When the dust finally settles on London's new Hale-Trafalgar overpass, the headache of railway bottlenecks will be replaced with a surprise to many drivers -- the city's first major traffic roundabout.
The novel feature has been included in the $17-million project to help solve congestion at the east-end intersection. Common in Europe but not so much in Canada, roundabouts are big, circular intersections where traffic converges without signals or stop signs, allowing continuous vehicle movement. That efficiency also means less environmentally harmful stop-and-go driving.
At the site of the future overpass, Trafalgar St. isn't in alignment: The westbound lanes connect with Hale St. north of the tracks, while the eastbound lanes connect with Hale south of the tracks.
The roundabout will solve problems, city transport planner John Lucas said.
"Instead of just a simple north-south or east-west crossing, it's both," he says. A regular, conventional intersection would have required a more expensive solution.
To many Canadians, accustomed to the strict order of green, yellow and red lights, roundabouts can seem like anarchy -- the idea, that thousands of vehicles can merge and flow seamlessly without stopping, simply preposterous.
That fear is one reason North American cities have been slower to embrace roundabouts.
While London has a few one-lane suburban traffic circles, Lucas doesn't think we're ready yet for the high-volume roundabouts found around the world.
Canadians are just getting used to one-lane roundabouts, let alone three," he said. "You've got to let them grow into it. We're certainly not going to take a huge intersection and replace it with a multi-lane roundabout."
Stephen Sargeant has heard that argument before but he dismisses it outright. As a traffic engineer with AECOM Engineering in Kingston, he's worked on the design and construction of roundabouts for more than a decade. He cites examples where large roundabouts have been installed to great success, despite no previous local experience.
In Clearwater, Florida, they installed a roundabout that has six approaches," he said. "Everyone said it would be a problem, and now they love it."
Just up the road from London, Waterloo Region has embraced roundabouts big-time.
The region built its first in 2004 and now has 15. Another 20 are planned, including a corridor between Kitchener and Cambridge that would have eight in a row, said Steve VanderKeere of the Waterloo Region transportation department.
He said while there was an adjustment period for drivers, the evidence has already shown significant gains in safety. There's been a reduction in crashes, but -- more importantly -- the crashes are less severe, he said.
We know for certain that we've prevented a lot of trips to the hospital," he said. "It's nice to be able to say that."
The region has backed up the roundabout policy with a public awareness campaign, including a whimsical music video for The Roundabout Dance, a song that explains roundabout etiquette.
VanderKeere also points to potential environmental benefits of replacing signalled intersections.
The environmental logic of roundabouts is simple: The circles allow traffic to flow continuously, reducing stops and starts and wasteful idling. Cars can cover more ground in less time, at lower speeds. The results are quieter roads, lighter fuel consumption and lower emissions.
Lucas doesn't believe the environmental benefits of roundabouts are significant enough to put at the centre of London's carbon reduction plans, however.
There are much bigger gains to be made from federal emission reductions than we can accomplish by building roundabouts," he said.
Tony Redington, a former policy analyst with the Vermont Agency of Transportation, disagrees. He conducted a survey of emissions reduction from roundabout projects around the U.S. He concluded that by replacing 25 busy signalled intersections, Burlington, Vt., could achieve 25% of its ambitious emissions reduction targets.
Having visited London, he thinks the city would be ideal for some refits.
It has those big, wide thoroughfares that are just perfect for roundabouts," he said.
By Geoff Turner, Special to the Free Press
Source: www.lfpress.com