Saskatoon Construction II

[danylo66]

Hey all, new to posting on here but thought you might be interested in my attached photo (hope it works) about the development under construction at Aerogreen at 45th and Airport Drive.

[studentview]

Originally Posted by shmakim

Why oh why isn't anybody redeveloping that horrid looking empty corner lot on 8th and Arlington? Can't stand that dead patch. It's almost as bad as 22nd and H.

http://www.cgcproperties.com/2013/08/28/8th-and-arlington-site-secured/
Looks like it has just been sold.

[Echoes]

Originally Posted by Brutopian

SIAST expansion needed to keep up with demand

SIAST Kelsey campus considers $225-million expansion in Saskatoon

Reported by Karin Yeske, NewsTalk 650 CKOM

Aug 28, 2013


[........]

Read more:
http://ckom.com/story/siast-expansion-needed-keep-demand/129237[/SIZE][/FONT]

This would be a really significant addition to the area (it needs it). My hope is that SIAST works closely with the City and its consultant on how an expanded and improved Kelsey Campus can tie in and connect with the North Downtown plans.

Some student housing would be nice to see, too.

[North_Regina_Boy]

Originally Posted by Echoes

This would be a really significant addition to the area (it needs it). My hope is that SIAST works closely with the City and its consultant on how an expanded and improved Kelsey Campus can tie in and connect with the North Downtown plans.

Some student housing would be nice to see, too.

True, it could be one of the more exotic / important interfaces with a tie-in over the CP main line with a green bridge and some fantastic park space. Potentially even a way to populate it with a walk oriented entertainment district with pubs, restaurants, and coffee / internet cafe's. This is a place that will be full of students and would really rejuvenate the whole area. It has the potential to be Broadway of the North Downtown!

Also a potential to build student apartments over-top of these spaces. Proximity to school and amenities. Make SIAST a University like feel. Instead of a stigma of "Technical School" would make it more attractive for a lot of High school students around the province and beyond.

And I have a diploma from SIAST (Palliser) so I am not bashing its reputation at all by saying "Technical School" as I owe my career to it.

[Brutopian]

STARS hangar close to completion

By Jonathan Charlton, The StarPhoenix

August 29, 2013

STARS air ambulance serve will have more options with a new aircraft slated to take up residence in a new hangar.

The hangar, on Airport Road, is 60 per cent complete. It’s scheduled to be completed in November and the AW139 medical helicopter will arrive in 2014.

PotashCorp is picking up the $27 million tab.

Compared to STARS’ current Eurocopter BK117, the AW139 is larger, faster, has better range, has more space and is more comfortable, vice president Ron Dufresne said.

[........]

Read more:
http://www.thestarphoenix.com/news/saska...+service+hangar+close/8849033/story.html

[Brutopian]

Start planning for rail transit

By J. Adrian Cook, The Starphoenix

August 29, 2013

Cook is a writer living in Harris who spends much of his time in Saskatoon.

Before the boom, Saskatoon was known as a city that you could drive anywhere in 20 minutes or less.

The buses were unreliable, often leaving their passengers frozen and tardy. Cycling in certain industrial areas was an act of death-defying madness. The personal automobile was king: faster than any other mode of transport, cozy in the wintertime.

Then, 20,000 new residents made Saskatoon their home and began driving its streets. Suddenly, the post-school and post-work rush became horrendous. Complaints rose and the mayor ordered the construction of new bridges to relieve the congestion.

Now imagine what it would be like with 800,000 new residents.

Mayor Don Atchison has announced his vision for a million-soul Saskatoon. By 2050, it will stretch from Furdale to Osler, from Asquith to beyond Eagle Ridge.

It is an ambitious plan, but it says nothing about how its citizens will travel. Saskatoon's current road system could never accommodate hundreds of thousands of new cars.

If the city wants to play with the big boys, it needs a passenger rail system. No large, modern city can do without one.

[........]

