Rural roundabout will work for farmers, says province

The province has assured farmers attending a public meeting about aproposed roundabout near Kinkora, P.E.I., that the roundabout willbe able to accommodate large farm machinery.

StevenYeo, chief engineer with the P.E.I. Department of Transportation, met with about 25 peopleincluding farmers concerned about being able to move their equipmentfreelythrough the proposed roundabout.

"We know it's a rural area, that there's a lot of farming being done, and we've designed itand built these to accommodate the 22- and 24-foot wide potato planters and harvesters," Yeosaid.

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There's alreadya similar roundabout on Baldwin's Roadoutside of Cardigan, P.E.I.,Yeo pointed out.

"Farm machinery moves through there and large tractor trailers move through there quite comfortably," he said.

No outside curb

The rural roundabout design does nothave araised outside curb of 15 to 20 centimetres seen on other roundabouts, Yeo said.

"These rural roundabouts are designed that it has a centre barrier curb, it has a truck apron, it has the area of asphalt to drive around and then it has a granular shoulder with ditches," Yeo said.

Farmers withlarge equipment will be able touse the road's gravel shoulder, he explained.

"You can put the wheels of the larger equipment out there and pass through the roundabout safely, like vehicle traffic," he said.

Safety concerns

The decision to replace the intersection at Newton and Scales Pond roads north of Kinkorawith a roundabout was based on safety concerns at thetwo-way stop, Yeosaid.

"You're looking at a long distance of pavement ahead of you and people have not been picking up the stop signs and driving through it with a lot of near misses," he said.

Yeo added when there were collisions at the intersection, they were serious and some resulted in fatalities. The province says there have been 19 accidents including four fatalities in the vicinity over the last decade.

Work to build the $900,000 roundabout will begin in July and be completed in August.

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