Circle Drive

Last updated

Saskatchewan Highway 11 (jct).svg Saskatchewan Highway 16.svg
Circle Drive
Circle Drive
Circle Drive highlighted in red
Route information
Maintained by City of Saskatoon
Length26.8 km (16.7 mi)
Existed1961–present
Component
highways
Hwy 11, Hwy 16 (TCH)
Major junctions
Orbital around Saskatoon
Major intersectionsSaskatchewan Highway 5 (jct).svg Highway 5
Saskatchewan Highway 11 (jct).svg Highway 11
Saskatchewan Highway 12 (jct).svg Highway 12
Saskatchewan Highway 7 (jct).svg Highway 7
Saskatchewan Highway 14 (jct).svg Highway 14
Saskatchewan Highway 16.svgYellowhead Blank.svg Highway 16 (TCH/YH)
Location
Country Canada
Province Saskatchewan
Highway system
    Saskatchewan Highway 10 (jct).svg Highway 10 Saskatchewan Highway 11 (jct).svgSaskatchewan Highway 12 (jct).svg Highway 12
    Saskatchewan Highway 15 (jct).svg Highway 15 Saskatchewan Highway 16.svgSaskatchewan Highway 16A.svg Highway 16A
    Circle Drive entrance from northbound Highway 11 CircleDrCityCentreYorkton.jpg
    Circle Drive entrance from northbound Highway 11

    Circle Drive is a major road constructed as a ring road in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. Its route constitutes both part of Highway 16 and Highway 11, signed as both along the entire length. It was first conceived in 1913 by the city commissioner and completed exactly 100 years later in 2013. [1] Most of the route is a fully-controlled access freeway, however the segment between Airport Drive and Millar Avenue has at-grade intersections.

    Contents

    History

    Construction of a ring road in Saskatoon was first proposed in 1913 by city commissioner Christopher J. Yorath. He conceived the first comprehensive town plan, which included inner and outer "encircling boulevards". Parts of the present-day roadway follow the course Yorath laid out, though some route proposals were rejected, such as one for the southern leg that would have taken the roadway over an island south of present-day Saskatoon that, years later, was named in honour of Yorath. [2] It wasn't until the 1950s as the city expanded outward that the present roadway corridor was established. The proposed road was officially named "Circle Drive" at a special city council session on May 4, 1959, [3] and by the fall of 1960 a route had been formalized which planners mostly adhered to for the remainder of the project. [4] Construction funding, originally estimated at $10 million, was allotted and construction began in 1961. [5]

    Rather than the complete route being built at once, Circle Drive was built in sections, as required by traffic conditions and allowed by available funding. As a result, it would take 52 years for the project to be completed.

    The first sections to be built were a northwest segment between Warman Road and 11th Street West, which initially included only a single interchange at Idylwyld Drive (formerly known as Avenue A); some of the route made use of a previously existing arterial commercial road, 42nd Street (as a result, the stretch of Circle Drive between Avenue C and Millar Avenue is often referred to as 42nd Street, and businesses fronting the roadway continued to use 42nd Street as their street address well into the 1970s [6] ), and most of Dundonald Avenue, a street that followed the western edge of the city, was removed to make way for the freeway. The southeast segment, from Lorne Avenue to College Drive, was constructed concurrently with the Idylwyld Freeway, a connector from Circle Drive into the downtown core. Not including the Idylwyld Freeway, only two interchanges were initially built on the southeast leg: a limited-access one at 14th Street, and a large cloverleaf interchange at the junction of the realigned highways 16 and 11. The first portion of the southeast leg to be built was from 8th Street south to the city limits where it met a realigned Highway 11. In lieu of an interchange at 8th Street, a large traffic circle or roundabout was constructed.

    1983 extension and north bridge

    Circle Drive approaching the Circle Drive North Bridge Circle Drive Bridge (cropped).JPG
    Circle Drive approaching the Circle Drive North Bridge

    For close to 15 years, the two sections of Circle Drive sat apart, with discussions regarding the third phase continuing through the 1970s. The next portion of the roadway completed was the northeast quadrant, from College Drive to Warman Road, connecting the two extant sections. This included the construction of the Circle Drive Bridge (aka the North Bridge and initially referred to as the 42nd Street Bridge) across the South Saskatchewan River and was completed in 1983 after several years of construction.

