The possibility of the first roundabout in Guelph has been put on the back burner.
An extensive study into traffic calming measures on Downey Road in the city's south end calls for a roundabout to be installed at the intersection of Downey Road and Niska Road, just west of the Hanlon Expressway.
That roundabout recommendation is in addition to a number of other traffic calming measures along Downey, including bicycle lanes, pedestrian mid-road "refuge" islands, speed cushions (speed bumps with cut-outs), enhanced crosswalks and narrowed intersections.
Total cost of the recommended measures is between $1.1 million and $1.5 million, the report said. Roughly 75 percent of that cost would be for a roundabout.
But Guelph City Council's committee of the whole meeting Tuesday afternoon voted to proceed cautiously with changes to Downey and not endorse a roundabout at this time.
Next year's budget will include a request from staff for funds to proceed with design and recommendations moving forward.
Staff and council prefer a slow, progressive approach to traffic calming.
Allister McIlveen, the city's Manager of Traffic and Parking, told council it made more sense to advance slowly with traffic calming measures and assess their effectiveness rather than trying to fund all the recommendations in the Downey Road Transportation Improvement Study.
"It makes sense to do it piecemeal: start at the low end and move towards the high end," McIlveen said.
"It's not 'all or nothing.' It can be done in a phased approach, moving from the lower end to the higher end."
Deputy CAO Scott Stewart said that "everyone is in agreement there has to be some sort of traffic control at that intersection, what that is remains to be seen."
Mayor Cam Guthrie said the city needs to get the biggest traffic calming impact for the lowest cost.
The proposed roundabout was a one-lane island with a right-turn lane onto Niska Road from Downey Road westbound
Traffic counts show 12,000 vehicles a day travel on Downey Road.
Area resident Laura Murr said speed cushions and pedestrian islands were positive first steps in making the area safer but questioned the logic of a possible roundabout. She preferred traffic lights be put in at the Downey/Niska intersection.
Another area resient, Glen Tolhurst, said the cost of a roundabout was not affordable.
He said the traffic study was "a farce" and that a roundabout would cause an "eternal traffic backup" on Downey back to the Hanlon.
