starting to change: Canton Township and Romulus are planning the first roundabouts in those communities, while Northville is planning a second and Westland officials have begun talking about where roundabouts might make sense down the road.
One study identified about a dozen other intersections as places where roundabouts could be considered as well.
But does that mean Wayne County could eventually catch up with its neighbor to the north, where the Road Commission for Oakland
County opened yet another roundabout this month?
There’s a lot to consider.
“Generally speaking, roundabouts will come to Wayne County based on good urban planning,” said Matt Allen, Wayne County communications director. “They will happen in time. Crawl, walk, run would be the approach to these.”
Roundabouts coming to Canton, Northville and Romulus
In Canton Township, planners are preparing for summer 2027 construction of the community’s first roundabout, with another on the horizon.
Next year’s project will transform the intersection of Sheldon and Palmer roads, where a four-way stop contributes to long rush hour backups, especially when nearby Bentley Elementary School is in session.
Charles Larocque, Canton Township engineering manager, said the township used current traffic counts and 20-year projections to compare a roundabout to other alternatives, including traffic signals.
“The roundabout ended up looking pretty good in all categories,” Larocque said, noting the single-lane roundabout will accommodate large trucks and fire vehicles, and will also include pedestrian islands for safe crossing.
A second Canton roundabout is in the township’s five-year road plan for 2029 at the intersection of Ridge, Saltz and Denton roads. Details are not finalized, and the plan is subject to change, Larocque said.
In Northville, where the first roundabout on a Wayne County-operated road opened in late 2025 at Seven Mile, Sheldon and Center roads, another is in being planned at Seven Mile and Hines Drive.
The first, Northville Mayor Brian Turnbull noted, was an adjustment for some.
“At the beginning, people were very leery, especially our senior crowd,” Turnbull said. “It is a learning process, because nobody in Wayne County has ever had one, but it's worked out extremely well. I’ve gotten more positive letters and calls on the roundabout than I ever imagined.”
Like the pending Canton project, Northville’s roundabout was intended in part to address long backups, which Turnbull said have since disappeared.
The new roundabout – just east of the first – will be located in an area that once served as the landing spot for a ski jump before the roads were added decades later, Turnbull noted.
“It’s an intersection that wasn’t supposed to be an intersection,” he said, adding that the goal is to improve traffic flow, provide better access to the new River Park and improve ingress and egress from the former Northville Downs property and the city.
Design work is underway and includes a bridge over Johnson Creek and pedestrian connections. Construction is currently planned for 2028.
In Romulus, the city is planning a roundabout at the Five Points intersection, where Huron River Drive, Goddard Road, Grant Street and Ozga Street converge near the city’s downtown.
“Those of us who’ve been around here for a long time know that it’s a dangerous intersection,” Mayor Robert McCraight said during a June City Council study session, noting the city often receives complaints from drivers.
At the meeting, Public Services Director Roberto Scappaticci said the current five-legged intersection is difficult to navigate because the traffic signal controls only four approaches.
Utility work is expected to begin in late 2027, he said, followed by phased construction of the single-lane roundabout in spring and summer 2028.
Dearborn is also pursuing a mini roundabout at Chase Road and Ruby Avenue.
The Canton and Northville projects both received federal Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality funding through SEMCOG – about $2.7 million for Canton and $2.2 million for Northville. Romulus received $2 million in federal Carbon Reduction funding through SEMCOG.
Comparing Wayne County to Oakland County
Even with the new projects, roundabouts will remain far less common in Wayne County than in neighboring Oakland County.
The Road Commission for Oakland County has 45 roundabouts in operation, including the latest, opened Aug. 27 at the Wixom, Duck Lake and Sleeth roads intersection on the Milford and Commerce township border.
Two more are planned for 2027, one in Waterford Township another on the Novi and Lyon Township border.
“We like roundabouts because, in many situations, they can move more traffic, more efficiently than a signalized intersection,” Bryson said. “And, we believe they enhance the safety of the road system.”
