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Roundabout coming to busy intersection

'Devil is in the details,' mayor says of roundabout at Hwy. 12 and County Rd. 169
2018-03-27 Hwy12 CR169 Intersection
A roundabout will be coming to the intersection of Highway 12 and County Road 169 in Ramara Township. Nathan Taylor/OrilliaMatters

One of the busiest intersections in Ramara Township will have a different look in 2019.

The Ministry of Transportation is going ahead with a roundabout at Highway 12 and County Road 169.

The roundabout is in the design phase and is expected to be created in 2019.

Township council initially asked for stop lights at the intersection, but the roundabout was chosen.

“It couldn’t remain the way it is,” said Ramara Mayor Basil Clarke.

He said the township’s concern isn’t about whether people will know how to navigate the roundabout.

“Our concern has always been the issue of the equipment that is brought through there,” he said, noting everything from large farming equipment and steel girders to subway cars are trucked through the area, using that intersection. “It’ll all come down to the design.”

Clarke hopes the ministry will consider a lane that would allow drivers heading north on Highway 12 to bypass the roundabout.

He acknowledged it will be “an adjustment for some people,” but he’s just happy the intersection is being addressed.

It is also expected to increase safety.

“They say, with a roundabout, you get more sideswipes and not as many T-bones and direct-impact collisions,” Clarke said.

But it could be a tight squeeze for the vehicles hauling large equipment, and that’s why he hopes that is taken into consideration when the roundabout is designed.

“The devil is in the details.”


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Nathan Taylor

About the Author: Nathan Taylor

Nathan Taylor is the desk editor for Village Media's central Ontario news desk in Simcoe County and Newmarket.
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