First Warner Robins roundabout opens

WARNER ROBINS -- The first roundabout in Warner Robins is now open.

The roundabout -- at Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Wellborn Road -- opened Friday, said Ruby Hamb-Holmes, the city's public information officer.

The roundabout is opening ahead of schedule. When the city began construction on it in September, the estimated completion date was March 2014.

A second roundabout at Martin Luther King Jr. and University boulevards is expected to open at the end of March, weather permitting, Hamb-Holmes said.

The roundabouts are part of a project discussed since before 2001, when it included a special purpose local option sales tax. The original plan for the funds was to revitalize Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard with lighting and sidewalks. The roundabouts were added later.

Chief Financial Officer Bill Harte previously told The Telegraph that $704,000 was budgeted for the whole project. The contract for the roundabouts cost $289,000.

This story was originally published December 20, 2013 at 3:31 PM with the headline "First Warner Robins roundabout opens."