Editor’s note: This story has been corrected from an earlier version to show the driver that went through the center of the roundabout was a 59-year-old man. The 86-year-old woman was a passenger.
LONG SAULT – A really dark night and inclement weather resulted in at least two drivers falling victim to one of the new roundabouts in the village over the weekend.
A 59-year-old male driver ran through the center of the roundabout at Moulinette Road and County Road 2 Friday night just before 6 p.m., causing extensive damage to the undercarriage of his Nissan Sentra.
Then, on Sunday around 11:15 a.m. at the height of the region’s first snowfall, another driver, a 66-year-old woman in a Pontiac GT, collided with a cement island in the roundabout, possibly breaking the front axle of the car.
In an interview with Cornwall Newswatch Monday, SD&G Transportation and Planning Engineer Ben de Haan says they regularly check the site to make sure it’s meeting Ontario Traffic Manual standards in terms of signage.
“I have confidence that things were set up appropriately. I know for certain that it was challenging driving conditions on Friday night because there’s no moon, very dark, and it’s (a) very dark (construction site) without the lights there,” de Haan said.
He says, unfortunately, the lights weren’t scheduled to be installed until this week. “The lights are coming and, obviously, that will help with visibility through there.”
“It is a construction site still and, if anything, I just remind people to slow down while we continue to finish things up through here,” de Haan said.
The engineer said county construction staff were talking with employees of Cornwall Gravel (the contractor) over the weekend to see “what was going on and to make sure things were okay with the site.”
De Haan says the roundabout construction is still on schedule with substantial completion expected to be done by the end of this week.