Love them or hate them, roundabouts are found all-around the city, but a plan to a replace an Orléans intersection with one has some residents upset.
As Marsha Dowd crosses Jeanne D’Arc Boulevard with her young granddaughter at a traffic light, she’s concerned about what it will be like if there’s a roundabout there instead.
“It just sounds like a horror show.”
A plan to build a roundabout at the intersection of Jeanne d’Arc and Fortune Drive/Vineyard Drive, just north of Highway 174 has neighbours saying no way. When Dowd posted on social media about it, others were quick to respond.
“After about two days I checked back and I had 184 comments from the community, and most of them were against the roundabout,” she tells CTV News Ottawa.
“It’s ridiculous. Everybody wants to move now,” says Dave McCarthy, another nearby resident.
It would also come at a price tag of over $8 million dollars.
The city says the roundabout is needed so that OC Transpo buses can use it to turn around.
“We’ve gone through a number of options to find out what’s the best way of arranging the bus operations in that area and how can we do things in a way that meets our functional needs and also meets the traffic needs and needs of the community,” said OC Transpo customer systems director Pat Scrimgeour.
The new Jeanne d’Arc LRT Station, part of the Stage 2 O-Train east extension is nearby. According to the city, the roundabout is designed to provide safe bus connections with the station.
“If we just use the roads that are there now, then these buses are going to have to make quite a long trip along residential streets, where they’ll be causing more intrusion into the neighborhood and where they’ll be taking more time,” says Scrimgeour.
One of the concerns raised by residents is the school at the intersection.
“The moment I heard that they were going to look at any changes to this intersection, I instantly thought about the kids. And, you know, I’m thinking about all users of this intersection, but they are they’re most vulnerable,” says Orléans West-Innes Coun. Laura Dudas.
Dudas says looking at the initial plans for the roundabout, it’s different than the older design at Jeanne d’Arc and St. Joseph.
“It takes four lanes into a single lane roundabout. It creates these beautiful islands for the kids to cross on. And it’s going to continue to have safety features such as a pedestrian crossover that will be lit.”
There is a public information session planned for Monday, April 29 from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Bob MacQuarrie Recreation Complex.