Going in circles: city hopeful about changes to McKenzie Towne roundabout

The Mackenzie Town roundabout in southeast Calgary looks different these days. How to enter it, exit it, and which lane leads where. It's called a spiral design. If you want to go to this exit over here, you need to be in this lane right here. You'll notice in a couple of spots we've reduced the roundabout down to one lane. This essentially prevents drivers from driving too far in the inside lane, and so when you're entering into the roundabout you pretty much have to be certain which lane you want to pick depending on what exit you want to go to. This spiral prevents people from driving too far in the inside and making those last second lane changes. Some everyday roundabout drivers say those last second lane changes are the norm. If somebody's in the outside lane, 99% of the time they're gonna cut right in front of me and I just ignore it. Like you just slow down, don't honk. Most of the time it goes smoothly but there are times where I just don't know whether I'm gonna be making it out okay Tander says the spiral has been used in other jurisdictions he says they chose the design as the best way to cut down on the amount of crashes here Calgary police say from 2020 to 2025 there have been more than 130 collisions so far this year there have been 20 if you make the intersection safer and you make the intersection more comfortable to drive it will make it more efficient and by preventing some of those near misses and which causes a ripple effect in traffic that'll and flow improves you're going to get more traffic through here eventually once once in the residents and drivers are more familiar with the new design Tandra says repaving is planned for the roundabout next year there are also plans to replace the cement barriers with extended curbs. Terry Trembath, CBC News, Calgary.