Businesses and commuters in Saskatoon are bracing for a major bridge closure this year, with the Broadway Bridge scheduled to close for about seven months, starting in April.
The repair and maintenance work will close all lanes of traffic, as well as the multi-use pathways on both sides of the bridge.
This will be a headache for commuters, but businesses in the area are also bracing themselves for a slower summer. Some shops on Broadway said having their closest bridge closed could really hurt them.
“I don’t think it will be as bustling as regular summers, for sure,” said Kim Rashley-Anton, co-owner of McQuarries Tea & Coffee Merchants on Broadway Avenue.
The upcoming bridge closure brings up memories of the months-long closure of Broadway Avenue in 2016, when the city dug up water mains and repaved roads.
“I think about nine years ago Broadway was closed for pipes and that was a massive undertaking and it hurt a lot of people,” Rashley-Anton said.
This year, the Broadway Bridge Rehabilitation Project is scheduled to begin in April, with construction expected to last until at least October. The city said the bridge must be repaired in order to maintain the structure’s longevity.
Todd Grabowski, engineering manager for asset preservation with the City of Saskatoon, acknowledged the closure will cause disruption for many people.
“When it’s a full closure, there’s an expectation that we’ll have to re-route your commute and use other structures in the city of Saskatoon,” he said. “There is significant capacity in other structures throughout the city so there will be impacts and delays.”
Beginning in April, the Broadway Bridge, including the multi-use pathways on both sides, will fully close for at least six months.
Why the bridge needs to close
The bridge’s deck, walkway and railings need repairs and the expansion joints on the structure are leaking, which Grabowksi said could lead to serious safety concerns.
With the amount of repairs underway, the main walkways of the bridge will also be closed, meaning no cyclists or pedestrians will be able to cross the bridge either.
Business owners in the Broadway area expect this could cause foot traffic to slow down significantly.
“People do have a hard time with the idea of coming to any kind of downtown area with parking and traffic,” Reid Challis, an owner of Bike Doctor said. His shop is located right off Broadway.
“Ideally, people are biking here and it’s easy, but I think it’ll have a little bit of an impact for sure.”
Roadwork planned at same time
The project also includes reconfiguring the intersection at the bottom of the bridge, at Fourth Avenue South and 19th Street East.
It will become more of a “T” intersection, with relocated traffic signals, new pedestrian signals and the removal of the right flow-through lane onto Fourth Avenue.
Parts of Broadway Avenue will also be affected by construction as the city installs Link stations for the planned bus rapid transit system. The four Link stations will be built over about four weeks starting in mid-May, and involve partial lane closures on the street.
Grabowski said the city planned the bridge closure to align with the Link platform installation, to get construction for the area out of the way in one summer.
The city plans to monitor traffic impacts at the beginning of the project and throughout, and make changes to traffic signal timing as needed.
