City Hall looking at building 3 overpasses at rail crossings

City of Saskatoon administration is prioritizing planning for overpasses at the Marquis Drive, 11th Street West and Preston Avenue railway crossings.

As the next phase of a Grade Separation Feasibility Study originally completed in 2018, administration will report back to council with options to reduce rail delays on Monday at a standing policy committee on transportation.

“Grade separations would provide the benefits of savings to travel time, improved safety, avoided emissions, and reduced vehicle operating costs. However, many locations examined have significant private property impacts and create other issues,” a report by engineering manager David LeBoutillier said.

Those issues for six other examined locations include: losing access to arterial streets, disruption to nearby businesses during the expected two years of construction and concrete barriers and walls that would break up neighbourhoods and could be “visually unpleasant.”

The report also says underpasses create “significant concerns” for stormwater management and crime prevention.

The three overpass projects would carry an estimated $93.3-million cost.

Another proposal previously mulled at council to reduce traffic for drivers is a shared rail corridor used by CP and CN to reduce the number of railway crossings in the city.

“Responses were received from both CN and CP and neither railway expressed interest in pursuing the shared corridor concept further,” the report read.