FAQs

• Slow down, use caution, and follow speed limits when traveling through work zones
• Watch for workers, equipment, signs, and barricades
• Watch message boards for alerts to traffic pattern changes
• Plan for extra travel time
• Prepare for detours and alternate routes

Yes! Royle Road is being planned for a traffic lane in each direction, a center turn lane at intersections (except at roundabouts), bike lanes in each direction, and sidewalks on each side. When completed, bicyclists and pedestrians will be able to travel without interruption between Pioneer Street and Hillhurst Road.

When the City recognized the need to comprehensively plan for and build Royle Road improvements in 2016, the Council prioritized design work from Hillhurst Road to Pioneer Street, which has been finalized. For construction, instead of relying on a patchwork of developments with partially widened areas in front of their neighborhood (which is all that can be required under State law), Council signed agreements with all the landowners/developers along Royle Road that required them to contribute their share of costs for Royle Road improvements (in addition to the Traffic Impact Fees). The theory was that by pooling those resources, the City could then re-build the roadway as a single project.

Practically speaking, because development has been so intensive along Royle Road since 2016, Royle Road improvements would likely be almost complete if developers had been required to complete them as is the usual practice, however, at the time, we didn’t envision the development happening so quickly. We’ve learned that this falls right in with the Robert Burns quote “The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.”

Also, the corridor is complex, with topography, wetland, and creek issues, making it unwieldy as a single project. Additionally, the contributions from each development have not kept pace with inflation, meaning, the City has had to find other money for the project (including a State grant and Traffic Impact Fees). One exception is the section of Royle Road between Pioneer St and the Legacy Trails apartments. For that segment, the City worked directly with the developer for Rosauers who built the improvements using the City’s design.

By breaking up the Royle Road project into 3 phases, it creates more achievable and practical project areas. For funding, it continues to be more efficient to work directly with developers to build more than their necessary improvements, crediting them for the work that can be done cheaper and quicker than a public agency can do it. And if money is pooled for these improvements, the contributions must be inflation-adjusted.

Where there are potential private property concerns, or right-of-way, environmental or topographical constraints, the City will work with the design team to keep improvements within the City-owned right-of-way as much as possible.

The Cloverhill HOA(s) are responsible for maintenance in the planting strip and walls east of Cloverhill adjacent to the roundabout per the Development Agreement. This landscaping maintenance appears to have stopped during construction. The city is instructing the HOA to restart required maintenance which would include removal of weed at and climbing up the walls.

The right-of-way landscaping and trees south of the Wells Dr/Royle Rd Roundabout were removed from the roundabout construction project (Phase 1) for budget reasons. The City is adding this landscaping, plus the west side sidewalk, with the Royle North (Phase 2) project.