A team of professional engineers and roadway designers considered 15 possible bridge types that could potentially be used where the
Saskatoon Freeway crosses the South Saskatchewan River.
The initial list of 15 was short-listed to four bridge types and then in a second round of evaluations, two bridge options emerged recently as offering the best options and value for the Saskatoon Freeway when built around the city.
While initial construction costs are greater with a cable-stayed bridge compared to the girder bridge option, the cable stayed bridge can be constructed one year sooner. It also has fewer environmental impacts as it requires minimal work in the river with fewer piers, has less impact on the River Valley as it spans across most of both slopes. The total life cycle cost of the cable-stayed bridge option is almost identical to the second girder bridge option, based on the design work completed to date. Although the steel plate girder was ranked lower in the evaluation, the steel plate girder bridge was advanced for further analysis due to it being the typical bridge configuration used by the Ministry, and therefore the design and construction of a plate girder bridge is well known and less complex.
Both bridge concepts offer the same potential to accommodate the addition of more traffic lanes when required, as well as multiuse paths for cyclists and pedestrians.
Artist renderings of steel cable bridge option is provided below:
https://saskatoonfreeway.org/river-crossing/