SARATOGA SPRINGS — City Engineer Paul Male usually signs off on routine traffic improvement plans himself.

But a plan on Church Street will likely get City Council input or approval because one of the options involves a roundabout.

The city could get its first roundabout at the intersection of Church and Myrtle streets near Saratoga Hospital if that option is chosen instead of another that would add turning lanes or turning arrows to the existing traffic light at that junction.

The reconstruction is set for the spring, summer and fall of next year.

Unlike roundabouts in Malta, the roundabout considered for Saratoga Springs would have just one lane, eliminating the confusion of a two-lane roundabout, officials said.

“I think we need to get the public as educated as we can,” Male said.

The plan to revamp Church Street also includes repaving the section between Outlook Avenue and Van Rensselaer Street, adding sidewalks to Myrtle Street and putting a center turn lane on the east side of the Myrtle Street intersection for people turning into and out of their driveways onto Church Street.

The city held a public information meeting on the plans earlier this month and is still seeking public comment on them. The plans can be viewed on the city’s Web site at www.saratoga-springs.org. A public comment form can be printed from the Web site or people may call Creighton Manning engineer Steve Godlewski at 446-0396 or City Engineer Paul Male at 587-3550 ext. 621.

In addition to whether citizens think there should be a roundabout, officials want to know whether people would like the strip of road to be closed completely for a shorter amount of time or one lane closed at a time for double the time.

Male said most people who have commented on the proposed roundabout say they are dangerous and difficult for large trucks to navigate. He said both are misconceptions about roundabouts.

A roundabout appears to be the safest option and the one most likely to move traffic through the intersection without the backups that occur there daily now, said Anthony “Skip” Scirocco, commissioner of public works.

“It goes over the crest of the hill over to West Avenue,” he said of the backup of vehicles. Side roads also back up as motorists wait to turn onto Church Street.

Male said motorists are initially skeptical of roundabouts but like them once they get used to them. The proposed one in Saratoga Springs would be about the same size as the roundabout in downtown Glens Falls.

Male noted that research shows traffic accidents are fewer and less serious than the head-on and broadside collisions that happen at traditional intersections because people are usually driving slowly to navigate the circle rather than speeding to beat a changing light.

The roundabouts are engineered with sloped curbs in the middle for long trucks and emergency vehicles to drive over, Scirocco said.

Male noted that the location is a good one for a roundabout because there aren’t any nearby traffic lights. The nearest lights are at West Avenue to the west and Van Dam Street to the east. A roundabout downtown would be a bad idea, for example, because traffic would back up from the lights into the roundabout, he noted.

Crossing the street is easier at a roundabout too, Scirocco said, because pedestrians cross one lane of traffic at a time and can stand on an island in the middle between lanes.

The new design would add pedestrian crossing lights if there is a traffic signal.

Currently, there are no turning lanes but motorists drive as if there are, pulling onto shoulders to pass cars waiting to turn left.

Scirocco said the only downside so far is the response of older drivers who aren’t used to navigating roundabouts.

The roundabout would cost more initially but yield savings down the road compared to a traffic light that uses electricity and requires extra maintenance to keep working properly, he said.

The total estimated cost for the project with a traffic light is $1.4 million, and with a roundabout it is $2 million, said Steve Godlewski, an engineer with Albany firm Creighton Manning.

That includes the traffic portion, of which the city will pay 5 percent, and a water line upgrade that the city will foot completely. Godlewski didn’t have figures available Friday for the city’s exact share of the project.

The city wants to replace an existing eight-inch water main with a 10-inch pipe, Godlewski said.

The roundabout total also doesn’t include monies that will be required to compensate property owners for land taken through eminent domain. Both options will require some taking of land to make the intersection wider, but the roundabout would require more.

Original drawings for the roundabout showed the city taking property on all four corners of the intersection, but officials said the plans will be retooled so that the city is taking very little from the hospital, which has a well-used parking lot.

On the west side of the intersection, undeveloped land is owned by Ronald Loffredo and Arthur and Carolyn Isenberg.