The County of Grande Prairie is looking for short term solution when it comes to creating a new intersection on Highway 43X.
County councillors have asked administration officials to look at the feasibility of using a traffic circle for Range Road 62 and Highway 43X for the time being, before installing a flyover or overpass.
“Our transportation master plan has a flyover scheduled for there in the future, so council directed us to maybe look at a traffic circle for interim cost savings until maybe the true need for a flyover has a higher traffic level,” says Director of Public Works Dale Van Volkingburgh.
Van Volkingburgh adds it isn’t a forever solution, as the flyover, with a $15 million price tag, is slated to be part of the overall upgrade to the corridor. However, he says they’ve already got a piece of infrastructure about a kilometre down the road which can give them an idea of how the short term idea could work.
“There is already a traffic circle on Highway 43X that is there in the interim for a future interchange on Range Road 63, it seemed to work for them, wondering if it will work for us is kind of the thought.”
The roundabout will also help create entry points to both the County of Grande Prairie Sportsplex and Whispering Ridge neighbourhood from the newly opened Highway 43X bypass.