Development of a Screening Tool for Roundabout Feasibility in Winnipeg

As roundabouts become more prominent in Canada, it is increasingly important for decision-makers to have a defined procedure for evaluating when a roundabout is warranted. For the City of Winnipeg this is a present challenge as no such procedure currently exists. To address this, a screening tool was developed to aid engineers in efficiently evaluating when a roundabout is warranted in Winnipeg. The tool, designed to be used in retrofit situations, provides a clear step by step set of considerations when evaluating a potential roundabout location. The tool guides engineers to analyze context sensitive and qualitative factors that can be easily overlooked during initial analyses. Major evaluation objectives include safety, operations, traffic calming, spatial requirements, environmental and aesthetics. The data required to evaluate these objectives includes collision history, cost of collisions, road geometry, and speed limit, as well as mode interaction/split, traffic volume and turning movements. Surrounding land use is an additional consideration both with respect to acquisition cost as well as potential constructability issues. A review of jurisdictions with existing screening procedures was performed to develop an understanding of the requirements of an effective and comprehensive screening tool for roundabouts. These procedures were analyzed to aid in developing additional considerations for the screening tool to create a procedure that makes sense in Winnipeg’s environment. In addition to a review of other jurisdictions’ procedures, a literature review was conducted that focused on reports and recent conference papers that addressed considerations for evaluating roundabouts and roundabout design. This paper consolidates the information obtained from both the consultation with multiple jurisdictions as well as a review of relevant literature to provide a comprehensive source on roundabouts for a mid-sized urban area. The consolidated information combined with the screening tool serve to provide a foundation for the City of Winnipeg to evaluate roundabouts in future intersection retrofit situations and support future policy consideration.

• Record URL:
  http://conf.tac-atc.ca/english/annualconference/tac2014/s-40/vogt.pdf
• 
• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation Association of Canada (TAC)

  401-1111 Prince of Wales Drive
  Ottawa, Ontario  Canada 
• Authors:
  • Vogt, M
  • Poff, K
  • SUDERMAN, S
  • Montufar, J
• Conference:
  • Transportation 2014: Past, Present, Future - 2014 Conference and Exhibition of the Transportation Association of Canada // Transport 2014 : Du passé vers l'avenir - 2014 Congrès et Exposition de 'Association des transports du Canada
• Publication Date: 2014

Language

• English

Media Info

• Pagination: 1 PDF file, 567 KB, 16p.
• Monograph Title: Transportation 2014: Past, Present, Future - 2014 Conference and Exhibition of the Transportation Association of Canada // Transport 2014 : Du passé vers l'avenir - 2014 Congrès et Exposition de 'Association des transports du Canada

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Conferences; Decision making; Demand; Evaluation; Impact studies; Leasing; Planning; Roundabouts; Safety; Traffic engineering
• Geographic Terms: Canada
• ITRD Terms: 8018: Canada; 8525: Conference; 2248: Decision process; 285: Demand (econ); 9020: Evaluation (assessment); 9112: Impact study; 228: Location; 143: Planning; 438: Roundabout; 1665: Safety; 655: Traffic engineering
• Subject Areas: Highways; Planning and Forecasting; Safety and Human Factors; I21: Planning of Transport Infrastructure; I71: Traffic Theory;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01553255
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Transportation Association of Canada (TAC)
• Files: ITRD, TAC
• Created Date: Feb 13 2015 4:21PM