Saskatoon city councillor calls for cable barriers along stretch of Circle Drive

Cable barriers along a stretch of Circle Drive East in Saskatoon may have saved a young woman’s life, according to Saskatoon city councillor David Kirton.

A 24-year-old woman died last week after the vehicle she was driving south along Circle Drive crossed the median and collided head on with a truck travelling north. The passengers in the truck suffered non-life-threatening injuries.

The Ward 3 councillor, who worked at Rawlco Radio prior to his election, says it’s not the first time such a serious collision has occurred along that same stretch of road.

“We covered another tragic situation like this on that exact same stretch of road where a car — for whatever reason — went into the oncoming lanes,” Kirton said.

While the exact cause of the collision hasn’t been released yet, Kirton believes had there been a barrier in that area, a tragedy may have been prevented.

“So I’m looking to ask city council to consider putting up a barrier along that stretch of Circle Drive,” he said. “The city’s roadway department has a lot of barriers planned coming up this year for different parts of the city …

“What I’m hoping to do maybe is to convince city council and therefore get the city’s administration to put that stretch of Circle Drive as its top priority.”

Information from the City of Saskatoon indicates that for 2021, $2.5 million in funding has been approved for barrier installation and improvements on Circle Drive between the Circle Drive North bridge and College Drive. The money will come from the Municipal Economic Enhancement Program (MEEP).

“From an engineering perspective, through reviews completed twice since 2016, a continuous median barrier was not warranted,” the city information said. “However, installation of a high-tension cable barrier is an option that could be researched further.”

However, at this point, it doesn’t appear as though the portion of road where the fatal accident occurred is included in the new initiative.

Other than barriers along overpasses, there are only intermittent light standards separating the Circle Drive northbound and southbound lanes starting at the Attridge/Preston Avenue exit and continuing to the Highway 11/Circle Drive East exit.

Kirton has also spoken with some truckers who have given him some feedback.

“I talked to a couple of truckers who were very big on the cable, not on the concrete,” he said. “What I’ve heard is … it’s better all around, as long as it holds the car or truck and doesn’t let it to the other side into oncoming traffic.”

Kirton plans on filing a notice of motion at Monday’s upcoming city council meeting.