$28.5-million overpass project underway in Regina

The Winnipeg Street North overpass project is now officially underway.

The original overpass was built in 1974. It received touchups in 1989 and 2003, but now the cost of fixing it outweighed the cost of building a new overpass altogether — prompting the City of Regina to build anew.

Director of roadways and transportation, Chris Warren, says the new overpass will have a lifespan of 75 years.

“This project will not just replace the overpass, it will modify the interchange and significantly improve how traffic functions in this area today,” Holden said. “These changes on Winnipeg Street will provide increased safety for the 15(,000) to 18,000 vehicles that travel this corridor daily.

“It will significantly improve the functionality of traffic movements in this area and allow for safer and more efficient road network for future years to come.”

The Winnipeg Street North overpass. (980 CJME file photo)

Some of the work includes: Building on and off ramps to allow better access and flow for traffic; building a new exit loop for eastbound Ring Road traffic, which will provide easier access to Winnipeg Street northbound; widened portions of Winnipeg Street and Eighth Avenue North with additional turning lanes; and, improving traffic flow by installing three new signalized intersections to help pedestrians.

The new overpass design will be built in a way that will allow for future widening of Ring Road if necessary due to growth in the area.

Drainage will also be improved around the interchange with the addition of three storm ponds, as well as enhanced access to both Mount Pleasant Sports Park and the dog park along with the planting of 300 new trees between Seventh Avenue and Mount Pleasant.

The project doesn’t include any work on the train tracks crossing Ring Road in the area.

“These are two distinctly separate pieces of work with very different scopes, objectives and timeframes,” the city said in a media release. “The city is pursuing removal of the railway crossings though a proposed relocation per council’s approval back in August 2019.

“This project (on Winnipeg Street) does not impact work relating to advancing the rail relocation work.”

The total cost of the project is $28.8 million, including $25.5 million for the construction work, $1.9 million for engineering costs and $1.4 million for utility relocations. Those include 1.5 kilometres of power lines being relocated along with the removal of 600 metres of overhead lines and 1.2 kilometres of gas lines.

Kim Onrait, the city’s executive director of citizen services, said the city had been saving money for this project for the last nine years.

The executive director of citizen services for the City of Regina, Kim Onrait, talks to the media on May 31, 2021. (Logan Stein/980 CJME)

“The city began setting aside funds through our annual capital budget submissions that started back in 2012 to put money aside for this major work,” Onrait said. “In addition to that budget, we secured external funding from the federal and provincial governments through the Building Canada fund application.

“This funding agreement requires the city to complete the project within predetermined deadlines. We are pleased to have received this funding by the Government of Canada and the Government of Saskatchewan to be able to complete this work.”

Stantec Consulting was awarded the proposal for designing the project and Graham Construction was chosen to be the contractor in charge of building it.

The overpass replacement project is anticipated to be completed by November of 2022, with a large portion of the work expected to be done in overnight hours in hopes of reducing the impact on traffic.

“Road closures on Ring Road and Winnipeg Street will be required during various phases of this work,” Holden said. “To reduce the impact on traffic, these closures will occur at night or on the weekends.

“For these closures, traffic restrictions will be lifted in time for the morning rush hour.”

Motorists can expect lane restrictions as early as Monday while the contractor unloads materials and installs barriers.