Issue: Based on current projects with multiple Oil and Gas companies within the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo (Ft. McMurrary area), discuss the access requirements and challenges for these sites.
Overview: These sites function as small communities, with huge traffic demands during the AM / PM peaks. Light and heavy truck traffic, in and out of these sites, needs to be accommodated simultaneously on a daily basis. Additionally, there is often a need for segregation of traffic due to integration of weigh scale requirements for larger trucks as well as employee busing access. Most sites started with small two lane roads, and then as the site gets larger, have challenges with congestion based on peak demands for the changing environment. The access points into and out of these sites typically have access requirements that have an effect on the flow of traffic such as: site orientation, badge verification and swipe card requirements, short term and long term parking needs.
Presentation & Paper: The focus of the paper and presentation would go through a Case example where a number of innovative solutions, such as roundabouts, reversible lanes, dedicated bus lanes, and separation of heavy truck traffic were developed to assist in controlling the flow of traffic in and out of the site.
