City says Ring Road bridge replacement will be done by Oct. 31

The City of Regina is making like the British rock band Yes, asking drivers to hold on when it comes to construction on the Ring Road.

Crews are almost finished replacing the road’s two bridges over Wascana Creek, near Assiniboine Avenue. Everything should be finished by Oct. 31, weather permitting, said Chris Warren, the city’s director of roadways and transportation.

“We’ll be getting some guardrails installed, finalizing some of the grading, landscaping, restoration (in the creek area) — things like that,” he said of the final bits of work left to do.

Construction crews will also need to pave both north- and southbound bridges, he said.

“We’re currently working on the southbound structure,” Warren said.

The northbound and southbound bridges now only have “concrete decking” as their driving surfaces, he said.

“What needs to happen with (the northbound section) is the membrane needs to be installed and paving, and that’s all included in the work over the next few weeks,” he said.

Warren said that means drivers will see crews doing that same work on the southbound bridge.

“Then we’ll open that up and move back to the northbound bridge, and finalize that work and have the entire project opened up,” he said.

Warren said that by Oct. 31, drivers can expect to see both lanes on both bridges open, with all construction equipment removed from the Ring Road median and the ditches on either side.

The zipper merge will be removed too, he said.