Centennial Circle is a five leg roundabout

Roundabout

A roundabout is the name for a road junction in which traffic moves in one direction around a central island. The word dates from the early 20th century. Roundabouts are common in many countries around the world...

 in downtown Glens Falls

Glens Falls, New York

Glens Falls is a city in Warren County, New York, United States. Glens Falls Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 14,700 at the 2010 census...

, a city in Warren County, New York

Warren County, New York

Warren County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. It is part of the Glens Falls, New York, Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2010 census, the population was 65,707. It is named in honor of General Joseph Warren, an American Revolutionary War hero of the Battle of Bunker Hill...

. The circle is at the intersection of US Route 9 (Glen Street), NY Route 32 (Warren Street), NY Route 9L (Ridge Street) and Hudson Street. Centennial Circle is the site of a former signalized intersection

Intersection (road)

An intersection is a road junction where two or more roads either meet or cross at grade . An intersection may be 3-way - a T junction or fork, 4-way - a crossroads, or 5-way or more...

, which was replaced with the current layout in 2007.

History

In 1873, the intersection — then consisting of Warren, Ridge and Glen Streets — became known as Fountain Square on account of an ornate fountain having been built in front of the Rockwell House. This fountain was removed, however, in 1898 to make room for brick street paving and a trolley

Tram

A tram is a passenger rail vehicle which runs on tracks along public urban streets and also sometimes on separate rights of way. It may also run between cities and/or towns , and/or partially grade separated even in the cities...

 line. Thus lacking the fountain, the name was changed to Bank Square because the then–village's three banks were located in this area.

Downtown Glens Falls was once a robust commercial center, but due to urban sprawl

Urban sprawl

Urban sprawl, also known as suburban sprawl, is a multifaceted concept, which includes the spreading outwards of a city and its suburbs to its outskirts to low-density and auto-dependent development on rural land, high segregation of uses Urban sprawl, also known as suburban sprawl, is a...

 much of the city's commerce had vacated downtown in the latter part of the 20th century. In a determined effort to reattract business to the downtown area, the city secured funding for a reconstruction and streetscape project, which included the proposed roundabout to replace the inefficient five-way intersection. The intersection was rated by traffic engineers as having a Level of Service

Level of service

Level of service is a measure used by traffic engineers to determine the effectiveness of elements of transportation infrastructure. LOS is most commonly used to analyze highways by categorizing traffic flow with corresponding safe driving conditions...

 of "F" which is worst on a scale of "A" to "F".

The city of Glens Falls began the public outreach process in 2004 to gauge citizens' support for the plan. Creighton Manning Engineering

Creighton Manning Engineering

Creighton Manning Engineering, LLP is a professional civil engineering and surveying firm located in Albany, New York. Originally established in 1965, the firm has been recognized across upstate New York for over 40 years for its expertise in local and regional transportation planning and traffic...

was contracted by the city to prepare final design plans of the roundabout. The city mayor noted that there were no banks at Bank Square and that it seemed contradictory to refer to a roundabout intersection as a square. As a result, the name Centennial Circle was chosen from among submissions to a name-the-roundabout contest, the name having been submitted by Diane and Jon Swanson of Queensbury.

The roundabout opened to traffic on May 6, 2007. According to a 2008 study, the traffic volume of Centennial Circle has increased twenty percent compared to the intersection it replaced, while at the same time providing drivers with reduced wait times.