Saskatoon's new Traffic Bridge promises to be bigger, better

Drivers crossing Saskatoon’s Broadway Bridge or Sid Buckwold Bridge will notice a new span taking shape – the city’s new Traffic Bridge.

“The south in-river pier, the north and south bridge abutments and the first new span are complete and demolition of the last original span will start in mid-November,” said Dan Willems, the city’s director of major projects.
 
The bridge, which will link the city’s Nutana neighbourhood with the south downtown, has stayed sympathetic to the original bridge in terms of style, but will be bigger and better than the one it replaces.
 
One big change: it will now accommodate rescue vehicles such as fire trucks and ambulances.

“Wider, of course, with the new driving lanes that are hopefully going to address the side-swipe problem with the original structure that was built in 1908,” Willems said. “Vehicles weren’t quite as big then.”

The new span will also be fitted with three metre-wide pathways on either side to give pedestrians more room.

The final section of the old span will be torn down, rather then blown up like previous spans were.

“Crews are putting the finishing touches on construction of an in-river berm on the north side of the river so they can start building the two north piers,” Willems said.

Work on the new Traffic Bridge began late last year. The goal is to have traffic flowing across the new span by the fall of 2018.