July 21, 2008

Infrastructure

Detailed designs underway for Circle Drive bridge over South Saskatchewan River

RICHARD GILBERT

staff writer

The federal and provincial governments are planning to make a multi-million dollar investment to improve the flow of traffic in Saskatoon by building a new bridge over the South Saskatchewan River.

The City of Saskatoon is in the design stage of a project to construct a bridge and roads to complete Circle Drive.

The bridge is an integral part of the Circle Drive South River Crossing Project that aims to reduce the time it takes to move people and goods through the city, by creating a third high-speed river crossing.

Currently, truck and other vehicles travelling through the city are routed through the downtown on Idylwyld Drive or to the north end of the city on Circle Drive.

“What we have is a circle drive and a perimeter road that have never been a circle,” said Chris Dekker, manager of special projects with the City of Saskatoon.

“It’s a semi circle with a missing link. So, it is putting a lot of pressure on the existing road system and creating a significant stranglehold on traffic at rush hour.”

The federal and provincial government will invest a combined total of about $170 million to build the new $243 million bridge. The remaining $70 million will come from the city.

The preliminary design and alignment for the project was done over the last couple of years by Stantec.

“We are now doing the detailed engineering design work, but we have not selected a contractor as yet,” said Dekker. “This project is not just about one river crossing bridge. There will be seven new overpass bridges and nine kilometres on new roadway. There will also be 6.5 kilometres of new pedestrian and bike trails. All of these will finish the Circle Drive connection.”

In addition to the $243 million, the federal, provincial and city governments previously partnered to provide $40 million for interchanges at Lorne Avenue and Circle Drive South and at Idylwyld Freeway and Circle Drive South. The total project is estimated to cost $286 million.

“The new route will reduce travel time in the city by an average of 17 minutes,” said Dekker. “The new road system will also improve the efficiency of international trade through the Asia pacific Gateway.”

According to Dekker, the new route will bypass 25 at-grade intersections that had to be used with the existing road system and will have only three at-grade intersections.

“We are all aware that river crossing demand in Saskatoon is consistently higher than the capacity of existing river crossings,” Saskatoon Mayor Donald Atchison said. “The Circle Drive South River Crossing project will alleviate these issues and will serve a critical role in the future of Saskatoon and area, as it is the final link of the existing Circle Drive system and will eventually become a main component of the future Perimeter Road system.”

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