New Charlottetown roundabout, intersection planned

Two Charlottetown intersections are getting major makeovers this summer worth about $765,000 total.

• Roundabout construction could cause traffic delays

• Roundabout coming to gnarly Charlottetown intersection

The city will build a new mini-roundabout at Brackley Point Road and Oak Drive. It will also install traffic lights at Kensington Road and Exhibition Drive.

"A lot of times it gets backlogged, especially on Exhibition Drive trying to turn left onto Kensington Road," Terry Bernard, chair of the city's Public Works and Beautification committee, told CBC News.

The city had hoped to be able to install another roundabout at the second location, but found it wouldn't work.

"When the consultants looked at it, the positioning of it and where Beasley Avenue exited onto Kensington Road, the roundabout just couldn't configure a roundabout that would work there," Bernard said, adding the work there won't begin until after Old Home Week is over in late August.

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The roundabout at Brackley Point Road and Oak Drive will be a smaller-than-normal "button" roundabout. The small centre hump in the centre will be painted, but plants won't be added, Bernard said.

'Not waiting'

"What we like is that it slows traffic down but yet you reach your destination quicker cause you're not stopping waiting at lights for two or three minutes," Bernard explained.

That intersection has seen a lot of accidents, said Bernard, and consultants recommended improvements there. The work there will start in July.

The ultimate goal of both projects is to improve traffic flow and safety.

Another, major roundabout at the Vogue Optical corner in Sherwood is ready to go ahead, Bernard noted, but the city is waiting on federal infrastructure funding that has not yet been approved.

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