Saskatoon Roads & Infrastructure

[Roquentin]

Originally Posted by Antigonish

I moved back to Saskatoon this month and moved into the Clarence/Cumberland/8th area, an area I wasn't previously well versed in, so I do my evening walks everywhere around this part of the city and walking down Melrose or Eastlake is like some barren wasteland of grossly underutilized streetscape. Those two streets in particular must be 4 lanes wide + street parking with no real activity going on. From 8th straight south all the way to Taylor.

Perhaps the city should consider rezoning that whole strip for infill and either creating a treed median (similar to Victoria) or redesign the street with a center median reserved for future BRT (or tram!!!) to accommodate the hypothetical infill.

Very few of the houses in this area seem architecturally important, many look like basic semi-spruced up crack shacks. Seems prime for some urban renewal (the good kind though)

Overbuilt streets are such a trademark here. Don't get me started on the downtown core. And yet, at the same time, this is a city that struggles to fill potholes and keep lane markings painted, or to approve urban developments that would put existing infrastructure to better use. Infill in the areas you mention will be a very slow, painful process. Nothing happens here without complaints from people who want Saskatoon to be a small town rather than a city.

[The Bess]

Here's the bylaw which shows the speed limits, you have to search for the ones your looking for, but no real explanation, is this road classified as city transitioning to provincial highway with no interaction between governments? More questions than answers lol

https://pub-saskatoon.escribemeetings.com/filestream.ashx?DocumentId=65521

[Crisis]

Originally Posted by The Bess

Here's the bylaw which shows the speed limits, you have to search for the ones your looking for, but no real explanation, is this road classified as city transitioning to provincial highway with no interaction between governments? More questions than answers lol

https://pub-saskatoon.escribemeetings.com/filestream.ashx?DocumentId=65521

Yup, 7 (a) and 8 (c) note the limits and the change point is at Circle Drive, but no explanation in there anywhere. The same situation may exist on the freeway portions of Circle Drive where it bounces between 80 km/h and 90 km/h, but I always assumed there was some logic to which areas of Circle got which speed limit.

[Antigonish]

Originally Posted by Roquentin

Overbuilt streets are such a trademark here. Don't get me started on the downtown core. And yet, at the same time, this is a city that struggles to fill potholes and keep lane markings painted, or to approve urban developments that would put existing infrastructure to better use. Infill in the areas you mention will be a very slow, painful process. Nothing happens here without complaints from people who want Saskatoon to be a small town rather than a city.

The best time to rezone it is now, even if it takes 10 years to put a dent in it. What I find frustrating is that planners seem to be by the book on most everything yet they cannot explain to you why things like setbacks were established as-is 40-50 years ago, all they know is that is the rule. Nothing positive ever gets done. Meanwhile we get more and more garbage like Brighton popping up and thousands more cars clogging the roads.

I'm in the process of designing a DDI for Taylor/Circle on CAD or even Open Roads via trial software just to show that it's possible; and if it is, then what's the hold up?

[Roquentin]

Originally Posted by Antigonish

The best time to rezone it is now, even if it takes 10 years to put a dent in it. What I find frustrating is that planners seem to be by the book on most everything yet they cannot explain to you why things like setbacks were established as-is 40-50 years ago, all they know is that is the rule. Nothing positive ever gets done. Meanwhile we get more and more garbage like Brighton popping up and thousands more cars clogging the roads.

I'm in the process of designing a DDI for Taylor/Circle on CAD or even Open Roads via trial software just to show that it's possible; and if it is, then what's the hold up?

Yep, you're preaching to the choir. There's no shortage of low-hanging fruit in the area for large-scale developments, like the southwest corners of Broadway and 8th, or Broadway and Taylor. Closer to the core, a recent demolition has made the southwest corner of Victoria and 11th look like a good candidate for infill in my opinion (though that could be said for much of Victoria).

Eastlake and Melrose have always bugged me too. At some points, they're six lanes wide (including parking lanes), with no painted lane markings, no sidewalks, and little traffic. Also, the houses don't front the avenues, which drains the area of character and a sense of life. I wish that houses on Eastlake and Melrose could be zoned for rowhouses facing the avenues, and that lanes could be marked and sidewalks built. I'd also be in favour of zoning allowing lots to be subdivided, though most lots in the area are already pretty narrow. Allowing garage suites might be another option as well.

(Sorry for being a bit off-topic in the "roads and infrastructure" thread.)

[hunter12]

Proposed changes to this intersection.

https://www.saskatoon.ca/sites/default/f...ce_-_engagement_event_flyer_august_8.pdf

[phone]

Originally Posted by hunter12

Proposed changes to this intersection.

https://www.saskatoon.ca/sites/default/f...ce_-_engagement_event_flyer_august_8.pdf

So the point is to avoid T-Bone collisions? I didn't realize that was a problem at that intersection. Just install proper signals, Main Street isn't so busy as to risk turning the street into a highway, and this will turn navigating the area into a major PITA (speaking as someone who crosses Clarence on Main St on a fairly regular basis on my everyday goings about). I'd prefer the status quo over what they're proposing...

