Route selected for new south bypass in Regina

REGINA – The province has selected the route that will be used for the new bypass just south of Regina.

The bypass is expected to alleviate congestion on Victoria Avenue East and will allow truckers a chance to bypass the city without stopping.

The new route will be 4.8 kilometers south of the Albert Street overpass. It will connect Highway #1 near Pinkie road at the West Regina bypass, and on the east side, to the future bypass along Tower Road between Highways 1 and 33.

Theresa Schubert-Probe said the bypass will likely cut about 40 acres from the southern portion of her land just south of Regina. She and other producers are concerned about splitting up and possibly devaluing their farms and they want fair compensation.

Since Schubert-Probe’s land is so close to the City of Regina, she feels it could go for more than what the province will pay.

“I’m not going to negotiate my land at agricultural rates when I know that we can negotiate country residential or commercial,” she said.

There are 27 landowners who will be affected by the construction of the bypass. The province has spoken with 24 of them and is still trying to reach the other three.

“We want to make sure that there’s fair compensation for their land, that’s only fair,” said highways minister Don McMorris.

He also stresses, however, the province will be careful with how much they spend.

“We are all taxpayers,” he said. “We have the responsibility that taxpayers are not paying an (excessive) price for land.”

This leg of the project is expected to cost over $300 million. Once all the phases of the South Bypass are complete the total cost will be around $800 million.

The province is preparing to put together a detailed design for the project so it will give landowners a better idea of what is to come.