Four options to replace the Orleans rotary were unveiled last night at a meeting at the Eastham Public Library.
To a packed room of more than 90 people, officials from the Massachusetts Department of Transportation revealed conceptual drawings showing the rotary that straddles the Eastham-Orleans town line replaced by one or two smaller roundabouts, each with marked lanes.
Option 1 replaces the rotary with a single, small roundabout to the south of the present rotary, on the Route 6A side. It also removes part of Rock Harbor Road, on the northwest side — a change that would reconnect the land inside the rotary with other marshland.
To allow traffic from Rock Harbor Road to enter Route 6, Option 1 would likely require either a traffic light or a right-turn-only rule, said Doug Johnson, a program manager for the Department of Transportation.
Some members of the audience said that scenario would make it harder to get to Stop & Shop and other destinations on Route 6A from Rock Harbor Road.
Option 2 eliminates that issue but requires two roundabouts. Instead of a signal connecting Rock Harbor Road to Route 6, traffic would enter via a roundabout.
Both Options 1 and 2 would integrate the land in the center of the old rotary into adjacent salt marsh.
Option 3 leaves the shape of the old rotary in place, but provides marked lanes. Johnson said the state would install a larger culvert to improve water flow between the land inside the rotary and the nearby salt marsh.
Option 4, like Option 2, requires two roundabouts, but one of them would be in a different location, on the Route 6 East side heading toward Provincetown. Such a configuration would allow the full length of Rock Harbor Road to remain in place.
All of the alternatives would raise the elevation of the land at the road, to prevent future flooding from sea-level rise and storm surge. That concern, and not traffic, is the impetus behind plans to change the Orleans rotary.
The Cape Cod Commission identified the rotary as a flooding risk in its recent report on low-lying roads, officials said.
“Route 6 Rotary is one of those areas where it's going to flood in the future,” said Hung Pham, a senior program manager for the Department of Transportation. “That is really the main driving factor for this particular project.”
Cost estimates range from $14 million to $16.7 million for construction, not including design.
Eastham Select Board member Suzanne Bryan said she likes the options that reconnect the land in the center of the old rotary with surrounding land.
“I'm actually really excited about a new rotary,” she said. “I've always eyed the marsh that's in the middle of it. And so I liked some of the designs that offered more continuation of the marsh.”
But not everyone was happy to see the plans.
Jim Badera, a former Planning Board member in Eastham, said the size of the rotary and the traffic pattern should stay the same. Visibility is easier at a large rotary, he said.
“If you have to raise it up because of water elevation, that's easy,” he said. “You could do that in months, for a fraction of the cost.”
Local public safety officials favor the two alternatives that do not require double traffic circles, said Johnson, the transportation program manager.
“Police, fire, and EMS stakeholders who we presented to were supportive of both options one and three and expressed concern with alternatives two and four, which involve two roundabouts,” he said. “And their concern was the ability of larger fire apparatus to navigate both roundabouts in succession.”
The project is not yet scheduled for state funding. Construction would not start until at least the early 2030s.
