Work begins on new Long Sault roundabout

Nick Seebruch
Work begins on new Long Sault roundabout
The ground breaking ceremony for the new roundabout in Long Sault. Pictured from left-to-right are: Jason Grant Project Manager for Cornwall Gravel

LONG SAULT, Ontario – The Township of South Stormont, the United Counties of SD&G and Cornwall Gravel celebrated the beginning of the Long Sault roundabout project with a groundbreaking ceremony on Thursday, Aug. 10, 2017.

“Roundabouts are a much much safer way to administer traffic,” said Benjamin de Haan, Unitied Counties of SD&G Director of Transportation and Planning.

The roundabout will replace the four-way stop at the intersection of Moulinette Rd. and Milles Roches Rd. in Long Sault. The project cost is $2.2 million, $980, 000 will come from the Ontario Community Infrastructure Fund.

“We appreciated peoples patience during this project,” de Haan said. “We started the project later in the season to minimize impact.”

de Haan acknowledged that there had been some opposition to the roundabout project.

“Once the community is on-board, it is generally widely accepted and preferred (to have a roundabout),” he said. “We are really changing the way the road functions to better the community and I think that’s worth celebrating.”

When the project is completed in late November 2017, the Moulinette Rd. will be reduced from its current five lanes down to two and de Haan explained that not only is the roundabout a more efficient way to administer the intersection, it will also calm traffic through the village.

“The Counties continues to improve road conditions in the region,” said South Stormont Mayor and United Counties Warden Jim Bancroft. “Not only does this project satisfy the necessary road upgrade, but does so in an aesthetically pleasing manner. The end result will provide a forward-looking streetscape for both residents and visitors alike.”

When asked if he was worried about any conflict between the Long Sault roundabout and the Cornwall traffic circle on Brookdale Ave., de Haan said that he would advise the City of Cornwall to convert the traffic circle to a roundabout, saying that he has had informal discussions with the City on this matter.

“There are very few traffic circles left in Ontario,” he said.

In a roundabout, the traffic inside the roundabout has the right of way, where as in a traffic circle, the traffic approaching the circle has the right of way.

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