Saskatoon Roads & Infrastructure

[Corndogger]

Originally Posted by Stormer

It really is unbelievable how long bridge re-hab takes in Saskatchewan. Even small flyovers take a whole season. To me the issue is that the cost of traffic disruption is not considered. At times it seems like they are closing more lanes than necessary for longer than necessary, just because they can. There is a real and substantial cost to this that need to be considered. There are safety issues, sure, but using concrete barriers rather than closing extra lanes should be considered and extra shifts work on key bridges should be mandatory.

I just read and watched a number of news stories about this project and totally agree with what you're saying. There's no reason why this couldn't be done in about four months tops. Do they not work at night?

[The Bess]

Looks like more discussion to come for Saskatoon freeway, not totally wanted by everyone

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saska...toon-1.5169904

[prairieguy]

Originally Posted by The Bess

Looks like more discussion to come for Saskatoon freeway, not totally wanted by everyone

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saska...toon-1.5169904

This is far from a done deal....so the horrible mistake would be not to take into consideration new information on the environmental impact of this unique natural area. Perhaps we could think about preserving eco-systems like this, that are at risk of disappearing, for future generations.

There may even be opportunities like Beaver Creek, to make the swale an attraction that can safely be accessed and experienced without disrupting the wildlife or fauna.

I hope other councilors show more foresight then Mr. Donauer.

[Temperance]

Originally Posted by prairieguy

This is far from a done deal....so the horrible mistake would be not to take into consideration new information on the environmental impact of this unique natural area. Perhaps we could think about preserving eco-systems like this, that are at risk of disappearing, for future generations.

There may even be opportunities like Beaver Creek, to make the swale an attraction that can safely be accessed and experienced without disrupting the wildlife or fauna.

I hope other councilors show more foresight then Mr. Donauer.

Building the freeway through the swale would be an irreversible mistake. Surely there are other places to build the freeway.

[djforsberg]

Originally Posted by Temperance

Building the freeway through the swale would be an irreversible mistake. Surely there are other places to build the freeway.

I really hope Saskatoon residents riot if the province follows through with that. I’m not even kidding. Senseless developments encroaching on sensitive land should be a thing of the far far past.

[Dengler Avenue]

That means only the northwestern (between 16 and 12), western and southern portions should be built then. The priorities are 16 and 11 being free-flowing throughout.

[Crisis]

At long last, traffic lines have been painted the full length of Faithfull Avenue from Circle Drive to Marquis Drive. This will "officially" make it a 4 lane road. While portions of it have had "no parking signs" erected for quite a while, it always seemed to be treated as a "lane and a half" in each direction, leading to something of a clusterfvck for traffic flow.

While there are some businesses along Faithfull that made use of street parking and will miss it, most of us who regularly use that road will find this much better.

[The Bess]

More talk on Saskatoon Freeway

https://thestarphoenix.com/news/loca...shape-in-study

[djforsberg]

Originally Posted by The Bess

More talk on Saskatoon Freeway

https://thestarphoenix.com/news/loca...shape-in-study

Barely a peep about the northeast swale except that it has to "cut through" it. Fuck what ecosystems we have left, am I right?

[prairieguy]

Where is the Meewasin on the swale project. If a change is to be made to the proposed routing, now is the time to voice their concern and the rationale why. I know to most people it does not look like anything special but it is a bio-habitat that is at risk. You can never go back on things like this, so get it right now!

[Dengler Avenue]

Originally Posted by prairieguy

Where is the Meewasin on the swale project. If a change is to be made to the proposed routing, now is the time to voice their concern and the rationale why. I know to most people it does not look like anything special but it is a bio-habitat that is at risk. You can never go back on things like this, so get it right now!

These planners really don’t care about environmental repercussions, eh?

Would tunnelling under the swale mitigate the damage though? Or is it simply better to go further out (NE) to avoid it?

[The Bess]

Some news on phase 1 of freeway

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saska...says-1.5311199

[Wyku]

With all the talk of accomodating the increased traffic from Warman and Martensville, they're sure mucking up the flow for people coming in from Warman/Highway 11--why is the interchange so far South for Highway 11 to go West or for Highway 16 traffic to go North? It's nice that they're trying to avoid Highway 11 having the rail line cutting through it as it is now, but it seems like they could have stuck with the slight re-alignment to stay on the East side of the tracks, make an overpass like they're adding at Penner Rd then add the interchange where Highway 11 runs now South of Township Rd 380. Easy to say, maybe harder to do of course.

