TORONTO – Roundabouts have been widely used in Europe, Australia and other parts of the world for years, but are relatively new in North America. Civil engineers typically support the construction of roundabouts as they are seen as a benefit to road safety and reportedly are more efficient in moving traffic. This road planning trend is making its way into Ontario and being considered by more and more municipalities.
As a result of this trend, the Ontario Trucking Association (OTA) Board of Directors approved the funding of a study to examine roundabout designs that would be more conducive to the operation of various truck configurations operating on Ontario roads.
“OTA cannot keep track of and provide analysis on every potential roundabout construction project in the province. Nor is it necessarily appropriate that OTA should, as a matter of course, be opposed to roundabouts. However, it is appropriate and proactive for OTA to take the position that municipalities should ensure that new roundabouts will accommodate all truck configurations,” said Geoff Wood, Vice President, Operations & Safety at OTA.
OTA will be distributing the discussion paper to organizations like the Ontario Ministry of Transportation, Ontario Good Roads Association and the Association of Municipalities of Ontario and asking them to share this work with their members.
Any government entity, association or member interested in obtaining a copy of the OTA research on this subject matter can e-mail publicaffairs@ontruck.org.
