The findings from the most recent survey about the mini roundabouts are now available on the municipality’s website.
Over the past year, The Town of Sundre in conjunction with Alberta Transportation, made available two online questionnaires to get the public’s input on the new traffic calming measures. The first was posted late last winter, while the most recent went live on Sept. 13 and ended on Sept. 27.
Council discussed the matter during the Jan. 7 meeting, when Coun. Paul Isaac pointed out many people were interested in the questionnaire’s findings.
During a presentation to council, Alberta Transportation infrastructure manager Stuart Richardson said the roundabouts are now permanent and the municipality could post the results online at its discretion.
“It’s a town survey, so you guys can put that information out there,” Richardson said, adding the questions were submitted by Alberta Transportation and subsequently circulated by the municipality.
“You guys own that information.”
Isaac said his biggest concern, shared by others he has spoken with, is the diversity of responses after more than a year of trialling the new design. If a small minority hated the project with a clear majority supporting it, or vise versa, the decision to make the roundabouts permanent would be cut and dry, he said.
“If the surveys don’t show support for the decisions governments make, should we be making decisions?”
Although a lack of awareness on navigating the roundabouts continues to be an issue, he said locals who have not already become accustomed to them eventually would. However, visitors who come by once or just a few times a year are harder to reach in terms of education, he said.
“I think there’s too much uncertainty yet, and that’s my fear because I hear you saying that they’re permanent,” Isaac told Richardson when asking if the survey is going to be made public.
“That’s a question we’ve been asked multiple times and haven’t answered.”
Richardson expressed doubt about the benefit of doing so, adding input received throughout the survey process is, where possible, being incorporated into improving the future permanent design.
People opposed to the project are more likely to express their opinions than those who prefer the new design, Richardson added.
“We don’t hear from the people who are positive about the roundabouts.”
Coun. Richard Warnock said he — as well as other people he has conversed with, including some who are not in favour of the roundabouts — was pleased to see that fears of congestion chaos creating endless gridlock did not materialize as a result of the roundabouts.
“When those big trucks go through, they go through in a fairly timely manner,” said Warnock.
The councillor added his only suggestion was to establish a staging area on the west side of Sundre for heavy load convoys heading eastbound from the Highway 22 junction.
While gaps have been identified in the corridor in terms of staging areas, Richardson said there is a multi-million dollar cost involved in such projects and that Alberta Transportation’s priority for now remains the overlay project to repave Highway 27.
Mayor Terry Leslie acknowledged that Alberta Transportation remains receptive to the community’s concerns.
During the meeting, operations manager Jim Hall outlined highlights from a report he prepared on the mini roundabouts.
He said that not only has the speed of traffic on average been reduced but also that trailers and recreational vehicles have been able to handle the roundabouts.
Additionally, he said for the “first time in 20 years, you could make a safe left turn. That was a positive on May long,” he said.
The traffic lights remain an issue, he said, largely due to the sheer volume of motorists coming through during busy weekends. The new pedestrian crosswalks with vertical flashing lights are basically impossible to miss, even in blinding sunlight, he said.
“I’m glad those were put in.”
Hall said when questioned by residents about when the roundabouts will be removed, he responds that there is no substantiated reason to pull the plug on the project and educates on how to navigate through them.
The new design has been successful from the perspective that traffic flow is sustained while pedestrian safety is enhanced, he said.
Coun. Rob Wolfe seemed optimistic that with time and understanding, people will adapt to the traffic calming measures that have been used successfully across the Atlantic for decades.
“I just recently came back from the UK,” said Wolfe.
“I went through six-lane roundabouts. I think the biggest issue with these roundabouts is the education,” he said.
A motion by Coun. Cheri Funke to accept Hall’s report carried unanimously.
