Far fewer than expected using new bridge
But flip side of Chief Mistawasis stats is cut in traffic on busy Circle Drive North
The Chief Mistawasis Bridge is driven by thousands fewer motorists than expected, but it has succeeded in reducing the number using Saskatoon’s busiest bridge.
About 9,900 vehicles travel the Chief Mistawasis Bridge on a daily basis, according to a traffic study conducted by the City of Saskatoon.
The daily traffic on the Circle Drive North Bridge has dropped by an almost identical number, about 9,800, the study says, citing data gathered early this year.
Despite the success at reducing traffic on the Circle Drive North Bridge, the number of vehicles using the Chief Mistawasis Bridge is far below the projected traffic for opening day of 14,600 vehicles to 21,700 vehicles a day.
“The Chief Mistawasis Bridge has been operating with approximately 10,000 vehicles per day since opening, resulting in a reduction of approximately 10,000 (vehicles per day) on the Circle Drive North Bridge,” the report says.
The four-lane commuter bridge opened in October 2018 as part of a massive project to add two new bridges that included the rebuilt Traffic Bridge connecting downtown and the Nutana neighbourhood.
The study showed about 12,000 vehicles a day use the two-lane Traffic Bridge, which opened on the same day in October 2018. That volume exceeds expectations by 1,000.
City council’s transportation committee will consider the report on Monday.
The Chief Mistawasis Bridge cost about $211.4 million to build as part of a $497.7-million public-private
partnership (P3) project to build both bridges and maintain them for 30 years. Traffic Bridge construction cost is estimated at $41.1 million.
The study, which does not specify the time frame when data was collected other than “early 2019,” includes other bridge volumes and comparisons between data collected in either 2018 or 2017.
In this analysis, daily traffic on the Sen. Sidney L. Buckwold Bridge declined by 6,500 a day in 2019 compared to 2017 counts.
Daily vehicles on the Traffic Bridge nearly doubled from 2018 to 12,000 a day from 6,100 in the three months in 2018 when the bridge was open, the study shows. No data for the Chief Mistawasis Bridge from 2018 is included in the study.
Traffic also declined on the Broadway Bridge, the closest to the Traffic Bridge, by 1,700 a day compared to 2018 and by 1,600 a day on the Gordie Howe Bridge.
Daily traffic increased slightly on the University Bridge by 400 compared to 2017 numbers.
The Chief Mistawasis Bridge was built to connect the east side of the city, where much of the population growth is expected, to the north industrial sector, where many of the jobs are expected to be located.
The city’s projections suggest up to 40,000 vehicles a day will use the bridge once Saskatoon’s population reaches 300,000. The city’s most recent estimate pegged the population at 272,211 as of July 1.