Nearly complete highway not open until 2019
REGINA — A new highway serving the west side of Regina that was slated for completion last year has been lumped in with the larger bypass project and won’t be open until 2019.
The provincial government had been working on the west Regina bypass for a few years before the more extensive public- private partnership (P3) project was announced. It involves connecting the Trans-Canada Highway on the south end of the city to Highway 11 in the north, between Condie and Pinkie roads.
The southern portion of the highway, from a new interchange at Pinkie Road and the Trans-Canada to Dewdney Avenue, was to be finished late last year.
The interchange and an overpass at the railway tracks have been completed, but the road remains closed.
At the time it was announced in 2009, then-minister of Highways and Infrastructure Jim Reiter called the west Regina bypass a “major infrastructure need to support the Global Transportation Hub (GTH).”
Now, as part of the larger bypass project, the entire Trans-Canada to Highway 11 connection is expected to open in 2019.
“Essentially that (TransCanada to Dewdney) portion has been completed,” highways ministry spokesman Steve Shaheen said.
However, in designing the larger bypass, planners concluded that an interchange at Rotary Avenue (just south of Dewdney Avenue) would be necessary to assist trucks heading to the GTH. Plus, the design had to consider how to link that segment to the northern bit, Shaheen said.
GTH CEO Bryan Richards doesn’t mind the wait. He called the completed Pinkie Road interchange “the most necessary item to allow us access,” the other critical element being the eventual connection to Highway 11.
Richards said the GTH is doing all right, what with continued access from Pinkie Road and Dewdney Avenue. However, improved road infrastructure will make the hub more competitive in the long run, he said.
“We’re just happy that (the bypass is) moving forward at the speed it is,” Richards said.
Rick Swenson, leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Saskatchewan, called stopping short of Dewdney Avenue “bizarre,” especially given how the province previously stressed the importance of that route to the GTH.
“I have no idea why the government wouldn’t have continued up to at least Dewdney Avenue and put a set of lights on it,” he said, noting the road would have eliminated railway crossing safety issues and alleviated some of the concerns with turning onto Dewdney Avenue from Pinkie Road.
“Taxpayers (are) in for a big chunk (of money) and now it’s going to sit there for four years growing weeds? Give me a break,” Swenson said.
Along with the planned overpass at White City, Swenson sees the GTH connection as the most crucial part of the bypass.
“I think the priorities are totally screwed up with that,” he said of the bypass schedule.
In response to Swenson’s criticisms, Shaheen said, “We’re looking long-term to accommodate not only truck traffic, but commuter traffic.”