LET’S GET IT STARTED
Bridge work woes ahead
The space under Saskatoon’s Traffic Bridge is about to get a lot busier, and some residents are excited to see the new span take shape.
Graham Commuter Partners, a consortium of eight contracting companies, has already started mobilizing construction trailers to the site. At an open house on Wednesday, nearby residents got information about how their lives will be affected as construction ramps up on the Rotary Park side of the bridge.
“It’s mostly just to get out there and explain what’s going to be happening, to the best of our knowledge, and give them a chance to ask questions,” said Saskatoon’s special projects manager, Dan Willems.
A P3 project, the Traffic Bridge replacement is part of a $238.8 million project that includes the capital cost of the North Commuter Parkway and is funded by the city, the province and the federal government.
Willems said there seems to be “lost knowledge” about the bridge, since many of the decisions were made a few years ago. He said the open house was a chance to get both projects back into the public eye while providing more details on design, alongside noise levels and traffic restrictions due to construction.
David Parkinson, a Victoria Avenue resident, called the traffic restrictions and noise of construction a “necessary evil.”
“The bridge isn’t going to spontaneously appear,” he said.
“Almost anything is preferable to the rusting eyesore of that truncated bridge as it exists today. So I myself am prepared to certainly put up with a reasonable amount of disruption to replace that.”
Nutana Community Association president Mike McKague said he expects people to be sympathetic as construction starts.
“Generally, the residents are looking forward to having the bridge replaced,” he said.
“There was lots of uncertainty about when it would actually happen, so I think generally people are positive about movement going forward.”
He explained while he’s “disappointed” construction will cause the temporarily closure of the nearby tennis courts, it’s understandable given the size of the project.
“The immediate (impact) will be localized, even though it’s going to be a burden on some people more than others,” he said. “But in the long term though, I think it will affect the neighbourhood.”
McKague said he hopes the city will implement traffic calming measures on Victoria Avenue when the bridge reopens. With the city planning to host future events on the Traffic Bridge deck, he said it’s exciting to think what “creative possibilities” are ahead for the river crossing.
He envisions a “Sunday slowdown” in which vehicles will be prohibited from the bridge every Sunday, allowing cyclists and other active commuters sole access.
Charlie Clark, who represents Ward 6 where the Traffic Bridge is located, said the best way to use the bridge will be determined as it takes on traffic. The bridge is “pretty much redundant” outside of those peak times, he said.
“I think that does give us the chance to try it out, to test out what it would look like to close it down on a Sunday and allow people to use it as a great pedestrian, cycling connection point between River Landing and Rotary Park, but also as a connection point for people who are out doing Sunday errands.”