A 2023 Michigan Department of Transportation study shows that while the state’s roundabouts had more crashes than traditional intersections, those crashes were less likely to result in serious injuries or deaths. Roundabouts also reduced traffic delays by more than 63% on average.
Wayne County Deputy Director of Public Services Scott Cabauatan said the county is “always open to new technologies and concepts to improve the management and safety for vehicle traffic,” and agrees roundabouts can improve safety, help move traffic and reduce emissions.
But many factors must be considered when determining if a roundabout is feasible: traffic volume, truck and commercial traffic, nearby utilities, an intersection’s existing geography and more.
And, simply finding room for a roundabout can be a challenge in a county where many communities are already densely developed.
“One of the most predominant factors for Wayne County tends to be physical space constraints where conversion from a traditional intersection to a roundabout can be challenging from a design and construction perspective,” Cabauatan said. “Often these projects will require some type of land acquisition for proper construction and right of way needs.”
The most important component to developing a roundabout, he added, is collaboration with the local community “to design a project to meet everyone’s needs and desires.”
Road jurisdiction adds another layer.
Michigan’s road network is divided among MDOT, counties, cities and villages. Townships do not have jurisdiction over public roads, meaning a project in Canton involving a Wayne County road requires county involvement.
Cities generally control their own local streets, but major roads within a city may fall under county or state jurisdiction. That means many potential roundabout plans require cooperation from multiple agencies.
A dozen more possibilities
In Westland, city planners have started internal conversations about whether roundabouts could make sense at Hines and Joy roads and Joy and Farmington roads.
The two intersections were among 13 identified for potential geometric changes in a 2025 regional Safe Streets for All traffic study covering Westland, Wayne, Inkster and Garden City.
Westland Planning and Building Director Moe Ayoub said the unusual geometry and poor sight lines at the two Westland intersections can make it difficult to see approaching traffic.
Still, with more immediate needs identified in the study – bike infrastructure, sidewalk gaps and aging traffic signals, for example – he said any roundabouts is not a high priority project for the city.
"We have old traffic signals that are some of our major intersections," he said. "And so that's"That's a high priority and we've been trying to do that work through grants and we've been successful, but it's a slow process."
The four neighboring cities pursued the study after recording a combined 13,593 crashes, 234 serious injuries and 49 traffic deaths from 2019 through 2023. Using crash data, the study identified a “high injury network” and outlined a range of potential safety improvements.
Some other locations where roundabouts or traffic circles were identified as a possibility include Newburgh and Cherry Hill and Hix and Ford in Westland; Annapolis and Venoy in Wayne; Beech Daly and Annapolis in Inkster; and Henry Ruff and Marquette in Garden City.
All were identified as low priority in the plan’s big picture, while more urgent issues included improving legibility of the roadway system to prevent wrong-way traffic on Michigan Avenue, for example, or enhancing local enforcement of red light running.
Street striping programs, crosswalk markings were also among high priorities identified in the study.
“We were looking at the universe of improvements and how to solve common problems,” said Paul Urbiel, senior principal planner with McKenna, the consultant that did the study. “The thing that came through in our discussions and in our work on this topic, is that there's a lot more potential to do more good by doing the little inexpensive things as universally as possible instead of major street redesign in places that are built out.”
Roundabouts, he said, were part of “matching a toolkit to a set of places that need some intervention.”
Still, Westland officials say they believe roundabouts are worth considering, sometime down the road.
“I’m open to roundabouts because we’ve seen in Oakland County that they’ve been helping with traffic,” Mayor Kevin Coleman said. “We get a lot of congestion during rush hour in the morning and the evenings where the lights will back up.”
And Ayoub said interest could grow as roundabouts pop up in neighboring communities.
“I definitely think there’s a buzz and more popularity being created around them,” he said. “Once one city gets one – especially one that’s in your backyard– I think it’ll garner attention and push the needle.”
Contact reporter Laura Colvin: lcolvin@hometownlife.com
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: More roundabouts in the future of Wayne County roads
