The Main Avenue pilot project to trial three mini roundabouts for a period of one year was selected following extensive community, business and stakeholder consultations.
"This is a Sundre option. We want the town to decide what happens in your own town ó we don't live here," said Stuart Richardson, Alberta Transportation infrastructure manager, during a presentation to council at its April 24 meeting.
He provided local officials with some background information outlining the process to date, which began in the spring of 2015 when the municipality and Alberta Transportation initiated a review of the Highway 27 corridor in an effort to improve pedestrian safety in Sundre's downtown core while maintaining a steady flow of traffic.
The proposal to trial mini roundabouts on Second, Third and Fourth streets came out as the preferred option out of five potential projects that were presented to the community. That approach received about 30 per cent support from respondents and was later approved by council in April 2016. The existing four-lane configuration will largely be reduced to two lanes. However, there will be a third lane for traffic heading north onto Centre Street from an eastbound direction as well as a lane for westbound motorists turning south onto Centre Street, he said.
The second most popular proposal was to try out three lanes with a central back-to-back left turning lane, which had about 18 per cent support. Only 13 per cent of those surveyed said they preferred leaving the existing four-lane configuration as is, he said.
"After the council chose that (preferred) option, we decided to go ahead and try and get funding for it."
While funding was eventually approved, he said that in order to facilitate the project's delivery in a more reasonable time frame, the Town of Sundre's engineering firm worked with a consultant that specializes in roundabouts to design and deliver the pilot project this spring.
"We paid for the consultant as well and we've been working with the consultant too, it's not just the town."
That was all done as per a memorandum of agreement that was signed in December between the municipality and Alberta Transportation, he said.
Once details of the approved pilot project were finalized, efforts began in early April to hold information sessions with all business owners in the project area as well as with other stakeholders such as truckers and protective services, he said.
Among the benefits of roundabouts is that the traffic calming measures eliminate potentially dangerous left-hand turns against oncoming traffic. And although some residents might initially be intimidated by the change, as soon as they get accustomed to it, traffic will move more efficiently through the core, he said.
The Main Avenue and Centre Street traffic lights will for the time being remain unchanged, and efforts to monitor how the roundabouts might impact traffic at that intersection will be ongoing, he said.
Aside from making more room for pedestrians, the trial design will also feature crosswalks at each roundabout. Westbound traffic will additionally still be able to access the IGA parking lot by making a left-hand turn that will be able to accommodate a few cars without stopping through-traffic. Following recent meetings with local businesses, there have not been any negative comments received, he said.
"Everybody seems to be OK. They know that there's a change coming. We'll see how it pans out."
The plan has not changed much from what council approved last year, although the design is now more detailed, he said.
An open house information session is scheduled for tomorrow ó Wednesday, May 3 ó at the Sundre Community Centre's gym from about 6 - 9 p.m.
"We're sure not everybody's going to like it, but we're going to be able to explain to the public why we're doing it," said Richardson, once again emphasizing the pilot project is the result of extensive community consultations that were held in collaboration with the municipality.
"It's a real safety and pedestrian issue."