Read more:
http://www.thestarphoenix.com/news/Start+planning+rail+transit/8846573/story.html

[Echoes]

Word from their Facebook page that Caffe Sola is closing down.

[Brutopian]

Originally Posted by Echoes

Word from their Facebook page that Caffe Sola is closing down.

Their Facebook page says that they "were unable to reach an agreement with [their] landlord regarding a financially viable lease."

That's unfortunate news. We loved going there.

[drm310]

There's been recent discussion about the need for an inner-city leisure centre. I thought that with the Harry Bailey pool there already, wouldn't that be a perfect opportunity to incorporate it as part of an expanded leisure centre? In conjunction with an expansion of SIAST plus the north downtown development, it just seems to converge into a perfect revitalization plan.

Originally Posted by North_Regina_Boy

True, it could be one of the more exotic / important interfaces with a tie-in over the CP main line with a green bridge and some fantastic park space. Potentially even a way to populate it with a walk oriented entertainment district with pubs, restaurants, and coffee / internet cafe's. This is a place that will be full of students and would really rejuvenate the whole area. It has the potential to be Broadway of the North Downtown!

Also a potential to build student apartments over-top of these spaces. Proximity to school and amenities. Make SIAST a University like feel. Instead of a stigma of "Technical School" would make it more attractive for a lot of High school students around the province and beyond.

And I have a diploma from SIAST (Palliser) so I am not bashing its reputation at all by saying "Technical School" as I owe my career to it.

[shmakim]

Originally Posted by North_Regina_Boy

Low Volume??!! Have you seen the amount of truck traffic on that stretch of road?! That is the main Hwy 16 to Edmonton from Winnipeg. Haha that is plenty high volume enough.

I can't deny your experience but I've never seen much traffic on that exit ramp. Whatever, anyway, I drove on it yesterday and confirm it is a concrete exit ramp.

I used to work at a traffic management company and I remember hearing that asphalt was chosen over concrete here because of the freeze/thaw. Down in California, the highways are all concrete, but if we do it here, we risk having the concrete heave and break, leading to nasty bumpy roads where the pieces no longer line up.

[miked22]

Originally Posted by shmakim

I used to work at a traffic management company and I remember hearing that asphalt was chosen over concrete here because of the freeze/thaw. Down in California, the highways are all concrete, but if we do it here, we risk having the concrete heave and break, leading to nasty bumpy roads where the pieces no longer line up.

I recall that Winnipeg has a lot of concrete streets. I don't know how it has worked out for them, but it would be an example of a city with a similar climate to ours using it.

[Crisis]

There is also a stretch of Circle Drive Westbound in the curb lane approaching the ramp to Idylwyld Northboud (near Meidl Honda) that has been done in concrete a year or two back. Seems to be holding up well.

[Brutopian]

Construction season far from over (w/ map)

By Janet French, The StarPhoenix

August 30, 2013

The drive from downtown Saskatoon to The Centre Mall via Eighth Street takes 13 minutes, if you believe Google Maps.

On Thursday after work, it took Brad Thompson 1 1/2 hours.

“I was angry. I have no problem with construction, but you can’t shut down all routes,” Thompson, a corporate paralegal, said Friday.

All three lanes of Eighth Street were backed up. Taylor Street was closed off. Acadia Drive was blocked. Preston and Circle South is under construction.

“If you’re going to do one, open up another,” Thompson said.

Although summer holidays may be the stuff of memories, road construction season is far from done, says the man in charge of Saskatoon’s roadwork.

At least 31 road repair and infrastructure projects are ongoing or have yet to begin before winter’s chill descends on Saskatoon, according to a city list released Friday.

“We work until there’s snow on the ground and we can’t reasonably complete any more work,” Chris Hallam, the city’s manager of construction and design said. “We take advantage of every single day that we have.”

The 2013 city budget includes $13.1 million for resurfacing Saskatoon streets. When snow wouldn’t quit falling in spring, city crews and contractors were behind schedule before they even started.

[........]

