Preferred route picked for Saskatoon Freeway
Rural Municipality of Corman Park Reeve Judy Harwood is relieved the province has finally picked a lane for the proposed Saskatoon Freeway.
Harwood said the RM had no preference among the three possible routes for the southeast quadrant of the freeway. She’s just happy to see the province settle on a route so that a freeze on development can be lifted in the areas where the freeway might have gone, she said.
“Let’s be honest, this may not happen for 15, 20 years,” Harwood said. “The next step is getting it put on the map. Put it on the map so we can keep moving forward on development.”
The project has no set start date and will take many more years of planning before construction can start, according to highways ministry spokesman Doug Wakabayashi. No price tag is attached to the project, but a 2014 estimate pegged the cost at about $2 billion.
Wakabayashi said the southeast portion of the freeway is only the recommended route at this point and the ministry is seeking online input about the final alignment. The route could still be changed if enough concerns are raised, he said.
The province has also settled on a route for the west connector that will link Highway 60 west of Saskatoon to the west loop of the freeway. Almost the entire freeway route as now proposed is located in Corman Park, with the notable exception of a stretch that runs through City of Saskatoon-owned land that includes the environmentally sensitive Northeast Swale.
“We’re just happy that they’re releasing the information and will be settling on a route,” Corman Park administrator Adam Tittemore said.
“We’re happy to see that they’re moving forward with the results of the study.”
The province has been planning for what was once called the Perimeter Highway for about 12 years, although the project had been discussed for years before that. The original plan to build a highway that would encircle Saskatoon was abandoned in 2015. The ministry determined there were too many obstacles to the southwest portion of the route, where some development has already happened in Corman Park. That stretch would have included a bridge crossing the South Saskatchewan River.
Wakabayashi said the ministry will gauge response to the final route before finalizing it. He said he does not know exactly how many landowners have property along the proposed route, but it would be “more than dozens.”
The ministry is aware of concerns about the land acquisition process surrounding the $1.88-billion Regina Bypass, but the province has improved its approach in line with advice from the provincial auditor, Wakabayashi said. The ministry has implemented all eight recommendations from the auditor, he added.
The planning will involve not only the freeway route, but also all of the interchanges, he noted.
The proposed route has the freeway starting at Highway 11 south of Saskatoon, midway between Grasswood Road and Baker Road, and veering in a northeast direction. In the other two alignments that have been rejected, the freeway would have started further south.
The freeway will then intersect Highways 16, 5 and 41 east of Saskatoon, Highways 11, 12 and 16 north of the city and Highways 14 and 7 west of Saskatoon.
Northeast Swale Watchers member Louise Jones said the conservation group would still like the ministry to change the route so the freeway does not cross the swale.