Scared of Charlottetown's new displaced left turn? This video's for you

The province has launched a series of 11 how-to videos to help drivers navigate the new displaced left turn in Charlottetown.

The new intersection, at the bypass and St. Peters Road, is set to open in mid-November.

The videos show drivers how they will proceed through the intersection from every direction. 

Stephen Yeo, chief engineer with the Department of Transportation, says he's confident that drivers will find the new intersection easy to use. But he said department officials wanted to launch the videos because it is a new type of intersection for Island drivers. 

"There's videos here showing signage, pavement markings and signal heads [indicating] how you will be directed once the intersection is open and operational," said Yeo.

Click here for all 11 how-to videos.

"I think it will be very easy for them to get used to it. As people approach any intersection or any of the larger intersections with overhead signs and pavement markings and signalizations, it's no different."     

The province said the intersection is the first of its kind in Canada.

The displaced left has been used successfully in a number of U.S. cities, where it helped alleviate traffic congestion, Yeo said.  

Transportation officials hope it will do the same at the Charlottetown intersection that more than 45,000 vehicles travel through every day.  

Will be safer: instructor

Joe Byrne, who has spent more than 10 years as a driving instructor in Charlottetown, said it is a dangerous intersection, so he's happy to see the displaced left turn opening soon. He said it will take getting used to, but will be much safer. 

Byrne actually encouraged his new drivers to avoid the intersection as it is now, saying it was simply too dangerous.

"When you approach that corner, with the displaced left turn, if you can read all the signs and follow the lines and understand how the lights work, I think it's kind of intuitive," said Byrne, who is an instructor with Abegweit Driving School in Charlottetown.

"If you're not following the signs, the lines, and the lights, you're going to get confused… In that case, just keep going straight because you can turn left at the next corner." 

Drivers wanting to make a left turn off the bypass onto St. Peters Road will veer into the left-turning lane, the same as they always did. 

As they approach the intersection, they will stop at a set of lights just before the main intersection. Drivers will then cross over to the opposite side of the road into an exclusive left-turn lane.  

That exclusive left-turn lane, or displaced left turn, will then proceed up to the main intersection. 

Project cost-shared 

The work will cost about $5.3 million, cost-shared between the provincial and federal governments.

It was supposed to be open in mid-October but COVID-19 caused a one-month delay in getting some of the equipment delivered.

Yeo said the new intersection will be safer and more efficient, and will cut down on both wait times and greenhouse gas emissions. 

"And I think it will be easy for the public to drive it."

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