Huron County removes Airport Line roundabout from 2026 budget
- 16 hours ago
- 3 min read
By Dan Rolph
Plans to create a roundabout at the intersection of Airport Line and County Road 83 west of Exeter won’t be moving forward this year.
County council voted to remove the project from the draft 2026 county budget in a tight 8-7 vote during the Feb. 18 council meeting, marking the second time the project has been delayed in the budget process.
The roundabout project was first considered for inclusion in the 2025 budget and delayed with the intention of moving forward this year.
Discussions over the busy intersection turned into action in 2021 when the county began investigating improving the intersection, focusing on safety concerns about drivers failing to stop at the intersection while travelling along Airport Line.
Since the intersection started drawing attention, safety measures including flashing lights, rumble strips and reduced speed limits have been implemented there in the hopes of quelling fears of a major accident on the stretch of road that sees heavy traffic going toward the lakeshore, particularly in the busy tourist season.
According to a report created for the county by B.M. Ross and Associates, the intersection saw 16 reported accidents from 2017 to March 2022, with causes including animals, drivers disobeying traffic controls, inattentive drivers and drivers failing to yield the right of way.
That B.M. Ross report found there was a need for improvements at the intersection and recommended a roundabout over the alternative of a traffic signal.
The busy stretch of road along County Road 83 is also expected to see its traffic levels rise over the next two decades, which the B.M. Ross report found could cause further issues at the intersection.
Coun. George Finch, who is also the mayor of South Huron, labelled the idea of delaying the project as “irresponsible” while speaking at the meeting.
“This is a ticking time bomb that needs to be dealt with immediately,” he said.
Coun. John Becker also spoke in favour of continuing with the project’s inclusion in the budget, pointing to his personal experiences witnessing drivers fail to stop at the sign.
“People are not adhering to the speed,” he said. “We have the results from our consultants telling us that there’s these accidents and near misses.
“Who carries the liability down the road when we don’t address the problem that’s out there in front of our noses?”
Some members of county council, including Coun. Jim Ginn, sought further information about whether the already existing safety measures had any impact and noted that the B.M. Ross report was completed before many of the safety measures were put in place.
“We’ve made many changes in that area, including reduced speeds and bigger signs,” said Ginn. “To my knowledge, we haven’t had any kind of a major accident there. That’s why I would defer it.
“Next year, the council of the day may decide to kill it,” he added.
However, county staff noted waiting for further information before making a decision about this year’s budget would have left the county unable to tender the project in 2026, effectively deferring it to next year at the earliest.
The roundabout’s removal from the draft 2026 budget comes as county council searches for ways of combating a potentially hefty tax rate increase. The cut was presented for council’s consideration alongside other potential cuts, including the removal of 14 non-union staffing positions, ending an annual grant to the Huron County Food Bank Distribution Centre and delaying the proposed expansion of the Huronlea parking lot.
With cuts to the budget, the county is aiming to keep this year’s tax rate increase below six per cent.
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