this rotary (canadian name -roundabout) is nothing more then a hinderance. The circle is way to small for the trucks at normal length never mind oversized.

this whole project is nothing more then a waste of tax payers money.A third bridge was the last thing we need. good luck to maintaining the rotary in the winter, that should be interesting if traffic still flows smoothly. and if there is an accident the whole area is shut down.

Who owned the land and who is doing a majority of the constuction? Conflict of interest? Been nice if they continued Rt 9 from the old Cecils store right to the border.

This was a political plum and a disaster in real time. I agree with both of the above!

I wonder who dreamt this thing up. Has anyone ever seen a tractor trailer NOT go over the edge of the "roundabout'? I figure roundabout winter this is going to be plowed out of the way and normal traffic will resume !! This is the most stupid thing I have ever seen.

All the comments are right. They should go to Brattleboro VT to see a big "roundabout" and the big trucks still drive over the medians. This area would be big enough for skateboard traffic. A total waste of money. I went to Calais today and a tractor trailer went 2 feet on the "roundabout". Can't wait till we have a big snow storm. How will they ever plow that area? The plow trucks will close that area just trying to turn around.

The plow trucks are going to have tons of fun..thats for sure!

I agree with all comments,I was behind a tractor trailer yesterday that went up on the circle,how many times can that happen without it breaking and cracking the curb/asphalt,then repairs will be needed,who designed this mess?

WHAT A WASTE OF MONEY THIS A PAIN IN THE A-- ....I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW WHO THE JACK A-- THAT CAME UP WITH THIS ROUNDABOUT, NEEDS THERE HEAD LOOKED AT..LIKE THEY ARE SAYING THE BIG TRACTOR TRAILER ARE GOING RIGHT UP OVER THE CURB,CANT WAIT TO SEE WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE AFTER THE SNOW COMES AFTER THE PLOW TRUCKS GET DONE WITH IT.....NOW THEY HAVE TREES , AND FLOWER, I HOPE THEY PUT XMAS LIGHTS ON THE TREES FOR XMAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I agree-this is so crazy. The speed limit I believe is 20mph which doesn't sound fast, but that is a very sharp curve, this is NOT a real traffic circle at all. I can't wait to try to go around this at 20mph with black ice...weee...or better yet, watch the big rigs do it! Just another example of how Washington Country TRIES to keep up with the real world, and keeps failing. WHAT a joke this is! And now we have nice trees so we can't see the trucks coming at us because they can't make the turn, how thoughtful.

This little traffic circle imust have been designed by the same 'educated' engineers who put those raised curbs in the middle of a traffic lane to redirect three lanes of traffic into two lanes. Has anyone else ever tried to move over when traffic is heavy and no one lets you move in front of them, or hit one in a blinding snowstorm. I think common sense is lost in some of these college educated engineers. I can imagine what the plow truck drivers will be uttering when we get the first big snowstorm.

It's pretty obvious that all of the people who posted here have 100% more common sense than these stupid so called engineers. These morons are probably from Augusta to top it all off. What a complete waste of taxpayer money. They only put the roundabout in to try to impress people and look more "official". I agree with the bridge but do not agree with this stupid, impractical, work of art. The geniuses who designed this and the City Manager and Mayor that had any part of this should be FIRED.

I think that they should be lighting the area better at night. I came home from Bangor the other night and didn't realize i was at the roundabout until I was in it.

areader..youre right...trying to be something were not!

Its sad really..once winter is gone, im wondering just how many repairs are going to need to be done!

Its a damn shame!

Its kinda nice that they have the two lanes going toward Calais now, although its so long that people are using it as a pass lane!

Ah well....let em get caught hehe..

I'm sure that whoever it was that came up with this INSANE idea probably thought that the 400,000 people expected at the now bankrupt Heritage Center were still planning on coming...

I agree with the tree comment. Now we won't know what is coming at us this winter. Plowing is going to be a HUGE problem and hopefully a challange that will be worked out before it is too late.

How many traffic circles do you see that only have one possible turn? What ever happened to a simple "left turn" lane! It works for the Milltown bridge! This is totally unnecessary!

P/S the State is broke they are going to cut all kinds of jobs, did they do they cut just so they could make this roundabout. And I bet the cut 's they do they will give to the Wellfare you know they ones that sit on there butt's and get all that FREE money!!!!!....

I thought the same as most of the above, up until last week. Summerside PEI has an almost identical roundabout, and I traveled through it several times over the period of a few days. Big trucks had no problems, as the center of it is designed to allow for the truck to ride up on that center area ( I think a misconception on many above that them riding up on it is not what's suppose to happen). I watched a double trailer truck go about three quarters of the way around it with no problem. So before everyone keeps complaining, why not give it a chance. The one in PEI is fairly busy, and seems to work very well. Much better then the larger ones like in Augusta, that allow you to go through them much faster. They work well as long as everyone slows down a bit, and yields to the vehicle in the circle.

And Mr Conservative... before you blame the City Manager and Mayor, know what you are talking about. This is fully a state project, not a City of Calais project. The city had no say in the design of this. And besides that, the City Manager only came to Calais AFTER the plans were approved by the state.

I disagree with StCrooixvalley's opinion. Why design something that is made for tractr trailers to go up on? Why not just make the thing wide enough in the first place. Will the snow plows have to go uo on it also? They will tear the foolish thing apart if they try.

