Photo by Whitehorse Star
PAT MOLLOY
Roundabout set for Mountainview Drive
To prepare for the construction of a roundabout on Mountainview Drive,
To prepare for the construction of a roundabout on Mountainview Drive, work has started on a detour that will serve travellers next spring when the roundabout is actually built.
Pat Molloy, the territory's director of community infrastructure, confirmed this morning the work happening on the west side of Mountainview Drive near Porter Creek will become a detour route in the spring.
The new route is being built across the road from where the new Whistle Bend Way is under construction. It will serve as the main road into the new subdivision.
The roundabout at the intersection of the new road and Mountainview is expected to serve the residents who move in during the first two phases of development. The first of the lots are tentively scheduled to be sold through a lottery in the fall of 2012.
The neighbourhood will be the next major site for new residential development, with 194 single-family, 48 townhouse, 34 duplex and 17 multi-family lots to be developed in the first two phases.
By the time Whistle Bend is finished, it's anticipated there will be about 8,000 residents spread over 250 hectares.
While a roundabout is planned for the first two phases based on traffic studies, Molloy said the intersection may need traffic lights in future years.
He noted the roundabout is the best option for the intersection in the first two phases, though the territory plans to do more traffic studies following that to determine whether other methods of controlling traffic could be needed.
"It really comes down to how the whole development proceeds,” Molloy explained. It could be a decade before traffic lights are warranted.
By then, a number of changes could be made to plans for the neighbourhood that could impact the intersection, he noted.
A roundabout was determined to be the best approach when it came to the initial construction of the intersection, he said.
Work will continue with crews building both Whistle Bend Way between Mountainview and Range Road as well as the detour route.
Molloy did not have the individual costs of the detour nor the roundabout available. Both are part of the $2.9 million worth of work underway for the entire development.
Meanwhile, the territory will make use of stop signs at the other end of Whistle Bend Way where it meets Range Road.
As Molloy explained, Mountainview will be the main access point to the new neighbourhood, with Range Road serving more as a secondary route to the area.
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Comments (12)
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francias pillman on Oct 29, 2010 at 7:32 am
What new industry in Whitehorse facilitates 8000 people? Someone please inform me.
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Okay on Oct 28, 2010 at 9:16 am
City planners don't live in the city.
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hogasm on Oct 28, 2010 at 2:23 am
NO! No more round abouts please. Those things suck and slow traffic to a crawl in the areas where we need traffic to move. Why does the City want to keep people from driving at more than 30 kph? The round about in Granger slows traffic so much that you don't just move slowly, you ooze to work. City planners must live in Riverdale. Put a round about there and see how popular it becomes.
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Don McKenzie on Oct 26, 2010 at 11:33 pm
In Edmonton, they now have round-abouts, complete with traffic lights. Is that a testament to the skills of Edmonton drivers, a flawed idea, both, or other?
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yukonpete on Oct 26, 2010 at 11:37 am
roundabouts are great! Problem is Yukon born and raised drivers are not! Many have never operated a vehicle outside of the north!
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francias pillman on Oct 26, 2010 at 10:12 am
Yukon Hootch - Roundabouts are bad because no one knows how to use them. They are dangerous, when in fact they are suppose to be for safety. Roundabouts don't magically make people better drivers. Lights are a better idea because they keep the flow of traffic going. I'm glad this town is turning into a carbon copy of southern jurisdictions. I have said this for years that the old Yukon is gone, and all the hippies from Toronto have taken over.
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Barb on Oct 26, 2010 at 10:05 am
I grew up in Whitehorse and the top of the Two Mile Hill always had a 'traffic circle'. This would be at the Alaska highway and Hamilton Blvd. In the middle of the circle there was a Tri sign made of logs announcing the City of Whitehorse. It worked really well. I can't remember when that went by the wayside, but there have been issues there ever since.
Traffic Circles or 'roundabouts' work well, as long as drivers understand and work with them, much as they can and do work with 4 way stops.
Dig your heels in and pout and maybe a gazzilion dollars can be spent on lighting every intersection...
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Anthony on Oct 26, 2010 at 8:17 am
Yukon Hootch: Is your head buried in the sand?
There are FOUR roundabouts in Whitehorse that I can think of off hand and there have been plenty of accidents in them.
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Yukon Hootch on Oct 26, 2010 at 4:32 am
To the best of my knowledge there have been no accidents (or very, very few) at the roundabout in Whitehorse with the exception of that very drunk individual's mishap. Look at the intersection at the top of Two Mile or where 2nd and 4th meet. There are accidents there monthly. So roundabouts are bad why? I'd rather be stuck waiting to get into one than get hit by some loser trying to speed through an intersection to make the lights. They are used down South because they work. People complain about them because they are ignorant and don't feel comfortable using them.
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Josey Wales on Oct 25, 2010 at 10:14 pm
ahhhh, the city's favorite new "just like the southern cities" idea.
Do they ever love those things too.
Between those stupid circles...a UNLIT road sign in the middle of the highway near Raven's Ridge....yet another at the Klondike turn off...one really has to wonder how those people whom make decisions to put obstacles on the road, breathe with their heads so deep in their colon?
When do we get the ACME pop up road wall?
Is the Wiley Coyote on CoW or YTG staff?
How many times has RR sign been "replaced" since installed?
Can we anticipate a few Hot Wheels loops too up and coming?
...monorail?
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mark on Oct 25, 2010 at 5:53 pm
ooooh man.... another one? what a waste of money... and i hate those things
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Anonymous on Oct 25, 2010 at 9:26 am
Dear lord not another round about! Lights would be best as Mountain View is our only route to town when idiots crash in the canyon. Whoever is doing the parking studies needs to get their head out of their A**!