I have a few questions and a potential solution, and I was hoping to see if anyone out in the blogosphere agreed with me.
To get the trucks and some of the traffic off of the Circle Drive Bridge and
"42nd Street" in Saskatoon, I think we all agree that a perimeter highway around Saskatoon is needed. Circle Drive between Airport Drive and Warman Road is a nightmare, and specifically the interchange at the Travelodge (Circle and Idylwyld) is kind of an embarrassment.
I've heard some say that trucks will go around Saskatoon to the west (on Circle through Confed and across the new South Circle Drive Bridge) but this still involves using Circle Drive by the Travelodge.
So, the perimeter highway is probably in our near or distant future
http://www.saskatoon.ca/DEPARTMENTS/...ic_PerimeterRd
What I don't get is why does the perimeter end at Highway 14? Highway 7 from Calgary is one of the most important highways (after the Regina and Edmonton highways probably) and it won't connect at all to the perimeter? I don't get it.
What the grand scheme looks like from the city webpages I've looked at has Highway 7 (and Highway 14) traffic funnelling past the high schools, Shaw Centre, and Confederation Park - permanently. Already there are complaints about 11th Street becoming the new shortcut it was not designed to be. Why is the main highway to/from Calgary designed like this? And the interchange with 22nd does not answer the question. Unless you are speeding off to Dalmeny Road, you will be stuck at traffic lights and right angle turns here too.
So...how do you kill two (or more) birds with one stone? Why doesn't Highway 7 connect directly with the South Circle Drive Bridge? A new highway, south of the CN yards, connecting with the already built interchange at Valley Road? And connect (or plan to anyways) the perimeter road south 2-3 more km with Highway 7?
I see mostly pros and very few cons with this idea:
- get most Highway 7 and 14 traffic off 22nd and 11th Streets residential areas and schools, and instead past a rail yard and on to an existing freeway.
- no traffic lights potentially from east to west
- if then the west perimeter highway was built from Highway 16 West to Highway 7 West south of the CN tracks to connect with my proposed road going east to the new bridge, you could have truck traffic going from Edmonton to Regina (or Yorkton) and no traffic lights.
- I'm pretty sure most truckers and much through traffic would take this way, leaving the north Circle Drive Bridge with less traffic
- the most critical infrastructure is already in place! It doesn't involve a bridge across the river, and most (all?) of the work would be out of the developed areas of the city. Compared to some of the other projects planned, this would probably be less expensive. 4 or 5 interchanges (and no bridges) at most between Highway 16 West and Valley Road
- could potentially delay the building of one or both of the north bridges
Two potential cons I see is that it gets close to Cedar Villa Estates - but they are already close to the noise of the CN rail yards, so I'm not sure this would be much different. The other is although it is (will be) an expressway from Valley Road to the southeast edges of the city, it will make traffic pretty heavy down in that end. I guess one other thing is distance wise it might be a few extra km getting around the west side of the CN yards and some might go through the middle of the city and Circle Drive anyways.
I don't think this is on the city's radar at all. They want to build big city yards and an off-leash dog park right in the area I'm thinking about. They also are "full-steam" ahead for the commuter (or is it Parkway?) bridge in the north. I think our limited funds would be better served in the south and the west to get the trucks out of the city. If this were built, commuting across Circle Drive North would be a lot easier and a commuter bridge up there would be less needed.
At least the city should zone for a Highway 7 extension, and then it could be built anytime.
Is this a good idea or am I missing something obvious?
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