In 2000, Alberta Transportation took over all primary and secondary highways in the province to improve operations and maintenance, provide connectability and safety to the system, and directly alleviate costs for cash-strapped municipalities. The province recognized the need to improve the Highway 63/King Street intersection and proceeded with the functional planning, design, and construction of a new interchange. After researching various types of intersections and interchanges, the engineers and Alberta Transportation agreed to construct a modern roundabout at the end of a straight overpass of Highway 63. The unique design provides for improved traffic flows and best meets all other requirements. This is believed to be the first modern "roundabout" interchange in Canada. The overpass and roundabout have been in operation for almost one year. This paper provides details on the decision to implement the roundabout design. It also demonstrates the suitability of roundabout designs in Canada and provides a design framework for interchange-type decisions for other jurisdictions considering difficult or unique applications in their own road network. For the covering abstract of this conference see ITRD number E211395.
Samenvatting