The County of Lambton's construction supervisor, overseeing the development of a roundabout in Warwick Township, is concerned about the safety of his workers and contractors.
Glen Hamill said despite posted detours and road closed signs in place, motorists continue to drive through the construction site.
"We've asked for OPP presence because the [construction] trucks have to come in and out too, and people go right around a red and white [road closed] sign, which is illegal," said Hamill. "That's what I'm worried about is my own workers and the workers from JR [Contracting Inc.]. People just go through there so fast because they know they're not supposed to be in there, and that's the biggest concern."
Under the Highway Traffic Act, the fine for disobeying a sign is $110 once the victim surcharge is added, and it can be doubled if workers are present.
"We encourage everyone to follow the detours. They are well posted. There's three of them," Hamill said. "All of the detours are on county or [Ministry of Transportation] roads. We can not detour onto local roads, just for the fact that the traffic using county roads are large vehicles. Smaller vehicles use local roads, the locals know how to use those roadways, we do not want to force anybody onto them. We need to be on either MTO or Lambton County roads."
Hamill said construction remains on schedule and on budget, and he hopes the work keeps going smoothly heading into the fall.
"We're still on schedule to be opening the road at the beginning of October. With the rainy season coming that can change, but as of right now, the end of September, early October is when we're hoping to be fully open."
Hamill said there is still quite a bit of work to do.
"All of the electrical [work] has to be done. There's recycling and paving outside of the roundabout that's part of this project, as well as all of the curb work. A lot of the base material still needs to go in, the A gravel [a base mixture of small stones, grainy sand and dirt] needs to go in, so there's quite a few items to be done. That's why we're going to be at least another month before we get close to the paving. Probably three to four weeks before we're ready to pave. Once the paving starts, it won't be long from there."
The new roundabout has been estimated to cost $3.3 million.