For Saskatchewan residents, the buzz of construction is just another sound of spring… and already, it’s in full swing, hampering the daily commute – and even emergency room access.
“We have SaskPower doing some work on the roadways. It’s Toronto Street primarily,” Saskatchewan Health Authority’s Andre Kroeger said. “They are putting in new electrical feeds to the General Hospital and that will entail shutting down a portion of Toronto Street.”
The work will improve power reliability at the hospital, in the meantime limiting emergency room entry to one end of the street until construction wraps in mid-August. While work continues, there will be no parking on Toronto street or on portions of 13th and 14th avenue.
Kroeger says parking restrictions on other streets won’t be relaxed throughout the process.
“We have less staff parking demand and there tends to be less patient demand during the summer,” Kroeger noted. “Winter would be the worst time.”
Across the city, there are 15 other road projects underway. Some will last only a day or two, while others will carry into next year. One of the most talked about is the Zipper Merge Pilot Project on Dewdney Avenue.
“Dewdney is probably a little lower volume, lower speeds than a lot of other zipper roads,” Regina Director of Roadways and Transportation, Normal Kyle said.
“We want to wait until the end of the evaluation period, but we figure it will be really effective on things like the Ring Road where you’re still travelling at a fair rate of speed.”
The zipper merge was only added to the SGI Driver’s Handbook last year, but the city is hoping for a successful crash test before implementing more at bigger, upcoming projects on Ring Road and Arcola Avenue.
“A lot of people said they were going to try and drive it just to see how it works and see if people are sharing the roads,” Kyle added. “It’s important people share the road because it helps everyone get to their destination a little faster instead of everyone creating one big lineup that gets delayed for a long time.”
Construction around the city will only ramp up through July and August with nearly 500 projects on tap for the rest of the year.