Big changes are coming to Belton’s Sparta Road. City Council members approved a $297,360 agreement with KPA Engineers to ascertain information regarding the street's current condition.

“Sparta Road offers residents in Belton's highest residential growth area a direct route to the City's commercial base,” Public Information Officer Paul Romer said. “It's also a road that helps drivers get to the high school and Sparta Elementary.”

At peak times of the day, drivers circumnavigating the thoroughfare find themselves stymied by the road’s congestion.

The project area is west of main to a west of Loop 121.

Plans call for additional lanes, but the biggest change coming: a roundabout set to replace the current intersection at Commerce and Sparta.

“Compared to conventional intersections roundabouts have 75 percent fewer conflict points,” Romer said. "The traffic angles that typically contribute to the most serious accidents, such as T-bone collisions, are reduced or eliminated with a roundabout. Roundabouts also allow traffic to flow freely during non-peak times and provide better queuing during peak traffic times.”

The project is in its preliminary stages, and KPA engineers are set to perform several services such as surveying and collection and analysis of traffic count data before any construction work can begin.

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