After several years of discussions, a solution is finally being proposed for a busy intersection between Tilbury and Chatham.
On Monday night, Chatham-Kent councillors will vote on a recommendation to bring a roundabout to the intersection at Queen's Line and Merlin Road. The intersection is currently controlled by northbound and southbound stop signs on Merlin Road with both stop signs enhanced with flashing red beacons.
Back in 2018, the municipality completed a traffic study for the intersection in hopes of investigating safety concerns. One of the most comment hazards, according to the report going to council, is frequent occurrences of motorists passing on the right-hand side of a left-turning vehicle.
"The primary safety concern raised about the intersection is the "passing on the right" maneuvers occurring on Queen’s Line, primarily in the eastbound direction," stated the staff report. "Motorists typically risk these maneuvers in order to avoid waiting behind a vehicle attempting to make a left turn. The wide asphalt deck surface of the Government Drain #1 bridge allows for vehicles to easily “pass on the right”, sometimes at high speeds. The passing vehicle becomes a hazard for motorists in the opposite direction attempting to turn left, or for vehicles on Merlin Road attempting to turn right onto Queen’s Line."
Additional concerns are the lack of sightlines for left turns on Queen’s Line and difficulty turning onto or crossing Queen’s Line from Merlin Road.
Current Queen's Line and Merlin Road intersection (Via Municipality of Chatham-Kent)
According to the report, the traffic study recommended that the intersection be improved with either left-turn lanes on Queen’s Line and a traffic signal or a roundabout.
A traffic engineering consultant was obtained to evaluate both options and recommended a roundabout as the best design solution.
"Engineering has reviewed the report and found it to be complete in its evaluation of the design alternatives. Therefore, based on the information provided in the consultant’s report, engineering agrees with the roundabout recommendation... In addition to the consultant’s construction cost evaluation, the roundabout will offer long-term cost savings compared to the traffic signal alternative," the report read. "The roundabout lifecycle costs would be for roads, signs, and street lights, which are already incurred by the existing intersection and would be similar to the left turn lane and traffic signal alternative. However, a new traffic signal will add an additional lifecycle cost of approximately $6,000 per year to the intersection."
The consultant estimated that a roundabout would cost about $2.1 million to construct, compared with $2.9 million for the provision of traffic signals.
According to staff, because a traffic signal is controlled by electrical devices and hardware, it would require annual inspections, preventive maintenance and emergency maintenance costs due to malfunctions, collisions, and weather damage.
At the end of 2021, a virtual public information centre was also hosted by the municipality to get residents' feedback on the two options.
According to the report, 118 responses were received during the public information centre. Fifty-two respondents were in favour of a left turn lane/traffic signal device, 47 respondents were in favour of a roundabout, two said either design is fine and 17 respondents said neither design is fine.
The report noted that concerns were also raised during the public information session about placing a roundabout at the intersection.
The concerns included speculation that a roundabout would not be able to accommodate large trucks and farm equipment. However, the report said that the Chatham-Kent engineering department emphasized to the consultant that large trucks and farm vehicles must be a critical design influence in the design recommendation.
"A rural roundabout will be designed to accommodate transport trucks, including double trailer units that may be diverted from Highway 401 during an Emergency Detour Route activation," the report read. "The rural roundabout will have a larger diameter compared to existing examples found in the Community of Chatham."
Engineering also addressed concerns about roundabouts being unsafe and not enough motorists being familiar with how to use them.
"The roundabout design reduces the amount of vehicles collision conflict points compared to a conventional intersection found at a traffic signal. This results in the roundabout experiencing 67 per cent fewer collisions and 75 per cent less severity with those collisions. The severe angle or 't-bone' type collisions are eliminated in a roundabout," the report stated. "Roundabouts are becoming more common on provincial and municipal rural highways and therefore motorists are adjusting to them."
The speed limit on Queen's Line is currently 90-kilometres an hour and 80-kilometres an hour on Merlin Road. The roundabout would have a speed limit of 45-kilometres an hour.
Once the intersection improvement design is selected, engineering and the municipality's legal services department will begin the process of contacting the adjacent landowners to negotiate the land purchases. According to the report, the next step would be to issue a request for proposal to obtain an engineering consultant to provide a detailed design and contract administration services for the project. Once the design is finalized, a contract tender will be issued to obtain a contractor to construct the new intersection.
