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Council votes 4-3 to pursue roundabout at Creighton and Harbour after safety review
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Summary
By 4–3 vote, City Council directed staff to advance design for a single-lane roundabout at Creighton Road and Harbour Drive instead of installing mast-arm traffic signals. Council members cited safety data favoring roundabouts, while opponents raised concerns about driveway impacts and truck movements; staff will dust off prior designs and return
City Council voted 4–3 on June 4 to pursue a roundabout at the Creighton Road–Harbour Drive intersection rather than replacing the current span-wire traffic signal with mast arms. Council members who voted in favor cited traffic-safety data and a previously prepared roundabout design; opponents raised concerns about driveway access and heavy truck turning movements.
Nut Graf: The council’s close vote settled a debate that extended back to 2017–2018, when staff and consultants had prepared a roundabout option that had substantial neighborhood discussion. In a repeat of that earlier debate, traffic staff told council the intersection currently lacks pedestrian signals and has crash history; engineering analyses presented both options as feasible but with different trade-offs.
What council weighed: Staff and consultants said roundabouts typically reduce the most severe crashes—angle and head-on collisions—because they lower vehicle speeds and conflict points. Traffic operations superintendent Dave Rivera described safety features planned for either option, including pedestrian signals, lighting and AI-based bike detection. He also said mast arms would bring other resilience and conduit improvements. Roundabout proponents noted that previous public input had favored a landscaped gateway option and that a roundabout could be designed to accommodate fire and service vehicles with a truck apron.
Concerns and conditions: Opponents, including some council members, pressed whether the roundabout would require changes to adjacent driveways, possibly affecting property owners; staff said the prior design had been tailored to minimize impacts and that additional surveying would be required. Several council members asked staff to reconfirm truck turning templates and catch basin/drainage implications before finalizing design. The city manager told the council the roundabout option would cost more — an estimated roughly 1.5–2 times the mast-arm option — and would require final design work and potentially right-of-way adjustments.
Next steps: Council directed staff to re-engage the original engineering firm, review the 2018 design for needed updates and return with final construction documents and an RFP timeline. If the roundabout route is pursued, staff projected procurement in late 2025/early 2026 and construction after season, pending final funding.
Ending: The vote completed a multi-year discussion. Several council members asked staff to return with detailed outreach to affected property owners and further technical checks for truck compatibility and drainage before council authorizes construction.
