Spending seems never-ending as city grows

The City of Saskatoon’s debt is expected to peak at a record $420.8 million this year before starting to drop back down.

When you see the slate of projects city hall is considering, it’s difficult to imagine just how it will get rid of its debt. Add into the mix Saskatoon’s status as Canada’s fastest growing metropolitan area and you can see the potential for lots more demands on spending.

Last week, Statistics Canada identified Saskatoon as the fastest growing census metropolitan area (CMA) in the country, with 2.8 per cent growth in 2016-2017.

A CMA includes a city and the region nearby. In Saskatoon’s case, that includes the cities of Warman and Martensville and smaller communities like Dundurn, Asquith and Colonsay.

The Saskatoon CMA has now jumped to 323,809 from 260,600 in 2011. Saskatoon also boasts the youngest CMA population, with a median age of 34.9 years.

High growth, even in a period that can be considered an economic downturn, combined with lots of young people means much change looms for Saskatoon.

A stunning reminder of the costs of maintaining and establishing infrastructure amid growth came last week: A reconfiguration of Saskatoon’s only “1960s-era” cloverleaf interchange is estimated to cost $280.4 million.

That could make the changes to revamp the interchange of Circle Drive/Highway 16 and Highway 11 one of the most expensive infrastructure projects in the city’s history. Right now, the Gordie Howe Bridge and connecting roadways that opened in 2013 take the top spot at about $296 million.

The bundled bridge P3 project that will yield two new river crossings this fall cost about $252.6 million for construction, but the total cost, including decades of maintenance, bumps the price tag to $497.7 million.

The cost of revamping the highways interchange looms about 10 to 15 years from now, when the existing infrastructure will have reached the end of its lifespan. Still, that seems steep for a replacement structure, even one that will feature cool tunnels to replace two of the circular ramps.

You could build two new police stations or two new art galleries for that amount.

As eye-popping as the cost of renovating the interchange is, it’s hardly the only big-ticket item that awaits Saskatoon.

The bus rapid transit system the city is planning could cost $280 million, if you include the $150-million cost of addressing railway crossing delays with underpasses or overpasses.

Even if Saskatoon were not pursuing a bus rapid transit system, railway delays would need to be addressed at some point because they become a greater drain on the city’s economy the more the city grows.

The city’s active transportation plan, a multiproject venture that would include pedestriancyclist bridges over the river, is pegged at $250 million.

And the city’s so-called Game Plan to try to keep up with demand for recreation facilities is priced at $92.2 million. A new downtown library would range from $80 million to $120 million; no estimate yet exists for a potential new downtown arena and convention centre.

That totals more than $1 billion, more than double the city’s current record debt load.

Before you call your councillor or organize a rally at city hall, remember that many of these projects seem sure to attract funding from higher levels of government.

One of the reasons the city is fast-tracking bus rapid transit is to attract federal public transit infrastructure money. The interchange needing the costly fix connects an inter-provincial highway (16) with one of the province’s most vital roadways (Highway 11). So it’s hardly just a city project.

The biggest ticket items, as always, seem to revolve around transportation. The identical price tags for the bus rapid transit system and the interchange reconfiguration are steeped in irony. Bus rapid transit is designed to result in fewer vehicles, while revamping the interchanges aims to make travel safer for private vehicles.

How will the planned Saskatoon Freeway bypass affect traffic at the interchange? How will changing transportation options like autonomous vehicles alter where cities should be spending their money?

Questions like those need to be asked as growing, changing Saskatoon moves forward.