Richmond Roundabout Update (Oct 17)
I wanted to take a moment to provide the community with more information and address some frequently asked questions about the roundabout construction at Perth and Meynell.
What is the status of the roundabout?
The project is nearing completion. Crews have been working to complete the roundabout as quickly as possible while minimizing the impact on the community. Work on the roundabout is expected to resume shortly.
Why is the roundabout taking so long?
As folks know, the roundabout is not a City project. Rather, it is a developer-led project as this roundabout is funded out of development charges and is required as part of the Fox Run community. This limits my ability to advance the project directly.
Even so, as I regularly stress, I go through the intersection about four times a day. I know exactly what residents are dealing with as a result of delays and disruptions and I work every day to do what I can to urge this project along. It is no exaggeration to say that my office and I have been working with City staff, Caivan, and Cavanagh on a daily basis to advocate for the village’s interests.
To say that I am disappointed with the speed of the construction work and the negative impacts the community has borne would be a gross understatement. I share the community’s deep frustration with the slow pace of progress and am making every effort within my authority and power to move it along more quickly.
Some reasons for delays this summer include a shift to night work during the summer to minimize impacts on residents during peak traffic hours, delays on the part of utility companies for relocating lines, and general construction delays. More recently, work has been paused as additional funding is required to make final alterations to the roundabout. That funding was approved at Council this week and I am working with City staff to expedite all necessary approvals to have work resume as soon as possible.
Does the roundabout need to be “redone?”
I have become aware that there are rumours and speculation that the roundabout must be “completely redone.” I am here to say that those rumors are untrue. While there is more work to be done on the roundabout, including some alterations to better accommodate farm equipment and larger vehicles, the roundabout is not being “redone.”
What work needs to be done and why?
Some deficiencies were identified with curbs, particularly on the East and West approaches to the roundabout. They are too narrow for some large vehicles, including farm vehicles. This is a concern that I have been raising with Caivan, Cavanagh, and engineers at the City since the design stage of the roundabout well before construction. I have also raised this concern (as have others in the community) several times during construction. Though I was reassured that this would not be an issue, the fact is that the very large vehicles that pass through the roundabout are not able to do so in a way that ensures a smooth transit through the intersection. Some corrections will be made to the roundabout in the coming weeks to fix these issues.
The reason for the delay at present is that the additional costs of this corrective work needed to go through Council for approval. This is because the funding for the project is out of development charges – those are charges that are paid when new homes are constructed. The funding was approved at Council on October 16th.
What is the timeline on the roundabout?
The following timeline was provided to our Office by Caivan and it assumes that work re-commences next week. The schedule is weather-dependent and contingent upon temperature specifications being met for top-lift asphalt.
Week of Oct 21st:
Start splitter island removals and Southside grading (Nights)
Week of Oct 28th:
BMR Curb Removals and continue South side grading (Nights)
Start splitter islands with mountable (days) – Potentially late the week of Oct 28 or Nov 4th
Week of Nov 4th:
Continue or start with splitter island reinstatements/mountable (days)
Re-Grade new Ditch (Nights)
Culvert extension (Nights)
Curb removals for upcoming Re & Re (Nights)
Week of Nov 11th:
Damaged Barrier Curb Reinstatement (Days)
Cover new mountable curb with gravel (Nights)
Damaged Mountable Curb Reinstatement (Days)
Week of Nov 18th:
Intermediate Lift Paving (Nights)
Top Lift Paving (Nights)
Irons Adjustments (Days)
Pavement Markings (Nights)
What has the Councillor been doing?
I have been working directly with Caivan, Cavanagh, and senior management at the City to advocate for this project to be brought to its final and immediate resolution.
To that end, I personally organized an onsite meeting with the engineering team that designed the roundabout. During this onsite meeting, I also arranged for a local farmer to bring a tractor through the roundabout to demonstrate the concerns that I have been raising since February that the roundabout and its approaches are too narrow to accommodate the kinds of traffic that it must manage.
The demonstration proved that the engineers underestimated the concerns that I have been raising since the beginning of the project regarding the ability of farm equipment and other large vehicles to navigate the roundabout. Changes are necessary to ensure the longevity of the infrastructure and its safe operation for years to come.
As a result of this meeting, some changes will be made to the roundabout. At my request, staff worked with engineers and consulted with local farmers to propose the alterations that were described earlier in this post. I worked hard behind the scenes to secure the funding needed for these alterations and to expedite its approval through Committee and Council so that work can resume as quickly as possible.
You can watch the matter being debated at Council here.
I want to be blunt: I am just as tired as everyone else in the community with the delays and excuses. This situation is not acceptable, it hasn’t been acceptable for quite some time, and I have done everything within my authority and power to argue that the community deserves far better.
I want to be clear that I have raised this directly with the Mayor and the City Manager, as well as with every single City employee who had a file related to this roundabout on their desk. Though it is not a City project, which limits my ability substantially to get the kind of results that residents expect, I have spared no one on the City’s payroll from hearing my extremely direct criticism for how this was managed and demand that this kind of fiasco never happens again. My Council colleagues shared criticisms similar to mine at the Council meeting on the 16th.
I have been assured that these issues are now being taken seriously, so much so that the City is currently considering new standards for the infrastructure design of roundabouts in rural Ottawa in the future.
This project should have been completed prior to the completion of homes in the Fox Run community. Though the decision was made long before my time as a Councillor, I will fight at every opportunity to make sure that this is not how future development is done in our communities. Necessary infrastructure, including transportation infrastructure, should come first.
Additional information can be found in my previous updates to residents: