Discussions

Can you elaborate on your statement?

I see this every single day. Impatient drivers coming from Braecrest westbound enter the median on 18 th street north and then turn left without yielding to the traffic waiting to make a right turn.

MMOUNTAIN I agree with you 100%!!

IMO.. for limited amount of traffic on braecrest, this roundabout idea is a waste of tax payer money and worst idea ever. Hopefully they change the speed in the area, feel sorry for the truckers.  
 
Edited by Iceman14, 2019-05-11 08:02:36

This is the worst decision ever. Twice as many accidents coming if this passes.

So they can't put a light at the intersection as semi's stopping on the side of the hill won't be able to get going again but a roundabout is the solution ?  
 
What happens when traffic is busier flowing southbound and a northbound semi gets stuck a few cars back and can't get going again ?  
 
Wouldn't the simplest and cheapest option just be to link braecrest up to the lights inf ront of peavey mart and have oak bluff road link up at the opposite side of the lights ?

..agree that it is the worst outcome. Did they not notice there are 3 stop signs and a traffic light within a 100 or so feet of each other and only enough room for 3 or 4 cars at the lights.  
It gets bottle up now sometimes, looks like a gong show coming up.

There was nothing wrong with this intersection.. adding a roundabout will no doubt makes things a whole lot worse up there. It is not a difficult intersection to navigate, all you need is a little patience.

I like roundabouts, I think they do a real good job of moving traffic at intersections with varying traffic situations. However, if the reason for not having traffic lights at this intersection is because northbound truck traffic shouldn't be stopped at the top of the hill, the same situation will occur with a roundabout. It may not happen as often as with traffic lights but it will happen, and will be just as difficult to deal with. Add to that the people that seem unable to grasp traffic circle rules and I see a traffic situation made worse, not better, by installing a roundabout.

I hope I am very very wrong but I think this will exacerbate the potential problem of semis having to slow or stop on an icy incline while going north. Please let me be wrong.

....is an industrial area. How would you like them to enter the area? All from 1st Street? The biggest problem with that intersection is that everyone ignores the 50 km speed limit on Park. Slow down and give them room to turn.  
 
Marpet

Will be terrible there. I like them but that is not a spot to put one. I think it’s funny delivery man doesn’t want trucks in the industrial area. Like should we just stay on the highway and not deliver to stores??

Just smoke and mirrors. Thousands are spent on consulting fees for ideas sold by strangers that never experienced or physically seen that intersection (or Brandon in that fact) who generally don't care. The joining shunt of roadway from Breacrest to the service road is all we'll ever get (and that will be done by the city, not the highways dept.). The idea of the traffic circle is just a story to shut us up for a generation or more. Just like all the other "plans" intended for our major highways and intersections managed by our provincial government. Tell the public what they want to hear (future development, major projects and dreams of better way of life), but only provide the minimum with promises of an indefinite schedule of this project. A few come to mind. The Trans Can at #16, both 1st and 18th at the Trans Can, Headingley upgrades, the CentrePort Highway project Northwest of Winnipeg, the South Perimeter Highway upgrades and the twinning of Highway #1 east of Falcon Lake to Ontario are plans publicly made & set with no date. ...All empty promises and political smoke blown up our @$$es. Tell us all of what we want to hear and do nothing more, is the status quo.  
 
A hundred years back a small ravine sat there and parts of it are still showing on either side of 18th. It would very difficult to construct a traffic circle on a sloped roadway having steep, deep ditches (AKA: the ravine) on either side with a single lane in one direction and a double going the other way. Plus as a topper, the entire idea of flowing, uninterrupted traffic is stopped dead with a set of lights sixty meters away. These advisers/planners/engineers should know the topography at and around that intersection. So either these paid people are ignorant to the facts or they're lying right to our faces about this future traffic circle. Over six months of waiting and thousands later we're given a solution by strangers who I think don't give a crap, because they know there's no budget for a cohesive plan for the entire length of 18th street North.  
 
Really, we as a city need to take a huge step back and look beyond 18th & Breacrest see the piecework that makes up this bloody mess we call 18th street North... It's just decades and decades of quick fixes and patch jobs accumulated into a crooked, buggered up roadway with no real defined plan or goal. What should be the goal for 18th? ...Well, I'm no civic planner... However, the entire length of this roadway should be divided with a minimum of two lanes in each direction, including additional turning lanes, to run from the 110 bypass turnoff all the way to the Trans Can Hwy. That would be my idea of a final goal for the #10 Highway through Brandon (better known as 18th street). It amazes me on how short sighted civic planning has become. Why the hell would anyone think accommodating Brandon having a sloped three lane major roadway with steep inclines into the ditch with a traffic circle half a block from a traffic signal? Holly crap! Talk about having "blinders on"! Or do they think that we are really that stupid to "buy into this story"? How's this for an idea Mr. Civil Engineer... With less on an effort in trying to level the roadway and completely filling the ravine, you simply add-on to the embankments of 18th and widen the roadway so it can be reoriented/realigned with the river bridges. That would provide four lanes with a extra wide median up to the lights by Kelleher Ford. With the wide median, it would provide those on Breacrest turning left to cross the Northbound lanes and sit there and merge into Southbound traffic when it's safe to do so. Having the extra wide median would have many benefits down by the Coral Center. Better sight lines for left turns off 18th and the option for a double left lane for Kirkcaldy or at the Coral entrance. TA-DAAA! ...a plan for the future with a bonus second lane Southbound! Anyone who doesn't want to turn left from Braecrest and merge in can still turn right before 18th and use the lights. ...Life is good on the North Hill. ...And we didn't need to pay for another adviser for it! Mind you, that's if they ever had the intention to build the roundabout in the first place.  
 
Just my opinion, I could be wrong.  
 
Edited by snowman5, 2019-05-12 12:45:25

That snowman5 is correct and a roundabout will never happen. That is a terrible location for a roundabout, and if one were ever built it would be nothing but a mess for traffic.

Time the street lights so a break in traffic exists.  
 
If needed slow it down to 50 km/h.

lets hope council rejects the idea. I'm not sure if their looking at going a single lane traffic circle?  
 
But I would think they would do a multi lane traffic circle.. but imagine in winter then road condition are poor. Plus people would have no idea how to use a multi lane traffic circle.  
 
But I agree with snowman and his idea.

Would a solution be to link Braecrest to the service road going north. Ban southbound turns from Braecrest into 18th. street. Put the roundabout at the junction of 18th and Clare instead of the lights.  
Those not wishing to go North a few hundred yards up 18th before heading south can always go east and turn onto 1st street (1A) to get into town, also is there not another road that links to Kirkaldy past the sportsplex?  
The ground at Clare is certainly better for semis to have to start moving especially in winter.  
Just my thoughts.

This is one of the most ridiculous ideas I've ever heard for Brandon traffic, and there's been some doozies.  
 
The best solution is mostly closing the intersection. You could still allow a right turn off of northbound 18th onto Braecrest to the east, and right turns on and off of Braecrest on the west side of 18th. You block off the opening in the 18th street median.  
 
Most traffic should be moved onto Quail Ridge Drive which would run behind both Kelleher's and Peavey Mart and connect to Clare Avenue. Cumberland Avenue would run between Peavy and Kelleher and attach to Quail Ridge. The service road would be removed in front of said businesses to avoid snarl-ups directly in front of Peavey Mart.  
 
If a way could be found to connect Outback Drive to Oak Bluff Road, then it might be best to remove the Braecrest connection on the west side altogether.  
 
There's a picture of proposed changes in the sidebar  
 
Edited by PuddleJumper, 2019-05-13 23:00:58

A traffic circle at 18th St and Braecrest is a ridiculous idea - I can imagine in very adverse weather conditions that a large truck may have to come to a complete stop at the traffic circle because the circle is filled with vehicles - I can just see the large truck having major problems starting again on an incline and very likely sliding backwards - there will be multi accidents (many serious ones) if this silly roundabout is approved. City planners - you need to really rethink this - don't approve the traffic circle.

For anyone that didn’t make it out last week, the info from the session is online now on the city website at the link below. includes conceptual roundabout designs. Of note, the circle itself would initially be 1 lane but could be upgraded to a 2 lane mother of all roundabouts when a second Southbound lane is added on 18th St North....  
http://www.brandon.ca/images/pdf/engineering/18M-01581-00%20Braecrest%20Open%20House%20Boards.pdf

Saw the plans.. thats a disaster waiting to happen.. have fund exiting a 2 lane traffic circle