The Heart of Orléans Business Improvement Area plans to build a roundabout at St-Joseph Boulevard and Jeanne D'Arc Boulevard near the Queensway. The project will cost nearly $2.5 million and be funded by federal and provincial infrastructure funds. (CBC)

Plans to build a roundabout at one of the busiest intersections in Ottawa's east end are being questioned by a local traffic expert.

The Heart of Orléans Business Improvement Area plans to build a roundabout at St-Joseph Boulevard and Jeanne D'Arc Boulevard near the Queensway. The project will cost nearly $2.5 million and be funded by federal and provincial infrastructure money.

Peter Stewart, chair of the Orléans B.I.A., said there's a need to control traffic at the intersection.

"It's a busy intersection and people are coming off a stretch of roadway that's 100 kilometres per hour … We want to slow them down a little bit."

Stewart said the roundabout will reduce traffic speeds to 20 km per hour, but will also serve as a gateway into the community.

"We want to beautify … it's making it friendly for pedestrians, making it friendly for the community ... making it look nice."

But Barry Wellar, a retired professor of geography from the University of Ottawa and a traffic expert, said roundabouts are only effective at controlling traffic if they're put in the right location.

Wellar is concerned that the Orléans B.I.A. and the city may not have done enough research into the impact of placing a roundabout at St-Joseph and Jeanne D'Arc Boulevards.

"If you have an ugly piece of roadway the way to correct that is not with a roundabout at one end of it. That seems to be an inappropriate solution."

Wellar said the B.I.A and the city should also consider whether Ottawa drivers are sufficiently roundabout-savvy.

"Roundabouts work on the basis of yield. Now you could drive in Ottawa for a week before you would find six people who would yield and let you in. Yield is not one of those things the vast majority of drivers do."