Saskatoon construction snarls commutes for USask students, hospital staff

The City of Saskatoon says a combination of events is causing gridlock along a key stretch of road linking the University of Saskatchewan (USask), one of its hospitals and the downtown core.

Last Friday, the city opened the University Bridge to vehicle traffic after months of repair work and delays. But its reopening, coinciding with the end of summer vacations and the return of university students to the area for classes, is causing increased traffic, according to the city’s special projects manager.

“We’re not in control, obviously, of everything that people do as they commute. I think that we’re starting to see people who maybe heard that the bridge was open and wanted to try taking that route again, making that attempt and coming into those restrictions,” said Rob Dudiak.

The construction along College Drive is for the city’s bus rapid transit project known as Link. Currently, the city is implementing platforms along the stretch of road between Clarence and Cumberland Avenues, with single-lane traffic moving in each direction.

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A number of intersection changes and restrictions are also in place on College Drive for the roadwork.

For many USask students, the construction causing gridlock is substantially lengthening their commutes and they tell Global News that exiting one parking lot area along Campus Drive is adding around half an hour to their travel times.

It took Global News 30 minutes to drive from Campus Drive near the student centre to the Campus and College Drive intersection.

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In a statement, the university says it recognizes construction may affect travel times and encourages students facing delays to communicate with instructors.

“While construction may create temporary inconveniences, these projects will provide long-term improvements to campus infrastructure, accessibility and transportation access,” USask said.

Dudiak says the city is working with the university and the Saskatchewan Health Authority to make adjustments to alleviate the traffic backlog, adding that the city has noticed a reduction in traffic in the past two days.

“We spent over a year planning the way that the sequence would take place,” Dudiak said.

“Obviously, there’s a difference in looking at it as part of a planned sequence and then what we see in reality day to day, which then we try and monitor and make adjustments as we can in order to reduce the pressure and frustration for everyone.”

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Dudiak says emergency vehicles can use the new transit lanes added on College to bypass traffic. Medavie Health Services West, which operates the city’s ambulance system, told Global News in a statement that it is not experiencing significant delays getting into Royal University Hospital, located just off of College Drive.

“Our zone-based deployment model allows us to adapt to changing circumstances which allows us to continue to operate safely and effectively with no impact to patient care,” Medavie said.

Meanwhile, the Cancer Agency says in a statement that it will still accommodate patients who are late for appointments at the Cancer Centre located next to the hospital, or reschedule as required.

Road closures still in effect

A number of road closures remain in effect in the area, including reduced lanes along College Drive, with one lane in each direction east of Hospital Drive through to Cumberland Avenue.

The exit from the University Bridge to Saskatchewan Crescent will remain closed, though the city says it will re-open “in the coming days,” according to the city.

Meanwhile, construction on 25th Street continues, with lane restrictions extending to the bridge. The intersection between 25th Street and 2nd Avenue North remains closed as well.

Dudiak says work will continue along College Drive until it is completely paved by the end of October, when the construction is most “reliable.”

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“It’s very dependent, right? Obviously, we have no control over when that actually takes place, but they’ll work as long as possible,” Dudiak said.

“When we reach winter we don’t want to be in a situation where there’s still temporary traffic controls in place over the course of the winter.”

The city is completing this project along College Drive in two phases. The second phase, slated for next year, will continue platform construction between Cumberland and Preston Avenues.

Saskatoon closed the University Bridge on April 6 for repairs, initially planning to reopen it in June. That timeline was later pushed to mid- to late July because of weather-related construction delays, according to the city.

Additional repairs for the bridge also increased the project’s cost by $213,000, bringing the total to $1.7 million.