By now, surely everyone who drives even just a few minutes a week around Sundre has for better or worse navigated past the new Main Avenue roundabouts.
Chances are the experience probably was not even all that bad, despite all of the panic.
However, those who thought the traffic lights would create a gridlock backing vehicles up to the top of the hill east of town past the Sundre Golf Course might remain wary of the new configuration.
But perhaps shedding some light on the subject might alleviate at least some of the concerns.
This is not the first time roundabouts have been employed to calm traffic while maintaining a flow of traffic ó we're not exactly reinventing the wheel. In fact roundabouts are a tried and true design that has worked in countries with far higher population densities and corresponding traffic volumes.
Let's remember the biggest concerns raised by the community regarding the former four-lane design were safety and the speed of traffic, with some residents even recommending reducing the 50 kilometre per hour limit to 30 kilometres per hour. That would essentially require constant radar to enforce, yet the traffic calming measures will physically force drivers to slightly reduce their speed as they approach the intersection, ready to stop if required.
Which leads to a much-needed reminder about right-of-ways in roundabouts.
East and westbound motorists no longer automatically have precedence coming through the Main Avenue intersections.
Several times have I attempted to turn onto Main Avenue using the new roundabouts only to have four or five westbound vehicles blow through back-to-back apparently without a second thought.
Also, regardless of your direction of approach at a roundabout, you must yield to anyone already inside the traffic circle.
Essentially approach the intersections as though they are a four-way stop, with the exception being you can just simply roll right on through at speeds of 30-40 kilometres per hour, provided of course there are no vehicles or pedestrians to yield for.
Lastly, as a basic common courtesy that is altogether neglected frighteningly too often in all imaginable traffic situations, please signal your intent.
I've seen numerous rigs and tankers effortlessly navigate past Main Avenue since the roundabouts were installed, so the rest of us can surely manage as well.
As a benefit, if you suddenly realize you forgot something at home, you can now do a u-turn at one of the roundabouts.
Maybe the one true test of the new Main Avenue design shall be the dreaded snow removal. The municipality will have to coordinate efforts in tandem with Alberta Transportation crews. Especially during huge snowstorms that would easily bury the roundabouts under a deceptively concealing blanket that will easily obscure the traffic calming measures from view, made even worse in nighttime conditions.
But provided the roundabouts are kept clearly visible, there really should not be any problems.
Unless misrepresented, statistics do not lie. And studies have shown time and again that in communities where roundabouts are deployed, there is a corresponding reduction of collisions over the long-term ó head-on collisions are by design outright eliminated from the equation.
One year from now, the pilot project will be reviewed and the numbers might surprise us.
Given the time to accommodate, I'm confident the community will adapt to the new design and perhaps even eventually come to wonder why there was ever such a fuss in the first place.
