University Bridge construction for Bus Rapid Transit plan starts in April

Starting the week of April 6th until June, the University Bridge in Saskatoon will be closed for work on the city’s bus rapid transit plan.

The start date was a little confusing as contractors accidentally put up construction signs saying the work will start on the 31st of March. The city is apologizing and confirms construction starts the week of the 6th, if weather permits.

The bridge won’t be completely closed the whole summer, allowing for some flow of traffic once upgrades are done to the College Drive and Clarence Avenue intersection. There will be alternating traffic on the bridge during construction, but officials don’t know the timeline of when we will see that quite yet.

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“So, they will then be working on one set of lanes… say they are working on the north side first, then there will be two-way traffic, one lane in each direction on the south set of lanes. Then when those north lanes are completed, we will flip them back over,” said Terry Schmidt, general manager of Saskatoon’s Transportation and Construction.

Emergency vehicles will have a lane open to them during construction to access the hospital.

This is only the first phase of the College Drive Rapid Bus construction as they will be doing work between Cumberland Avenue and Hospital Drive throughout the year.

Watch above for more on the impacts of the University Bridge closure.