I find it a bit comical with all the comments from people who dont understand the purpose of a roundabout. The roundabout is designed purposely as a bottle neck. The trucks are supposed to drive up on the apron, the reason the dont make it larger is because then people would not have to slow down to go around it, there would just be a slight jag in the road and they wouldnt slow down for that. By forcing them to go around the apron it forces them to slow down. There is a very large amount of traffic that will be coming out of the border and there has to be something in place to move the traffic. A roundabout it the quickest way to move the traffic. The other options are a stop sign (three way stop) or a stop light. Now how many people would be complaining about sitting at a stop light, wasting your time when nothing is coming. So of the 3 options that you have, the roundabout is the most efficient to move you through. Lets look at the most dangerous action with traffic, that is the left turn. When a car has to turn left it has to travel through the lane of oncoming traffic. This is where the most accident happen (look at the person in Robbinston turning into his driveway and was hit head on). The roundabout eliminates this left hand turn, because it is done in a roundabout with the yielding by others and slower turning traffic. Ok, so now lets look at pollution and gas savings. The roundabout lets you travel straight through in most instances unless you had to yield. Yes you have to slow down but you are not waiting at a stop light so that saves gas not idleing your car and then taking off which uses the most gas. And since your not idleling in traffic, your are doing less pollutions. Now if you figure these numbers on thousands of cars a day, that makes a huge difference in pollution and gas savings, and with gas prices now who couldnt stand to save a few bucks. As for plowing the roundabout, it really isnt that difficult. They plow the one in bangor, which is by the way, exactly the same size and there are no problems with it whatsoever. It moves traffic much faster than what was there before. Really, this roundabout isnt about trying to keep up with everyone, or be the first. Its about saving time for the traveling public, safety and environmentally kinder than other options. I just think ,because someone doesnt understand something then its automatically wrong, and a waste of money, is a foolish way to think. People need to think about things before jumping to conclusions.

well said curious

If the bridge had gone straight from Rt #9 over the river and straight to the Canadian side, as it should have, we'd have solved many issues. 1. WAY less money for taxpayers. 2. No "traffic circle needed at the aforementioned location. 3. If our school s end up being consolidated, our kids will still be on Rt #1 w/all those big trucks -- not so if bridge had been built as in #1. 4. The traffic would not go through federal protected (right!) wetlands. 5. No one using the "Canada only" lane as a passing lane. 5. This list could go on and on.

This project has been ridiculous from the beginning. I remember the Calais folks/business people complaining that the end of Rt. #9 connection took traffic around Calais. Duh! Does this location not do the same? How shortsighted. Now they are all belly aching about how they are going to get people to stop in Calais to shop (where?). The bridge was going around Calais where ever the bridge was located. You can't have it both ways. You can't have traffic and not have it at the same time. Calais did not want the traffic downtown, but now are trying to figure out a way to get people down town to shop. I don't get it. To tell the truth, we really don't need a third bridge now. Truth be known, we probably never did. If you notice, the long lanes of traffic are going "into" Canada, not coming out. What a colossal waste of our hard earned tax money. We are all still traveling Rt#1 with the big rigs, so this alleviated nothing. I personally think it's great that cars will use it to bypass Calais. Have some common sense from the beginning people. Maybe Peter Cincette will build his east/west highway across Maine and into Canada and shows that this bridge for what it is. A waste all around .... not needed and barely used. I can't but think it could be and should be, "bust"!

Viper 13: I guess you've never looked across the river then in the summer. St Stephen gets backed up as often as Calais, sometimes all the way back to the Atlantic Superstore on King ST. Oh, just in case you didn't know, St Stephen has a rotary out at the intersection of 1 and 3.... Seems to work fine.

And it's Peter Vigue behind the east west highway. The issue here is that GSA is not going to build another customs port further up the border. The east west highway will have to use Calais as the entrance port, and jump onto the Stud Mill Road up near Princeton. So I would assume this port will be used for a good long time. And the reduction in traffic downtown may actually help the businesses, as we all know that as soon as the traffic backs up, the locals do not go downtown and those in their cars don't tend to pull out of line. We will see how things work in the fall of 2010!

Coming up from Calais heading north onto Baring St. is an accident waiting to happen, especially in the winter months. When bearing left near what used to be Clarks corner is narrow enough in the good weather now you almost are a 1/4 into the truck route.(Wrong way) Please be careful. HAPPY THANKSGIVING everyone

Just thought you'd like to know, the trucks are supposed to be able to go up on the curbing in a modern "roundabout." The reason they are made so small is to slow down traffic. That curbing around the center is called a "Truck Apron" and is there so that the trailers of large trucks can ride up on it, yet at the same time, it discourages cars from using it as a lane.

melinuxfool , thanks for the lesson. It's still a foolish idea. We are not in Europe.

I know in the Southern part of the state they have made these same rotaries. Not even a year has gone by and they had to dig the whole thing up and make it bigger. The trucks had ruined the edge of the concrete. Talk about being over budget. My husband works in the construction business and has heard from other workers that these rotaries are just another expense for the taxpayers of Maine. Who's going to foot the bill when, not if, the time comes to dig this unnecessary mess up and fix it?? Why in G*ds name didn't they just build it right the first time?? Why did they build it at all?? And what is up with the tress and shrubbery in the middle?? I've traveled all over the United States and have never seen shrubbery and tree's in the middle of a rotary!! strange....