The end was in sight for traffic woes for those heading north or south of Prince Albert, but now at least another year of delays around the bridge is in store.
This summer, lane restrictions from nearby roadway construction bottle-necked traffic down to two lanes as it heads to the Diefenbaker Bridge. That bridge is the only way for traffic to get from Prince Albert to northern Saskatchewan, and vice versa.
Originally, bridge work was meant to come on the heels of that work. The repairs will focus on concrete barriers, splash guards, guardrails and pedestrian walkways.
Prince Albert’s City Council meeting on Monday night shared that an engineer’s estimate on the bridge repairs would jump to $3 million from the originally budgeted $1.23 million, which is to be covered entirely by the province through its Urban Highway Connector program. This increase was discussed at a meeting between the Ministry of Highways, the City, and the engineering firm in May.
Along with that increase, comes the news that the province won’t be opening “their purse strings” until 2016, said city councillor Don Cody.
The Ministry of Highways recently approved a new agreement to cover that increased cost, with the work to be completed “no later than December 31, 2017.”
At Monday’s city council meeting, Cody expressed frustration on behalf of the city’s business owners, residents, and those travelling through.
“You know, you have to feel sorry for them, let’s face it. That’s a lot of down time,” he said. “I think we’ve created enough hardship for them.”
He said it’s too late to heed a proposal he’s come up with.
“I’d just like to see us negotiate a bit harder with the province, seeing if we couldn’t maybe get a little bit of funds now so we could do a little bit of the work this year,” Cody said.
He says the delays related to the bridge repairs won’t be as serious as they were this year though.
Three lanes of traffic should be open at any given time, instead of having two-way traffic like Prince Albert did for the entire summer. That work will bleed into October.