Regina Roads and Infrastructure

[Stormer]

I searched and there is no thread dedicated to this. I thought a new thread would allow posters to go a bit deeper on this topic without clogging up the main construction thread.

To start things off, what do posters think about Regina's major summer projects on the main arterials. Vic, Ring Road and Lewvan were all severely restricted and the City drew lots of criticism from drivers. We all know construction is necessary, but does the City sufficiently consider the delays to drivers, especially on arterials?

My thoughts:

Lewvan: The curb work for some reason took months. It seemed like an insignificant job. Paving was faster, but the project still took 4+ months. Not acceptable in my view for a main arterial. At least they tried lane reversals - good for them.

Victoria: Repaving on the east side seemed to be completed quickly, although I am not out there often. The median and sidewalk re-hab between Albert and Cornwall has taken all summer and is not really close to being completed. This is not acceptable in my opinion. Vic will be mostly shut down again next summer for the Cornwall to Broad stretch.

Ring Road South: This was an epic blunder in my view. Rather than waiting for the Regina Bypass to open next month, they chose to shut down half the TCH for the entire construction season. Semi's, summer tourists and through-traffic created massive traffic snarls that would have been avoided next year. Pure incompetence.

Have I missed some?

[Stormer]

City's spin on Lewvan project:

https://www.cjme.com/2019/09/24/well...-construction/

[BrutallyDishonest2]

My response: I have zero sympathy for people who choose to live in the suburbs.

Yes the curbing took too long and the coordination on Vic is odd. But people will literally compare about anything.

Additionally, I completely disagree with the Ring Road work. As the bypass will remove much less traffic than you all think, it would be the same story next year. Plus somehow I managed to never once drive through it, so you all need to drive less.

[jigglysquishy]

Originally Posted by BrutallyDishonest2

My response: I have zero sympathy for people who choose to live in the suburbs.

Yes the curbing took too long and the coordination on Vic is odd. But people will literally compare about anything.

Additionally, I completely disagree with the Ring Road work. As the bypass will remove much less traffic than you all think, it would be the same story next year. Plus somehow I managed to never once drive through it, so you all need to drive less.

I agree with all this. We dedicate far too much time and resources to boosting the suburbs. We desperately need investment in our inner city neighborhoods.

[Stormer]

Originally Posted by BrutallyDishonest2

My response: I have zero sympathy for people who choose to live in the suburbs.

Yes the curbing took too long and the coordination on Vic is odd. But people will literally compare about anything.

Additionally, I completely disagree with the Ring Road work. As the bypass will remove much less traffic than you all think, it would be the same story next year. Plus somehow I managed to never once drive through it, so you all need to drive less.

People in the suburbs pay most of the taxes. Sure we should promote densification and public transit, but soccer moms are people too.

It is the semis and RV's that clogged Ring Road South. Virtually every semi will cease to use that stretch of the Ring Road. You can argue that some local semi traffic will continue to use the north segment, but almost none will be on the south stretch.

[djforsberg]

Originally Posted by BrutallyDishonest2

My response: I have zero sympathy for people who choose to live in the suburbs.

Yes the curbing took too long and the coordination on Vic is odd. But people will literally compare about anything.

Additionally, I completely disagree with the Ring Road work. As the bypass will remove much less traffic than you all think, it would be the same story next year. Plus somehow I managed to never once drive through it, so you all need to drive less.

Agreed. I often had to drive through it and it was often frustrating but what can you do? I made the choice to go to yoga classes on the other side of the city, just as people made the choice to live in the suburbs (or my girlfriend made the choice for us to visit her parents). Am I to expect the city to not repair one of our major roadways so that I can get there five minutes faster? Or should they have spent significantly more money in overtime to get it done at night (even though there are houses along the way)? Should they have spread out the work over a number of years instead, again costing us much more? People seem incapable of having perspective nowadays.

[jigglysquishy]

The suburbs don't really pay the lion's share of taxes. Downtown office towers do.

Mosaic Tower paid $1.5 million this year. Cornwall Centre paid $2.9 million. The refinery paid $4.9 million.

Low density residential is heavily subsidized. Downtown receives maybe 10% of the money back that it pays into taxes. A residential neighborhood like Centre Square is starved for investment yet is subsidizing places like Hillsdale or Coronation Park. At least the post 2005 suburbs are dense so the problem will decrease over time.

