Saskatoon’s University Bridge to close Monday to all but emergency vehicles

Starting Monday, April 6, Saskatoon’s University Bridge, along with College Drive between Clarence Avenue and Hospital Drive will be closed to almost all traffic.

According to the city, work is expected to last eight to 10 weeks, however emergency vehicles including police, fire and ambulances, along with special Saskatchewan Health Authority vehicles will still be able to use the bridge.

Jay Magus, director of transportation said the situation isn’t ideal, but it’s needed.

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“This will undoubtedly cause disruption for people, but these construction projects are necessary to protect our valuable infrastructure and expand our transportation systems, namely transit,” he said.

Magus outlined three major projects all connected and occurring in the same general area over the next several months.

They include arch repair under the University Bridge and drive surface refinishing, 25th Street water main lining work – which will begin the week of May 19th and will take about four months to complete – and rapid transit-related construction on College Drive.

The first part of the transit construction will be happening between Clarence Avenue and Hospital Drive, while the second and third parts of the first phase of construction will take place between Hospital Drive and Cumberland Avenue. Each stage is expected to take two to three months to complete and exact timelines aren’t yet available.

“Is it perfect? No. But these projects will protect and strengthen our assets, and in the case of BRT (bus rapid-transit), completely modernize our transit system,” he explained.

A map of the first phase of the University Bridge Closure between Hospital Drive and the University Bridge. (City of Saskatoon/Submitted)

According to Dan Willems, the city’s technical services director, those who need to access the University of Saskatchewan, Royal University Hospital or other businesses along the College Drive corridor will need to adjust their routes.

“Patients, visitors and staff destined for the hospitals … that would typically use University Drive or this west portion of College Drive,” Willems explained, “should plan to revise their travel route accordingly and approach the hospitals from the east, using the west-bound lanes of College Drive.”

He noted that pedestrian access over the University Bridge will stay open on the south side of the bridge.

Once the Clarence Avenue to Hospital Drive stretch of road is completed, work will begin on the next portion of College Drive to Cumberland Avenue.

“During this phase of work, single lane traffic will be maintained in each direction, using the south half of College Drive while work is happening on the north part of the corridor,” Willems explained.

The work is expected to be completed by late August – before students return to the University of Saskatchewan campus for the fall semester – and then work will begin on the south side of the corridor, with the new north lanes open to single lane traffic in each direction.

“That final phase of work is expected to be completed over September and October,” Willems said.

Phase 2 of the transit project will take place over the summer of 2027 between Cumberland Avenue and Preston Avenue South. More details on that stage of the project will be available next spring, according to the city.