REGINA – By the time the Pinkie Road Overpass is six years old, the $43 million project will have a whole new system of ramps attaching it to Highway 1 and the Regina Bypass.
The interchange currently involves a loop and short ramps for entrances and exits, some of which require a complete stop.
As Bypass construction approaches the area these ramps will be replaced by much longer ramps, called a system interchange. The Ministry of Highways says this upgrade will help with the increased traffic flow.
“There’s a series of ramps and loops so the traffic can make highway to highway connections at highway speeds without having to stop or slow down,” ministry spokesperson Doug Wakabayashi said.
“Most of the existing interchange is going to be incorporated into the Bypass. Some pavement will have to be replaced. The structure of the bridge itself, the concrete work, and most of the earth work will remain intact.”
The Bypass runs through the Rural Municipality (RM) of Sherwood, and this plan for the upgrade doesn’t sit well with Reeve Jeff Poissant.
“They finalized the South Bypass in 2013; eight months prior to the completion of the overpass. They could have started preparing for it then to expand it, and didn’t take the steps necessary at that point,” he said.
Wakabayashi said that when the interchange design plans were approved, the Bypass was only going around the southeast corner of Regina, connecting directly to Ring Road.
However, the Pinkie Road interchange was designed to eventually be upgraded to a system interchange as the city grew, but that upgrade is needed sooner than initially planned.
“Understanding traffic volumes would get to a point where it would be needed, and we’re taking the same approach with the interchange that’s being built at Highway 11 as part of the Bypass project,” Wakabayashi explained.
This means if a northeast bypass is built the future Highway 11 interchange would see a similar revamp to what Pinkie Road will experience.
The Regina Bypass Project has been a subject of contention for residents of the RM for a long time now, as well as some Regina residents.
Poissant said the way the province is handling the interchange upgrade is a money issue everyone should care about.
“It’s tax payer money that’s going to be paying for this to replace the entire overpass pretty much,” he argued.
“It’s a lot of money being thrown around and people want answers.”
As for how much of the $1.8 billion for the bypass will be going toward the upgrade, Wakabayashi couldn’t provide a specific answer.
“Various cost components aren’t separated out so it’s impossible to isolate how much one specific thing is going to cost,” Wakabayashi said.
This work is part of the project’s second phase, so it’s expected to be complete in the fall of 2019.
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