New Roundabouts and Road Upgrades Enhance Traffic Safety in Basso Sarca
The proliferation of roundabouts, traffic circles, and rotaries will be evident. Five new roundabouts are expected to appear within the next two years in the Basso Sarca area. Additionally, there will be junctions on the Arcense bypass, including connections for the south and north trunk roads, the links of the Comai-bis, and those of the Rivana bypass. The Altogardesana road network will increasingly take on a metropolitan aspect, aimed at making traffic flow more smoothly and safely.
Not necessarily to save agricultural land, which is destined for a sacrifice difficult to avoid. These roundabouts will need to successfully replace intersections, traffic lights, and priority rules that have failed in recent years. Long-announced are those in Torbole and Nago (this one featuring a short tunnel towards “Maza”), but their construction has been delayed beyond the originally scheduled timelines set by the Torbole administration.
Ongoing Projects and New Roundabouts
The south trunk of the Arco bypass will see the opening of the S. Giorgio roundabout (the shape of which is already recognizable), while only on paper are the last two, which made headlines in recent days: one at the Giovanazzi condominium and another in front of the Cavallo Shopping Center.
The entire section of Via S. Caterina between Palagarda and the former Del Fabbro will undergo a radical transformation. The chaos of recent years, which worsened with the multiplication of shopping centers, will be resolved with the installation of two roundabouts. These will allow drivers coming from the north to access the SS 45bis without the long waits currently faced in front of the Giovanazzi condominium, and will prevent those from the Grazie district from risking their lives when attempting to cross toward Arco.
The Veronesi mayor’s administration has accepted the delegation granted by the Province: the municipality will handle the design, while funding will come from Trento, along with the final approval. This decision is necessary to speed up the process: “By doing so,” says Veronesi, “we expect to see the construction site open as early as next year.”
The only potential difficulties may arise from the need to expropriate some plots of land along Via S. Caterina. When expropriations are involved, the timing of contracts and construction becomes at risk.
Solutions for Intersections and Road Safety
An interesting proposed solution aims to address, in one stroke, the problem of at-grade intersections. From shopping centers and from municipal roads that feed into this stretch of highway, only right turns will be permitted. Crossing the carriageway will be prevented by installing a median barrier along the entire length between the two roundabouts.
Thus, for example, someone leaving the Green Center to head toward Arco will need to travel down to Riva, circle around the southern roundabout, and then head north again. This may seem inconvenient, but it will help reduce the increasingly frequent risky situations on Via S. Caterina.