[FarmerHaight]

Originally Posted by phone

So the point is to avoid T-Bone collisions? I didn't realize that was a problem at that intersection. Just install proper signals, Main Street isn't so busy as to risk turning the street into a highway, and this will turn navigating the area into a major PITA (speaking as someone who crosses Clarence on Main St on a fairly regular basis on my everyday goings about). I'd prefer the status quo over what they're proposing...

It would be nice to see some statistics to back up this proposal.

However, I do think a lot of the traffic heading West on Main turns right at that intersection. Plus, there are lights at 12th and 8th, so if you want to navigate East/West would that really be so much of a detour?

[phone]

Originally Posted by FarmerHaight

It would be nice to see some statistics to back up this proposal.

However, I do think a lot of the traffic heading West on Main turns right at that intersection. Plus, there are lights at 12th and 8th, so if you want to navigate East/West would that really be so much of a detour?

My mind was focused on 8th, but you are right about 12th. Taking Main can avoid awkward left turns onto 8th, but that's irrelevant if you are heading north. Perhaps I'm being shortsighted due to this summer's closure of 12th Street west of Clarence, which has temporarily turned Main into the only E-W collector in and out of Nutana south of Temperance.

[FarmerHaight]

Originally Posted by phone

My mind was focused on 8th, but you are right about 12th. Taking Main can avoid awkward left turns onto 8th, but that's irrelevant if you are heading north. Perhaps I'm being shortsighted due to this summer's closure of 12th Street west of Clarence, which has temporarily turned Main into the only E-W collector in and out of Nutana south of Temperance.

It makes sense that a road closure would change your opinion. When I lived in Nutana I would almost always take 8th or 12th depending on my final destination. I think some people use Main as an alternative to 8th or 14th if they are travelling between Circle and Clarence, but it would surprise me if a lot of east/west traffic used it between Broadway and Clarence since IMO 8th and 12th are faster and in better condition.

[Arts]

Originally Posted by hunter12

Proposed changes to this intersection.

https://www.saskatoon.ca/sites/default/f...ce_-_engagement_event_flyer_august_8.pdf

So many times I have been on Main St and need to get from the east side of Clarence to the west side - unless you fluke out and get a really lucky break in traffic you can't cross Clarence and end up doing those traffic movements that this proposal now forces you to do anyways. I suppose it prevents maniacal drivers from crossing when they shouldn't, but when I saw the title of this post I thought "yay finally a traffic signal at that intersection"... now I'm torn between traffic signal to cater to crossers vs RIRO only. I definitely don't see the benefit to committing to concrete curb/channelization: if anything just put up "right-turn only signage" and if that is not enough to stop cars from crossing put a median barrier at that intersection along Clarence.

[Wyku]

Wow, does this look silly. I don't know why they haven't added things like LEFT turning lanes here in the interest of safety, but they're going with this odd-ball design. If they're suggesting that it would take 12 minutes to cross Highway 16 by 2035, how much traffic is there going to be that you'll have to cut across three lanes of traffic to get over to your U-turn lane?

Video posted on the Highway Hotline Facebook Page:
https://fb.watch/lWlFqJHxB6/

Description of the project on the Sask government website:
https://www.saskatchewan.ca/government/p...16-reduced-collision-u-turn-near-dalmeny

[Dalreg]

WTF?

Which idiot got out the crayons to design this mess.....

https://www.saskatchewan.ca/government/p...rn-near-dalmeny#reduced-collision-u-turn

[electricmodes]

Originally Posted by Dalreg

WTF?

Which idiot got out the crayons to design this mess.....

https://www.saskatchewan.ca/government/p...rn-near-dalmeny#reduced-collision-u-turn

Hahahaha. This is pure "growth that works for everyone" highway design. What a joke.

[phone]

Anything to avoid building an overpass on a four lane highway… god forbid!!

[craner]

That’s a brutal design decision.

[Dalreg]

I am actually embarrassed to admit that I am born and raised in Saskatchewan if they go through with this. What a huge load of grade "A" 🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵....

[sharpie]

From a safety perspective and maintaining free flow on the major movements (hwy 16), this is a good cost effective solution. The concept of using downstream turns to remove left turn conflicts is used elsewhere successfully (superstreet concept). Interchanges are very expensive. Before spending $30m on an interchange here, I’d much prefer interchanges at Marquis and remove those signals and return to free flow.

[craner]

No, U-turns are a terrible decision, shouldn’t even be considered in a first world country.

[phone]

Originally Posted by sharpie

From a safety perspective and maintaining free flow on the major movements (hwy 16), this is a good cost effective solution. The concept of using downstream turns to remove left turn conflicts is used elsewhere successfully (superstreet concept). Interchanges are very expensive. Before spending $30m on an interchange here, I’d much prefer interchanges at Marquis and remove those signals and return to free flow.

Maybe the province could find an extra $30 mil in its coffers if it didn’t write $500 cheques to every person in the province.