Peace River's New Roundabout

Alberta Transportation has started the roundabout project at the site of the confusing 5-way traffic light at the entrance to Peace River by the Sawridge and Boston Pizza. Modern roundabouts are apparently different than the feared traffic circle and the expectation is that it will make for smoother driving at that intersection, once people figure it out.

There will be some public education attached to the project, but in the meantime, residents can access a pamphlet from Transport Canada, or have a look at the excellent animations and video on BC's Transportation Ministry website.

When you watch, keep in mind that our roundabout will only be one lane, which makes things even simpler. But if you drive in Edmonton, you'll appreciate knowing the correct way to navigate the roundabouts you encounter there.

At the Council meeting last night when representatives from Alberta Transportation, Stantec and Ruel Brothers outlined the complete project (which also involves re-surfacing Main Street on up to Judah Road) and described the public education they would provide, I half-jokingly asked if they could also throw in education about merging, since much of our population appears to have difficulty with this.

We have one particularly difficult merge coming onto the highway and when people don't understand the difference between yielding and merging, it becomes pretty dangerous. Here's some information from the Alberta government on how to safely merge. Check it out and see if you are doing it properly.

Sometimes in small towns we don't pay enough attention to traffic flow, courtesy and efficiency or just get inattentive. Watch this video of graceful merging in India and be amazed!