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City to complete feasibility study on possible overpass at Ring Road railway crossing

Long traffic delays and vehicle-versus-train collisions at the crossing have caused headaches and hazards for motorists. Sarah Komadina / Global News

During his State of the City address Thursday, Mayor Michael Fougere announced a feasibility study will done to determine the cost of building an overpass or underpass at the railroad crossing on Ring Road near Winnipeg Street.

Long traffic delays and vehicle-versus-train collisions at the crossing have caused headaches and hazards for motorists.

“The idea of an overpass is simply the only solution,” Mayor Fougere said. “We’re not going to have a rail relocation, that’s a billion dollar plus expense. It simply will not happen.”

The crossing sees heavy traffic congestion when a train crosses Ring Road and it has also seen several collisions. The most recent happened in January where a semi collided with a train.

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“I think it’s time we looked at this. There’s lots of frustrations with motorists, lots of issues with accidents that have happened, [including the recent one] where the truck hit a train and took out all the signal equipment…. It’s dangerous,” Fougere said.

The mayor added he will be trying to get provincial and federal officials involved.

Previous estimates for the potential overpass have been between $100 million and $140 million.

“By doing the feasibility study we’d actually be able to look at options and a tighter cost estimate,” City of Regina Director of Roadways & Transportation Norman Kyle said.

Fougere could not provide an exact timeline for the feasibility study, but said it would be on council’s agenda shortly.

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