Bumpy ride explained: Ring Road construction switches over

Though the City of Regina announced the work was done in the northbound lanes on the construction on Ring Road, drivers might be wondering what’s going on after seeing lips to the pavement, metal sheets on the road and bare concrete on the bridge.

Crews working on the bridge replacements over Wascana Creek recently moved their work from the northbound lanes to the southbound lanes.

However, the bridge in the northbound lanes hasn’t been paved, so drivers have to navigate over a metal sheet covering the lip between the bridge and the paved road. That has many drivers taking the construction at speeds much slower than the 60 kilometres-per-hour limit, potentially lengthening out the wait to get through the area.

Chris Warren, director of roadways and transportation with the City of Regina, explained the concrete for the new bridge hasn’t been paved over because it needs to cure, which takes about 30 days.

“Once that concrete is cured, then we would apply a membrane. The membrane will protect the concrete from the salt and the different elements in the weather to ensure that concrete lasts the lifecycle of the bridge itself. And then once the membrane is installed, then our contractor will go in there and pave over top of it,” said Warren.

The paving for the north and southbound lanes will be done around the same time — first the southbound after that bridge is finished, then switching over to the northbound lanes. So neither will happen until the whole project is finished in October.

Warren said this was part of the plan from the beginning.

He said normally crews would finish one bridge structure in one season, but this project is different.

“Due to the … fact that both bridges are side by side, and with the efficiencies and level of service, getting both bridges done in one year would have translated to better pricing and an overall better level of service,” said Warren.

Warren said the city hasn’t been fielding complaints about the northbound lanes or the waits in traffic, but if it did, then the city would have to go back and try to find a way to mitigate the problem.