[StealthGirl]

The Ring Road work was done this year because there was federal funding to do the work this year as opposed to waiting a year for the bypass and potentially having to fund it municipally.

The "beautification" work on Victoria downtown seemed like unnecessary work when there is so much basic street work that needs done.

[cityboy]

Originally Posted by StealthGirl

The Ring Road work was done this year because there was federal funding to do the work this year as opposed to waiting a year for the bypass and potentially having to fund it municipally.

The "beautification" work on Victoria downtown seemed like unnecessary work when there is so much basic street work that needs done.

I have to disagree with this second point. There is definitely tons of work to do in all parts of the city but it's about time we started investing in the infrastructure downtown. That stretch should be a major focal point and it was a mess. It's nice to see that it isn't just for cars either when you look at the widened sidewalks and enlarged corners crossing etc. We need way more of this, including benches, lighting etc. if we ever want downtown to feel like a true destination besides 9-5-ers and weekend shoppers.

[Stormer]

Originally Posted by jigglysquishy

The suburbs don't really pay the lion's share of taxes. Downtown office towers do.

Mosaic Tower paid $1.5 million this year. Cornwall Centre paid $2.9 million. The refinery paid $4.9 million.

Low density residential is heavily subsidized. Downtown receives maybe 10% of the money back that it pays into taxes. A residential neighborhood like Centre Square is starved for investment yet is subsidizing places like Hillsdale or Coronation Park. At least the post 2005 suburbs are dense so the problem will decrease over time.

I was referring to taxes paid by individuals (residents/commuters). I would include income and other taxes in that and some of that is transferred to the City.

[Stormer]

Originally Posted by StealthGirl

The Ring Road work was done this year because there was federal funding to do the work this year as opposed to waiting a year for the bypass and potentially having to fund it municipally.

They had 4 years to plan for their matching Federal funds. That is how long the bypass completion date has been known.

[BrutallyDishonest2]

Originally Posted by Stormer

People in the suburbs pay most of the taxes. Sure we should promote densification and public transit, but soccer moms are people too.

It is the semis and RV's that clogged Ring Road South. Virtually every semi will cease to use that stretch of the Ring Road. You can argue that some local semi traffic will continue to use the north segment, but almost none will be on the south stretch.

All of the traffic going to the trucking hubs will still go into the city. You will be disappointed.

[Stormer]

I think this qualifies as an infrastructure issue. I heard on CBC radio that Regina has the 3rd highest water rates in Canada. The guest noted that Buffalo Pound Water is expensive to treat and transport. Also we have state of the art sewage treatment, unlike place like Victoria that dump raw sewage in to the ocean (and then criticize us for producing oil and gas for people's cars and homes).

We all know that our bills have gone way up, but they of course include sewer, drainage and recycling charges. Also there are a lot of fixed charges. The variable charge for water and sewer works out to less the 1/2 cent per litre, or about 2.5 cents to flush your toilet.

https://www.regina.ca/home-property/...tes/index.html

[bomberjet]

Regina doesn't dump any untreated water into the river? I'd bet they do during heavy rains and such.

Here: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saska...wage-1.3177503

[djforsberg]

Originally Posted by Stormer

I think this qualifies as an infrastructure issue. I heard on CBC radio that Regina has the 3rd highest water rates in Canada. The guest noted that Buffalo Pound Water is expensive to treat and transport. Also we have state of the art sewage treatment, unlike place like Victoria that dump raw sewage in to the ocean (and then criticize us for producing oil and gas for people's cars and homes).

We all know that our bills have gone way up, but they of course include sewer, drainage and recycling charges. Also there are a lot of fixed charges. The variable charge for water and sewer works out to less the 1/2 cent per litre, or about 2.5 cents to flush your toilet.

https://www.regina.ca/home-property/...tes/index.html

You really can't help yourself can you... Conflating two entirely different scenarios and failing to understand that any supposed hypocrisy doesn't lessen the significance of something they are arguing against. These comments of yours is unbecoming of you and a blemish to your reputation here. I'd suggest smartening up if you want to be taken seriously here.

