Construction will likely begin on the city’s first major roundabout at 30th Avenue and 67th Street in late May.
But it won’t be fully connected to those busy roads until summer 2016.
“It’s going to be the first multi-lane roundabout like this in Central Alberta so we’re aware it’s going to be new for people. But we think it’s going to work well and we’ll try and make sure everyone is as comfortable as possible before they have to use it. Hopefully they’ll agree with us,” said Cory Edinga, city project engineer, who was fielding questions on the roundabout at the city’s Let’s Talk event held Saturday at Bower Place.
One focus of the education campaign will explain the difference between a roundabout and a traffic circle.
Edinga said unlike a traffic circle, a roundabout doesn’t require possible lane changes while driving in the circle.
“In a roundabout, it’s like any other intersection. You get into the appropriate lane before you get to the roundabout. You don’t actually have to change lanes. You just follow the lane and exit where you want to exit.”
He said roundabouts are proven to reduce the severity of collisions compared to signalized intersections because the tight circles require slower speeds and collisions are often side-swipes.
He said pretty much any community in North America now is considering roundabouts as one of the primary considerations for intersections.
“What people have found, and this is from all over the States, from Europe, from Eastern Canada, is that they perform really well compared to signalized intersections.”
Roundabouts keep traffic flowing and in the growing northeast sector of the city, it will adapt to traffic patterns as traffic networks change in the area, he said.
“We needed a traffic solution because one of the most congested areas in the city right now is 30th Avenue and 67th Street. We needed a different solution to keep the traffic moving. Right now there are too many lights in a concentrated area,” said Mayor Tara Veer.
She said several solutions were considered, including traffic lights, fly-overs and different ways to configure that intersection.
“We know there are mixed views on roundabouts in the community. Both Sylvan Lake and Red Deer County have had strong success with the roundabouts they’ve put in recently. So we’re going to try it in Red Deer and see how our community responds to it.”
Construction of Red Deer’s roundabout, connecting roads, and underground utilities will cost about $17 million.
szielinski@www.reddeeradvocate.com