Ridgefield City Council has selected the planned roundabout at N 56th Pl and Pioneer Canyon Drive as the first project for the newly formed Roundabout Committee. The committee will solicit and review design concepts, review input from Public Works on constructability, cost, and maintenance and make recommendations to City Council for design of the center island.
The selected roundabout is a piece of the transportation improvements that will be constructed by the Union Ridge Town Center developer this year to accommodate the upcoming development of the site, which includes a Costco Retail Warehouse. The Council selected this roundabout as the first project due to the potential to save costs by designing a center island that will be constructed by a developer rather than the city. The other two roundabouts discussed during the Council meeting on February 8, Royle Road at S Wells Drive/15th Street and Pioneer Street at 35th Avenue, have both already been constructed and any design to the center island would be at the City’s expense. The roundabout at 35th Avenue was a close runner up, due to it being the oldest roundabout of the group and its prominent position on the route from I-5 to Downtown Ridgefield.
The Council offered the following directions to the committee: to keep it low maintenance, utilize native plants as much as possible, consider local artwork, utilize hardscape to prevent drivers from entering the center island and consider the need for trucks to navigate. They also encouraged the committee to be creative in their work.
The Roundabout Committee will hold their first meeting on Monday, March 11 at 6:00 PM in the Columbia Assembly Room at the Ridgefield Administrative and Civic Center (RACC) to discuss their assignment. Their recommendations will be brought to the City Council for approval. The 56th Place and Pioneer Canyon Drive roundabout is expected to be constructed in 2024.
Roundabout Committee meetings are public and may be attended in person at the RACC or online via Zoom. The link to the Zoom meeting is available on the Roundabout Committee webpage.
The roundabout at 56th Place and Pioneer Canyon Drive is one piece of the transportation improvements planned between Royle Road and Interstate 5. For more information on those improvements, visit the project page on Ridgefield Roundtable.