Read more:
http://www.thestarphoenix.com/news/saskatoon/Construction+season+from+over/8854347/story.html

[Brutopian]

More fees floated for new suburbs

By Charles Hamilton, The Starphoenix

August 30, 2013

Home buyers in Saskatoon's newest neighbourhoods could be paying more if plans to increase developer fees are passed by city council.

According to a report going before city council's planning and operations committee Tuesday, a 5.8 per cent rate hike for developers is needed in order to pay for $158 million worth of things like new water mains, roads and street lights in the city's new suburbs.

[........]

Read more: http://www.thestarphoenix.com/travel/More+fees+floated+suburbs/8851491/story.html#ixzz2dUVfyQxb

[Brutopian]

Chef brings Italian culinary skills to city with new Bottega Trattoria

BY SCOTT LARSON, THE STARPHOENIX

AUGUST 31, 2013

Saskatoon is a long way from Florence, Italy, where Amedeo Vallati honed his culinary skills, but he hopes his customers get the same quality of Italian cuisine.

Vallati has opened Bottega Trattoria, located in the old Olympia space on Second Avenue.

"We're offering true Italian food," said Vallati while Dean Martin crooned in the background. "Everything is authentic."

The pastas are made from scratch, ingredients like tomatoes and olive oil are imported from Italy and they use 25-year-old aged parmigiano reggiano.

"And I do the groceries daily and locally source as much as possible," Vallati added.

Vallati was born in Italy before emigrating to Canada at age 13 with his family. He later returned to Florence to achieve his Masters in Italian cooking, then went on to Austria to take butcher and meat courses before coming back to Canada, where he opened a restaurant in Montreal, and then another in Sydney, N.S.

[........]

Read more:
http://www.thestarphoenix.com/business/C...lls+city+with+Bottega/8857205/story.html

^^^^^^^
My wife and I had dinner at Bottega a few weeks ago after it opened.

Phenomenal food.

[brannelford]

Originally Posted by Brutopian

I couldn't agree more. The biggest naming travesty of all in Saskatoon is, in my opinion, Circle Drive. Naming the city's major freeway after a shape is a massive, missed opportunity to celebrate our sense of place and history....

I wouldn't worry. Given the city's penchant for altering streetnames, a name change for Circle Drive will come, in due course!

Visiting Saskatoon this past summer, after having moved from the city several years ago, I have to agree that the naming convention, whereby street names change, even though one is on the same stretch of roadway, is completely nonsensical, and thoroughly confusing, especially to drivers who are not familiar with the city.

If the name change was because the roadway crossed a municipal boundary, then I could understand, but this is not the case. The only rationale that I can come up with is that some municipal planner, with far too much time on his/her hands, was trying to get cute with naming conventions.

As far as I'm concerned, roads are named to help people navigate while travelling, and constant name changes on the same roadway thoroughly defeats this purpose.

I hope somebody from the municipal planning office reads this blog, and gets this message!
STOP it with the senseless changing of a road's name on the same stretch of payment!

[marclikeschicken]

Well it looks like another local hidden gem is dissapearing. Cafe Sola is shutting its doors. Here's the link about it.

http://www.ominocity.com/2013/08/30/caffe-sola-to-close-up-shop-after-7-years/

[GTR200]

The Show and Shine Cruise Weekend.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6TYXH8uE-s

[North_Regina_Boy]

Well ladies and gents the east and westbound lanes under Preston Ave south are fully open to 90km/h traffic. No more bottleneck! YAY! Happy Commutes.

[scotty c]

Originally Posted by North_Regina_Boy

Well ladies and gents the east and westbound lanes under Preston Ave south are fully open to 90km/h traffic. No more bottleneck! YAY! Happy Commutes.

Eastbound was back down to one lane for a stretch leading up to and under the Preston overpass at lunch today. Not as bad as it was the last few weeks but still a slow down compared to this morning's commute.

For someone living in Fairhaven and working at the University it's great that it's open. I love that I can use an actual freeway to get to places rather than stopping and starting at every light.