If you really want to continue this Trumpian/Sask Party/Conservative division shit here, lets also talk about the damage to ecosystems our farmers are causing with the shit they put on fields that end up in our waterways, causing illness and cancers and resulting in the collapse of bee and butterfly populations. If keeping score of who's treating the environment worse is more important to you than actually accepting the facts and doing something about it, then you really don't have any moral or intellectual standing here anymore.

[Stormer]

Originally Posted by bomberjet

Regina doesn't dump any untreated water into the river? I'd bet they do during heavy rains and such.

Here: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saska...wage-1.3177503

Once and it was an extreme event and it was highly diluted by the massive downpour. The City spent millions and fixed this problem.

[Stormer]

Originally Posted by djforsberg

You really can't help yourself can you... Conflating two entirely different scenarios and failing to understand that any supposed hypocrisy doesn't lessen the significance of something they are arguing against. These comments of yours is unbecoming of you and a blemish to your reputation here. I'd suggest smartening up if you want to be taken seriously here.

If you really want to continue this Trumpian/Sask Party/Conservative division shit here, lets also talk about the damage to ecosystems our farmers are causing with the shit they put on fields that end up in our waterways, causing illness and cancers and resulting in the collapse of bee and butterfly populations. If keeping score of who's treating the environment worse is more important to you than actually accepting the facts and doing something about it, then you really don't have any moral or intellectual standing here anymore.

I will put my reputation on this forum up against yours any day. Why don't you post a poll?

[djforsberg]

Originally Posted by Stormer

I will put my reputation on this forum up against yours any day. Why don't you post a poll?

Everything is a competition to you isn't it? Popularity means nothing to me as long as I am satisfied I have my facts right. And the fact is you are the one bringing politics into this forum with your passive-aggressive and divisive comments which diminish the seriousness of climate change caused by the burning of fossil fuels, which the oceans absorb, causing far more problems than coastal cities dumping raw sewage does (though that is also bad). Do you have your facts right or do you only get your news from the SaskParty twitter feed?

[Festivus]

[Drofmab]

Originally Posted by Stormer

I think this qualifies as an infrastructure issue. I heard on CBC radio that Regina has the 3rd highest water rates in Canada. The guest noted that Buffalo Pound Water is expensive to treat and transport. Also we have state of the art sewage treatment, unlike place like Victoria that dump raw sewage in to the ocean (and then criticize us for producing oil and gas for people's cars and homes).

We all know that our bills have gone way up, but they of course include sewer, drainage and recycling charges. Also there are a lot of fixed charges. The variable charge for water and sewer works out to less the 1/2 cent per litre, or about 2.5 cents to flush your toilet.

https://www.regina.ca/home-property/...tes/index.html

I was just commenting on this study last night.

I'd love to know if he included our recycling charge into his calculation - if so, that's a significant flaw. It's a Utility Bill - not a Water Bill - and the recycling charge is in no way tied to water use, so to latch onto the fact that we have a Utility bill, which happens to include charges for water, and calculate our water cost based on the utility bill total makes zero sense. The summary I read wasn't clear if he does this for Regina, but it does note that Sask & Alberta include recycling/garbage on the "water bill" more often than other provinces, which increases our water cost... so I'll assume he included Regina's recycling, creating an apples-to-oranges comparison with other cities in the list.
(FTR: I think recycling should be included in our property taxes, just like Fire, Libraries, Police, roadways, garbage, etc - not a stand-alone user fee. It's a basic municipal service... not some wacky new thing the City's trying out)

To you point, Stormer, the fixed costs associated with water in Regina remove nearly all incentive to reduce water usage. Based on our last bill, if we shut the water off, and didn't use a drop, we'd pay $102.46 (daily fixed charges). The variable portion - based on usage - was just $34.46. If our water is expensive to treat & transport, we might want to encourage people to use less (also worthwhile from an environmental standpoint) - the variable portion of our bill provides very little incentive to reduce. Best case - if we cut our consumption by 50%, our bill would drop from $136.92 to $119.69

We bought an above ground pool for the kids - it's great, they love it. Family commented that it must cost a fortune to fill - they didn't believe me when I said it cost under $20 to fill it (using 5,500L). At that price, I could've drained it every couple of weeks without breaking the bank. This also reminded me that watering the lawn/garden like crazy, or having extra long showers, doesn't really cost much... there's little financial incentive to curtail use.

All this to say, I think Regina needs to revisit the costing model for water, if they'd like residents to get serious about reducing consumption.