Lewvan Drive project complete five weeks early

Construction season can cause major headaches for Regina drivers. Now, there’s one less major project to worry about.

Construction on Lewvan Drive is done, five weeks ahead of schedule.

The project cost $2.4 million and included work between Parliament Avenue and 11th Avenue. The project initially was to take three months to complete.

Chris Warren, the director of roadways and transportation with the City of Regina, said officials knew the project would have major impacts on commuters and wanted to get it done swiftly.

“We scheduled in to work weekends and longer shifts during the day just to complete that project as quickly as we could,” Warren said.

If you are taking Lewvan this morning, northbound lanes are now clear of traffic barriers and we are in the process of removing southbound barriers. Traffic should be freely flowing in both directions by 10 a.m. Thanks again for your patience everyone!

— City of Regina (@CityofRegina) July 15, 2023

Since the project was so large, Lewvan Drive was split into different work zones. Those work zones allowed the city to send out contractors as well as internal crews.

“This isn’t something that is always achievable on some of our other locations where they’re adjacent to businesses and residential properties,” Warren said.

He estimated 80 to 85 per cent of roadway construction is done by external contract workers.

Contractors did most of the concrete repairs and city crews did the pavement.

Early completion bonuses and penalty clauses for missing milestones were added to contracts to incentivize contractors to finish work specifically on time, but ahead of schedule if possible.

Completing the Lewvan project allows contractors to work on other projects. But that doesn’t mean other projects will be completed sooner than planned, Warren explained.

“We work with crews to shorten construction timelines as much as we can,” he said.

The roads are already pre-marked. Paint crews started adding lines to the newly paved road Monday night.

“We appreciate everyone’s patience and we’re happy and excited it’s open to traffic,” said Warren.