TAC Releases the Canadian Roundabout Design Guide

Tuesday, February 7, 2017

The Transportation Association of Canada (TAC) has released the much-anticipated Canadian Roundabout Design Guide (CRDG) in its online Bookstore.

The new guide will provide Canadian jurisdictions with comprehensive information and guidance to the planning, design, construction, operation, maintenance and safety of roundabouts in Canada.

The Guide is priced at $169 for TAC members and $225 for non-members (order code PTM-CRDG-E). It is available in both print and e-book formats. A primer, Roundabouts in Canada, providing a brief, general overview of roundabouts, is available for free on TAC’s website.

Keith Boddy, Senior Highway Design Engineer with Nova Scotia Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal (NSTIR) and Chair of the Project Steering Committee, says the guide is a comprehensive tool that can be used from the planning stages through to construction and operation of roundabouts across Canada. National practice and International research have been combined to prepare a practical guide for all aspects of roundabouts.

Serving as a companion to TAC’s Geometric Design Guide for Canadian Roads, the CRDG includes 10 chapters highlighting different categories of roundabouts: geometric design; considerations in roundabout applications; operational analysis; safety; construction, rehabilitation and maintenance; traffic control devices and more.  

The development of the Canadian Roundabout Design Guide was undertaken with funding provided by Alberta Transportation; British Columbia Transportation and Infrastructure; Manitoba Infrastructure; Ministère des Transports, de la Mobilité durable et de l’Électrification des transports du Québec; Ministry of Transportation, Ontario; New Brunswick Transportation and Infrastructure; Nova Scotia Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal; Prince Edward Island  Transportation, Infrastructure and Energy; the cities of Calgary, Edmonton, Mississauga, Moncton, Montréal, Ottawa and Winnipeg; Halifax Regional Municipality; Regional Municipality of Waterloo; Cement Association of Canada; and Transoft Solutions, Inc.

Background

A modern roundabout is a type of circular intersection in which vehicles travel counter-clockwise (in Canada and other right-hand traffic rule of the road countries) around a central island. Vehicles entering the roundabout must yield to circulating traffic. Roundabouts have specific geometric design and traffic control features to enhance safety and capacity of the intersection.

Although it is difficult to estimate the total number of roundabouts currently installed in Canada, this form of intersection control is becoming increasingly more common across the country since the early 1990’s. Previously, there was no single source of guidance for roundabouts available to Canadian practitioners, which the CRDG intends to provide.

 


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