Update: Richmond Roundabout (Perth and Meynell)
(Please note: information contained here is accurate based on the best-available information as of November 22, 2024)
Earlier today, my office received confirmation from Cavanagh that the roundabout at Perth and Meynell has been “substantially completed.” I wanted to provide what I hope is the final update for the community about the project status and a bit of detail about next steps.
Please note that the information in this update is based on the best information available to my office. This project is not a City project but rather a project of Caivan that is being executed by Cavanagh. Given that this is not a City project, my ability to get information and provide direction is limited.
Is the roundabout complete?
Though there remains some minor work to be done, the major components of the roundabout are now complete. The final lift of asphalt was laid on the night of November 20, 2024. The permit for work impacting traffic expires on November 22, 2024 and the City has not received a request for an extension from Cavanagh.
The project management team has confirmed that the work is substantially complete. This coheres with the information that my office communicated with the community on October 17th.
What work still remains?
There is minor work which will be undertaken but is not anticipated to impact traffic or disrupt the community in any significant way. No permits have been granted for additional road closures due to this work.
The remaining work includes the following:
Temporary line painting (Night work likely to occur on the week of Nov. 25, with permanent painting to proceed in the spring)
Installation of temporary signage (permanent signage to be installed in the spring)
Brick re-laying (Week of Nov. 25)
Sod repair (Week of Nov. 25)
Cycle track tie-ins to properly tie into top lift asphalt (completed as soon as weather permits)
Site demobilization (scheduled for end-of-week of Nov. 25)
Other miscellaneous corrections and minor work
Some minor impacts to traffic are possible during the lowest-traffic hours when line painting occurs but there will be no road closures or flagging. There are no expected traffic impacts that were identified pertaining to any other work.
What is the plan for line painting and signage?
Due to weather and temperature conditions, sign installation and line painting will be finalized in the spring. This is because the low temperatures (and recent rain) impact those installations. Even so, temporary painting and temporary signs will be added to properly mark the roundabout over the winter with permanent measures to be added in the spring.
What are the next steps?
As the community closes this challenging chapter and residents in Fox Run can finally begin to return to normal, there are hard questions to be addressed about how this fiasco could have occurred.
As I have mentioned in the past, this project has proceeded in a manner that is not acceptable. The impacts on residents in the Fox Run community have not been acceptable; the delays have not been acceptable; the design issues have not been acceptable; and my concerns with the design going ignored during the early stages of the project is not acceptable.
Though I am glad that the worst is very clearly over, I am by no means satisfied with what has occurred.
My office and I are currently exploring what options are available to improve accountability and regain public trust. I believe that a comprehensive review would be appropriate to identify every error that occurred over the course of the project, going right back to when the community design was first approved many years ago with the roundabout to be installed after folks moved into their homes.
I am of the view that that initial failure is substantially to blame for the cascading issues that we have since seen. Though the development was approved prior to my time in Council, I will not support any future development applications that have necessary traffic infrastructure installed after residents move into their homes.
Moreover, I am viewing with much greater scrutiny the City’s approach to “front-ending agreements” which this project falls under. I am concerned that these kinds of agreements leave my office too far outside of the decision-making process. Residents rightly expect their Councillor to be able to get results, which I was unable to achieve to the extent that I would have been if this had been a City-led project. I would prefer that the City leads future projects of this sort so that I can better represent the community’s needs and interests.
The roundabout may be substantially completed, but now there is more work to do to make sure that this kind of disaster does not occur again. I am fully committed to this effort.
Lastly, I would like to express my gratitude. Thank you to everyone in the community who made their voices heard, who shared with my office your concerns about the project, and who sought out more information. Thank you to everyone who has been patiently enduring this project. And thank you to those who are just joining Richmond and are committed to making the village an even more vibrant and friendly community.
Richmond is a wonderful place to live and I feel privileged to have spent my whole life here; as your Councillor, I am dedicated to making the village all it can be and to grow beyond the kinds of unacceptable challenges we’ve experienced with the roundabout.