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City hall eyes traffic circles
Paul Moloney
City Hall Bureau
Sep 25, 2007
Popular in Europe, traffic circles are worth studying to see if they would be safer and move more traffic than traditional intersections with stop signs or traffic lights, says Councillor Case Ootes.
Ootes (Ward 29, Toronto-Danforth) has tabled a motion for this week's city council meeting asking transportation officials to report by January on the potential benefits and suggest ways to pick candidates for conversion.
Suitable intersections might include Eglinton Ave. E. and Don Mills Rd. and Eglinton and Victoria Park Ave., Ootes said.
"You've got a huge amount of traffic and you've got the space there. It seems to me to make good sense to take a good hard look at it. I'd like to know what the advantages would be compared to what we have now."
Transportation planner Rod McPhail said he finds the devices intriguing and has long thought a roundabout might work at Meadowvale Rd. and Highway 2A in Scarborough, which takes eastbound traffic coming off Highway 401.
"You want to slow vehicles down coming into the city. You don't want them all of sudden to come off the 401 and then hit a red light. And you've got quite a bit of land there that's publicly owned. You could design a proper roundabout."
Space is not available to convert many traditional intersections but they may not be needed in those situations, McPhail said. Roundabouts are more helpful where you have several roads converging.
"A normal intersection with an east-west and north-south road, you don't really need a roundabout. Stop signs and traffic lights work pretty well," he said.
Another issue is that motorists would face a steep learning curve if the city started installing the devices here and there, he said.
"People don't know how to drive through them. You just don't run across them here, so there's a safety issue involved. What you'd have to do is put signs everywhere and then that gets confusing."
Once people became familiar with them, they may prove to be safer, Ootes said. "You wouldn't have the T-bone collisions that result in greater injuries," he said.
Traffic circles should be considered as an alternative whenever new traffic lights are being considered at intersections, Ootes added.
"It seems to me we've gotten stuck in the rut of putting up traffic lights without considering what might possibly be a more efficient way of moving traffic and a more environmentally sound and safer solution than what we have now."
City hall eyes traffic circles
Paul Moloney
City Hall Bureau
Sep 25, 2007
Popular in Europe, traffic circles are worth studying to see if they would be safer and move more traffic than traditional intersections with stop signs or traffic lights, says Councillor Case Ootes.
Ootes (Ward 29, Toronto-Danforth) has tabled a motion for this week's city council meeting asking transportation officials to report by January on the potential benefits and suggest ways to pick candidates for conversion.
Suitable intersections might include Eglinton Ave. E. and Don Mills Rd. and Eglinton and Victoria Park Ave., Ootes said.
"You've got a huge amount of traffic and you've got the space there. It seems to me to make good sense to take a good hard look at it. I'd like to know what the advantages would be compared to what we have now."
Transportation planner Rod McPhail said he finds the devices intriguing and has long thought a roundabout might work at Meadowvale Rd. and Highway 2A in Scarborough, which takes eastbound traffic coming off Highway 401.
"You want to slow vehicles down coming into the city. You don't want them all of sudden to come off the 401 and then hit a red light. And you've got quite a bit of land there that's publicly owned. You could design a proper roundabout."
Space is not available to convert many traditional intersections but they may not be needed in those situations, McPhail said. Roundabouts are more helpful where you have several roads converging.
"A normal intersection with an east-west and north-south road, you don't really need a roundabout. Stop signs and traffic lights work pretty well," he said.
Another issue is that motorists would face a steep learning curve if the city started installing the devices here and there, he said.
"People don't know how to drive through them. You just don't run across them here, so there's a safety issue involved. What you'd have to do is put signs everywhere and then that gets confusing."
Once people became familiar with them, they may prove to be safer, Ootes said. "You wouldn't have the T-bone collisions that result in greater injuries," he said.
Traffic circles should be considered as an alternative whenever new traffic lights are being considered at intersections, Ootes added.
"It seems to me we've gotten stuck in the rut of putting up traffic lights without considering what might possibly be a more efficient way of moving traffic and a more environmentally sound and safer solution than what we have now."