Although Sundre’s community peace officer did some traffic control during the long weekend kickoff to the busy camping season, he said the roundabouts handled the high volume of vehicles well.
“Everything I saw was not a result of the roundabouts. I thought the roundabouts worked really well,” said Kevin Heerema last week.
“At no time was traffic backed up because of the roundabouts.”
However, the lights at the Centre Street and Main Avenue intersection — where the peace officer spent some time directing drivers in the late afternoon as well as early evening on May 18 — seemed to contribute to the lengthy backup of westbound vehicles lining up well past the Red Deer River Bridge, he said.
There were also some minor issues with the incomplete lane design, which despite some temporary barricades resulted in some motorists parking recreational vehicles in the buffer space that was formerly Main Avenue’s outside lane, he said.
Additionally, the heat combined with the backed up westbound traffic might have rendered some drivers irritable.
“I heard some grumbling and honking horns,” said Heerema.
“But no more than usual considering the volume of traffic we had.”
The roundabouts essentially handled the traffic without any issues. Even large recreational vehicles hauling ATV-laden trailers seemed to without problem safely navigate through the traffic calming measures, he said.
He added there were no issues with respect to excessive speeds, a result that can for the most part be attributed to the roundabouts.
With the exception of the traffic lights, the peace officer said that traffic seemed to flow along through the roundabouts. Despite the congestion, there were no collisions or serious issues along Main Avenue over the long weekend, he said.
After the two big rushes on May 18, the peace officer said that westbound traffic did not back up again for the rest of the long weekend.
