The City of Saskatoon acknowledges this summer was a difficult season of construction, but says not much could be done to avoid traffic disruptions and detour headaches. “We do a lot of work behind the scenes to try to make sure that the projects interact with each other in the most efficient way possible, but sometimes it’s tough to coordinate all of that,” said Matt Jurkiewicz, the city’s director of construction and design. The City of Saskatoon marked the first day of fall Tuesday by hosting its annual construction wrap up news conference. Jurkiewicz says a long list of necessary construction, unusual projects on main arteries and untimely weather made for a lot of work in a short period of time, and not much could be done to avoid the many road closures and detours. “It is probably the largest construction season we’ve had,” Jurkiewicz said. “And then with some of the compression of the good weather, it’s just caused a lot more work to be happening at the same time, I would say.” Luc and Tim Hanson live in Nutana, where they’ve been left wondering if construction was rolled out and communicated effectively. “Generally speaking, the execution of it is a little bit haphazard,” Tim Hanson said. “Maybe departments don’t talk with each other,” Luc said. “Once university students are back, the city gets busier, but there’s been a lot more projects, and it’s taking a lot more time. It’s frustrating.” Many projects are still ongoing, while some have been completed. Paving has been completed on portions of Circle Drive, Attridge Drive, McOrmond Drive and Avenue C North with the help of crews working through the night. As Saskatoon continues to grow, Jurkiewicz says the city will need to look at more overnight construction moving forward. Historically, the city hasn’t looked to keep crews working into the night. The city also completed a number of the Link platforms before the transit system launches in 2028. Despite a number of delays along College Drive, the city expects Link to be ready for its planned 2028 launch. Work is ongoing for the biosolids pipeline project, which is installing new water and sewer infrastructure to communities north of Saskatoon. Work there is expected to keep Wanuskewin Road closed until the end of October. While the long-closed University Bridge has reopened, the city is asking people who do not need to access the hospital to avoid the area as work continues along College Drive for a series of changes for Link that will continue until freeze-up. On the other side of the bridge, water main work along 25th Street between Spadina Crescent and 1st Avenue is making access off of the bridge difficult. That work will continue until the end of the season. To help alleviate traffic avoiding University Bridge, many people have been accessing Broadway Bridge and using 12th Street to avoid the area. That detour will be eliminated Wednesday when the city closes the 12th Street East and Dufferin Avenue intersection to finish off the Nurana sanitary sewer project that has been happening in the area this summer. “It’s definitely going to cause a bit of pain, but we just can’t stop this project. It has to continue,” Jurkiewicz said. While the Hanson’s question the planning of the overall slate of construction and its many changing road restrictions, Ward 10 Coun. Zach Jefferies is looking to understand what the city can do differently next year. The longtime councillor is raising a motion at Wednesday’s city council meeting asking administration to report back on how planning and coordination decisions are made for traffic restrictions and roadwork, and how 2027 planning will be improved based on lessons learned this year. Jurkiewicz declined to answer questions about Jeffries motion ahead of Wednesday’s discussion, but says everything is on the table as administration speaks internally and with contractors. “We do a lot of work behind the scenes, but we always learn from everything that we do,” he said. “We’re not perfect. We make mistakes, and sometimes we have to learn from those mistakes and move forward.” One new project that will slow traffic through the fall is new sewer and water service going to University land that will eventually become residential areas in Sutherland and Stadium Square near Merlis Belsher Place. Work in the ditch along Circle Drive southbound between Attridge Drive and 108th Street will also slow traffic to 60 kilometres per hour for the next three months. After some weather disruptions at the start of the construction season, Jurkiewicz says the city is prepared to work as long as the weather allows, but he’s not banking on an El Nino to extend work into the winter. “If the weather is beautiful in December, we’ll be doing work in December, which is great, but also means that the pain is stretched a little bit longer,” he said.
