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Planning for the Saskatoon Freeway will ramp up in 2019.
The Ministry of Highways says a steering committee will be established in the new year to begin work on a functional study for the mega project which was first proposed in 2001 as a perimeter highway.
“We’re now entering the early stages of functional planning which will take 3 years to complete,” said senior communications consultant Steve Shaheen.
“Meaning any construction on this project is still many years down the road.”
The basic route for the freeway was determined earlier this year and the exact location will be narrowed during the study says Shaheen.
The freeway would start south of the city at Highway 11, loop around the east side of the city, cross the river north of the Mistawasis Bridge, and link up to Highway 16 and 14 on city’s western edge.
Shaheen said the functional study will be done in phases and look at all aspects of the project, including traffic flow, service access points and water crossings.
“The biggest piece of all this is ensuring we’re meeting with the right people. There’s obviously a large number of stakeholders.”
Shaheen said the cost of construction has not been determined yet, but the scope of the project would be similar in size to the Regina bypass, which is considered the largest infrastructure projects undertaken by the province.
The final cost of the bypass came in at $1.88 billion, including maintenance for 30 years.