City of Regina defends overlapping construction projects

Drivers trying to avoid the flooded streets and underpasses after the storm Friday morning in Regina had a particularly difficult time as many around the downtown were slowed just as often by construction projects.

In particular, the lane closures at Lewvan Drive and Saskatchewan Drive caused an issue as many drivers tried to go that way when they couldn’t use any of the other three underpasses to get to downtown.

Chris Warren, director of roadways and transportation with the City of Regina, said the city spent a lot of time planning the Lewvan project, working with partners and trying to figure out how to do everything safely with as little impact to traffic as possible.

“When it comes to Saskatchewan Drive, and the scope and extent of the work required around the drainage and concrete improvements that were necessary in this intersection, and to do this work safely, we just simply needed to close some of that movement because it is a very complex intersection – not something that is a normal configuration,” explained Warren.

In that planning, he said the city also took into consideration construction on some of the other roads drivers would likely take to avoid the Lewvan construction.

“We do a lot of planning well before we ever put a shovel in the ground and we do our best to mitigate those impacts – and in a lot of the cases, in most of the cases, we can mitigate those impacts, but in some cases there is some overlap and there is some impact,” he said.

For example, Warren said the Lewvan project is expected to take three to four months, while projects on Albert Street are also expected to take three to four months. That means they would have to end up overlapping at some point in the construction season.

Warren said he and the city understand the frustration this can cause drivers, but they work to offset timelines as best they can and shorten conflicts.

“We really do our best to try to find a way to space out and spread out those projects, but also understanding that we have a short season and sometimes there is going to be some of that overlap,” said Warren.