Traffic Bridge and North Commuter Parkway on time, on budget

Those anticipating to see another explosion to take down the last span of the Traffic Bridge will be disappointed to hear the last span is being ripped down by equipment, not a split-second bang.

On Tuesday, the City of Saskatoon provided an update on the new six-lane North Commuter Parkway Bridge and the two-lane Traffic Bridge downtown saying the project is on time and on budget.

The North Commuter Parkway is designed to ease traffic problems on Circle Drive and Attridge Drive. Right now, people who live in neighbourhoods like Evergreen and Silverspring are experiencing high traffic flows as they merge onto Circle Drive. The parkway is expected to solve this problem.

The replacement Traffic Bridge will link the Nutana neighbourhood to the city's downtown core.

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Dan Willems, director of major projects said the final span of the century-old Traffic Bridge is expected to come down in November. But unlike the two spans that came down over the past year, the final span won't feature explosives.

"Plans to bring down the last span have been modified and they're now planning to tear it down with equipment working from the berm in the river," he said, adding the contractor ran into issues prepping the top of the other two piers, so they've decided to just tear down the final span along with the two piers it's connected to.

Willems said it will come down over a week or two.

Over on the site of Saskatoon's newest six-lane bridge, the contractors for the North Commuter Parkway Bridge have nearly completed the first of three piers and work has begun on the second one.

"From now on, we will really start to see both bridges taking shape with concrete pier construction and steel spans being put into place," Willems said. "The first North Commuter Parkway span may even be up before the end of this year."

Work on connector roads including connections to Marquis Drive to Central Avenue and McOrmond Drive will continue through the winter and improvements to the Central Avenue and Attridge Drive intersection will be complete by November.

Willems said contractors are widening lanes at the intersection and installing dual left-turn lanes for for eastbound and northbound traffic to improve traffic flow in the area.

The dual bridge project is expected to cost $252 million, with the federal government covering 25 per cent of eligible costs and the province contributing $50 million to the project.

This project is a public-private partnership (P3) with Graham Commuter Partners. The company will build the new bridges and maintain them for the next 30 years under a P3 partnership.