Construction on the Holman Highway 68 Roundabout to begin—expect delays.

Construction on the nearly $10 million roundabout on Holman Highway 68 at Highway 1 will begin after the Fourth of July. While the yearlong project is expected to reduce congestion and make the busy intersection safer in the future, vehicles will be limited to one lane in both directions while construction is underway.

“People should be aware that there will be additional traffic,” says Ariana Green, public outreach manager at the Transportation Authority of Monterey County. “But this will end up being a huge improvement for regional travel.”

Roundabouts reduce t-bone and head-on collisions since all traffic moves in the same direction, Green says, reducing injuries by 75 percent and fatalities by 90 percent.

Road work will be on hold during the Monterey Car Week, August 15-21. There will also be road closures during construction, but those will mostly be scheduled at night, Green adds.

The city of Monterey is the project's lead agency and has contributed $500,000 for the costs, but the majority of the funding, $5.3 million, comes from the Pebble Beach Company for traffic mitigation associated with its developments. TAMC has also put up more than $3.6 million toward the roundabout.

For email notifications, details on road closures and updates go to www.tamcmonterey.org.