Three of the four exits on the County Road 42 and Manning Road roundabout are now open. “This latest County of Essex roundabout project was completed on budget and on schedule,” said Warden Hilda MacDonald at a news conference Wednesday. The traffic signals – which allowed for one lane of traffic – were to be removed in time for the evening commute. “The roundabout will be open, but it will be open for north-south directions and the east direction,” said Allan Botham, Director of Infrastructure and Planning. “But it will still be closed to the west.” Botham said they still must finish County Road 42 west of the roundabout. “That’s a project that will continue through the rest of the year and then into the spring of 2026, sometime closer to the summer, we’ll have that open.” Rebuilding County Road 42 is a five-phase multi-year project that is estimated to cost up to $100 million. Phases three and four – the roundabout and construction to the west – cost $23 million total, according to a news release. 500 trucks of concrete According to the municipal news release, concrete was chosen as the material for the roundabout because of its durability in Essex County’s climate. The area experiences “temperature fluctuations” between freezing and thawing in the winter. So, contractors used four different types of concrete. A total of 3,000 cubic metres of concrete – or 500 trucks worth – were poured over the course of construction.
