United Counties, residents, excited for Morrisburg roundabout completion
One of the biggest construction projects of the year is well underway south of Ottawa, with a new roundabout being installed at the intersection of County Road 31 and County Road 2 in Morrisburg.
"It's a $4.9 million project looking to improve traffic safety, improve the safety of the street itself and provide some amenities to the local community through multi-use paths, sidewalks, and things like that," said Benjamin de Haan, director of transportation services for the United Counties of SD&G.
De Haan said construction began in August and the upgrade to the intersection was desperately needed.
Construction crews at work on the Morrisburg roundabout Tuesday afternoon. (Nate Vandermeer / CTV News Ottawa)
"We historically had a lot of problems here," said de Haan. "These traffic signals were at the end of their useful life. We had multiple outages or that the cycle and timing was off signal so we had to call maintenance crews to come in and fix it and it had actually been struck by lightning at one point."
United Counties Warden Al Armstrong says with roundabouts already in place along Highway 2 in Iroquois and Long Sault, drivers can navigate the intersections without stopping.
"It makes it uniform so there are no longer any traffic lights through the southern part of SD&G along number two from here to Cornwall," Armstrong said.
SD&G warden Al Armstrong, left, discusses the work with SD&G director of transportation services Benjamin de Haan, right. (Nate Vandermeer / CTV News Ottawa)
While the project is the biggest for the counties in 2021, it's also the biggest for the town of Morrisburg since the seaway project in the 1950s.
"For Morrisburg itself, it kind of gives it a main street feel which was lost when the Seaway was put in and most of what was originally Morrisburg downtown is now underwater so, it brings back some of that small town feel," added Armstrong.
The federal government funded $1.5 million for the project, with the Ontario government adding $1.1 million. Another $1.9 million is being funded by SD&G, with another $400,000 coming from South Dundas.
Morrisburg residents say people should know how to use traffic circles by now, and are looking forward to the upgrade.
"I like the one in Iroquois, it works good. The one in Long Sault works good. We're used to it now I think it's going to be good here," said Dale Wiseman.
"They've already had all the other ones all put in so I think it's a good idea and it looks a lot nicer," added Rose Froats.
Ray Gremli, who is originally from Trinidad and Tobago, says he's been used to roundabouts his whole life.
"It's good and it's quite a cost saving," Gremli said. "They're much more economical. Traffic lights and stuff, it's quite expensive to maintenance them."
Traffic is still navigating the intersection while construction continues, but de Haan says a change will be coming on Wednesday to get rid of the four-way stop.
The Cty Rd..31 and Cty Rd. 2 intersection. (Nate Vandermeer / CTV News Ottawa)
"Today ,we're just getting ready to actually convert it to a roundabout configuration, so even though we're not going to have the curbing and some of those landscaping elements in the centre of the roundabout, what we're going to do is start to push traffic out into the path they would be travelling once the roundabout is complete," he said.
De Haan also expects to install more roundabouts throughout the counties in the future.
"Anywhere there is a traffic light right now it's something that, as the lights come to the end of their useful life, we'd take a look to see if a roundabout makes sense," de Haan added.
"Throughout SD&G and throughout even Leeds and Grenville, we're starting to see a lot of them," added Armstrong. "There's not the delay, and it's better for your vehicle as you're not stopping and starting."
The roadwork for the new intersection is on track to be completed by the end of October. The landscaping part of the project will be installed in the spring of 2022.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Nine suspects arrested in $24M gold heist at Toronto Pearson International Airport: Peel police
Nine people have been arrested in connection with the gold heist at Pearson International Airport last year, Peel Regional Police said Wednesday.
MPs summon ArriveCan contractor to the House to be admonished in rare parliamentary display
Enacting an extraordinarily rarely used parliamentary power, MPs have summoned an ArriveCan contractor to appear before the House of Commons on Wednesday afternoon to be admonished publicly for failing to answer their questions.
'Enormous sum of money': Actor Hugh Grant settles privacy lawsuit against tabloid
British actor Hugh Grant has settled a lawsuit against the publisher of Rupert Murdoch's tabloid newspaper, The Sun, over claims journalists used private investigators to tap his phone and burgle his house, he said on Wednesday.
Gas prices across Ontario expected to climb to levels not seen since 2022, analyst says
Ontario is going to see a big jump at the pumps later this week as gas prices in the province hit levels not seen in nearly two years, according to one industry analyst.
U.K. plan to phase out smoking for good passes first hurdle
The British government's plan for a landmark smoking ban that aims to stop young people from ever smoking cleared its first hurdle in Parliament on Tuesday despite vocal opposition from within Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's Conservative Party.
O.J. Simpson was chilling with a beer on a couch before Easter, lawyer says. 2 weeks later he was dead
O.J. Simpson's last robust discussion with his longtime lawyer was just before Easter, at the country club home Simpson leased southwest of the Las Vegas Strip. About a week later, on April 5, a doctor said Simpson was 'transitioning.'
Some of the winners and losers in the 2024 federal budget
With a variety of fiscal and policy measures announced in the federal budget, winners include small businesses and fintech companies while losers include the tobacco industry and Canadian pension funds.
Father of boy accused of stabbing 2 Australian clerics saw no signs of extremism, Muslim leader says
The father of a boy accused of stabbing two Christian clerics in Australia saw no signs of his son’s extremism, a Muslim community leader said on Wednesday as police began arresting suspected rioters who besieged a Sydney church demanding revenge.
A wobble reveals the most massive stellar black hole in our galaxy
Astronomers have spotted the most massive known stellar black hole in the Milky Way galaxy after detecting an unusual wobble in space.