[Wyku]

Full presentation here:

https://www.documentcloud.org/docume...riefing-1.html

[Crisis]

As someone who uses Highway 11 daily to get to Saskatoon from the north, I think the proposed realignment to the Wanuskewin Road route is f*cking terrible. I already avoid turning onto to Wanuskewin because that route is far slower than carrying on along Highway 11 into Saskatoon along Idylwyld, unless you are planning on heading east across the river.

For anyone wanting to access the downtown core, much less the west side of Saskatoon, Any of the 4 options detailed for will significantly add to one's travel time. All 4 of the options (as shown here:https://www.documentcloud.org/docume...riefing-1.html ) have the high-speed, divided highway portion of the southbound Highway 11 route end in the same general vicinity of where Wanuskewin Road currently meets Highway 11. Unless Wanuskewin Road gets upgraded to a high-speed corridor (very unlikely), this will be a net loss for many people wanting to access most of Saskatoon from the north.

[Wyku]

Originally Posted by Crisis

As someone who uses Highway 11 daily to get to Saskatoon from the north, I think the proposed realignment to the Wanuskewin Road route is f*cking terrible. I already avoid turning onto to Wanuskewin because that route is far slower than carrying on along Highway 11 into Saskatoon along Idylwyld, unless you are planning on heading east across the river.

For anyone wanting to access the downtown core, much less the west side of Saskatoon, Any of the 4 options detailed for will significantly add to one's travel time. All 4 of the options (as shown here:https://www.documentcloud.org/docume...riefing-1.html ) have the high-speed, divided highway portion of the southbound Highway 11 route end in the same general vicinity of where Wanuskewin Road currently meets Highway 11. Unless Wanuskewin Road gets upgraded to a high-speed corridor (very unlikely), this will be a net loss for many people wanting to access most of Saskatoon from the north.

Yup, I feel the same way (I went with "mucking up" instead of "f*cking terrible* ). Even leaving from Saskatoon on Iydlwyld heading North (you know, off an already existing freeway...) looks like a posssible gong-show. It's hard to tell what they're doing with the existing 4-lane stretches of the #11 (going to a 2-lane road?) as well as the #12 traffic into/out of the city (going to a 2-lane road over the existing 2-lane overpass?!?).

[The Bess]

Yes i agree hiway 7 and 12 aren't major enough to have interchanges as the bulk of traffic is hiway 16, they should just get an on and off ramp to the freeway.

[Arts]

They're saying that 52% of traffic entering Saskatoon from hwy11 SB are exiting at Wanuskewin which is why this is currently their preferred alignnment... however they seemingly fail to understand is that the 52% is going to be split into a large portion travelling to the Eastside neighbourhoods using the new perimeter (which currently are using the new commuter bridge) so by their logic the perimeter should align to the current hwy11 north of Wanuskewin Rd and continuing traffic should exit (like they are proposing for hwy11 NB from the city and also much like traffic on Circle dr at the hwy16/hwy11 cloverleaf in the south side of the city). In the end, ~40% is going to the East on the new perimeter, ~12% going straight down Wanuskewin and 48% having to exit onto hwy11 SB... Their main alignment It seems idiotic to me, even using their own logic (but what do I know I just play with road data 5 days a week).

[Wyku]

There definitely seems to be a weird weighting towards Warman/Wanuskewin Rd vs. a major highway in Highway 11.

Here's my super rough idea of what I think might work better with the 2 interchanges being in play at Highway 12 and 11 and a minor interchange w/lights on Warman/Wanuskewin Rd--that road is already littered with lights with another set on the way soon with the latest work they're doing as it's not a freeway. This keeps the flow of Highway 11 the same (with the ability to go North to Highway 12 which doesn't exist now), Highway 12 the same (with the ability to go East to Highway 11 which doesn't exist now), more-or-less keeps the path the same for traffic coming into the city off Highway 11 to Warman/Wanuskewin Rd with a SAFE highway crossing (i.e. flyover) and almost the same for traffic leaving Saskatoon to Highway 11--the eventual plan to continue Warman Rd North of Highway 11 could still happen as well and could even keep the existing road and exit onto Highway 11 North/East so you wouldn't need to go on the freeway to get onto Highway 11.

I would also make Highway 12 come straight in with another overpass over Highway 11 to get rid of the weird merging that happens there, and remove the 71st st crossing--way too many accidents there. An interchange at Marquis would obviously help take the pain away with that change.

Anyway, just brainstorming .

[Crisis]

^^^^ Looks far better than any of the 4 options proposed by the province. Though, they probably have concerns about the tight spacing between the interchanges in this scenario. In my opinion, issues arising from that can be mitigated through proper signage.