    The original project involved interchanges at Warman Road and 108th Street; over the next 20 years additional interchanges were constructed at Attridge Drive/Preston Avenue North and College Drive. Also during the 1980s, the northwest leg of Circle Drive added an interchange at 33rd Street, while the 8th Street traffic circle in the southeast was removed after years of complaints and accidents, and in the late 1990s an interchange was constructed as a replacement. Also in 1996 an interchange was added at Taylor Street's junction with Circle Drive. Some infrastructure work planned to go with the northeast leg of Circle Drive, including the closure of Central Avenue's connection to College Drive, removal of the Circle Drive/14th Street interchange and a proposed interchange at Preston Avenue and College Drive, was never undertaken.

    A few years after its completion, the northeast extension was designated the through route for the Yellowhead Highway, replacing the previous route through downtown along Idylwyld Drive.

    In 2002, a major interchange was added where Circle Drive intersected several major roads: 22nd Street West, Fairlight Drive and Confederation Drive, replacing a complex series of traffic lights. Also, partially in preparation for the extension of the freeway (as well as residential and commercial development), an interchange at Clarence Avenue South was added in the late 2000s.

    2013 extension and south bridge

    The last remaining southwest section of Circle Drive, between 11th Street West and Lorne Avenue, including the Gordie Howe Bridge (originally called the Circle Drive South Bridge) and running parallel to the Grand Trunk Bridge, opened to traffic on July 31, 2013, after several years of construction and a rain- and water table-induced delay of nearly a year. Approximately 7 km in length, it connects the C.N. Industrial area to the Holiday Park neighbourhood, travelling through property annexed from the Saskatoon Golf and Country Club. [7] [8]

    The bridge has six traffic lanes and a pedestrian walkway suspended underneath, similar to the north bridge. National and provincial funding each amounted to $172 million and the city of Saskatoon committed $70.5 million towards the project. [9] The total cost of the project is estimated at $272.5 million. [10]

    The city of Saskatoon hired a private contractor to build the bridge. Three companies submitted proposals: PCL Construction, Peter Kiewet Sons and Graham Construction/Flatiron. [11] The Graham/Flatiron bid was selected on March 29, 2010. Construction of the bridge and associated roadways was expected to be complete by September 30, 2012. [10] However, record rainfall, high water tables and an early snowfall made that deadline unfeasible, and the roadway ultimately did not open until July 31, 2013.

    Environment Canada and Fisheries and Ocean oversaw environmental impacts on the river. The project included four new interchanges: at 11th Street West (which utilizes some of the land area given up by the Maple Leaf Foods building demolition in 2010), [11] and at Secondary Highway 762 (Valley Road) on the west side of the river, and interchanges at Highway 219 (Lorne Avenue) and the Idylwyld Freeway. In the later stages of construction, construction began on an interchange along the older southeast section of Circle Drive at its intersection with Preston Avenue South; this was completed several months after the southwest extension and technically marked the completion of the Circle Drive project.

    The Holiday Park golf course needed to re-landscape two holes on the golf course, as holes 6 and 7 were affected. The southwest and southern periphery of Diefenbaker Park was also impacted as that portion of the park was taken over by the freeway. Some roadways in Montgomery Place and Holiday Park Industrial were also realigned and the at-grade intersection at Circle and Clancy Drive was also revised. Another impact of the project is a new rail switching yard near 11th Street and Dundonald Avenue. In 2010, the city of Saskatoon signed a non-binding agreement in principle with the Canadian National Railway and Canadian Pacific Railway to move railcar switching out of the downtown Central Industrial neighbourhood. [12]

    Additional road revisions were required as part of the project: 11th Street West, westbound from the new interchange with Circle, was replaced with the 11th Street West Bypass, aligned further north from the original road, which was converted into a cul-de-sac; this, in turn, opened up space for new multi-family residential development in the mature Montgomery Place community. Several streets within the South West Industrial and C.N. Industrial subdivisions were also realigned or shortened. The portion of Dundonald Avenue between Mountbatten Street and Valley Road was designated for closure; this required the construction of a new access road off Valley Road connecting to the city landfill while Valley Road itself was realigned to connect directly with Circle Drive (previously it had linked with Dundonald Avenue). Development of the Circle Drive/Valley Ridge interchange also required the permanent closure of the Fletcher Road access point into South West Industrial via Dundonald, leading to city planners adding a new roadway, Dawes Avenue, to provide an extra access to 11th Street and, in turn, Circle Drive.

    The first portion of the southwest extension to open was 11th Street to Valley Road, which was open by late spring of 2013.

    Future development

    Although the circle is now "closed", Saskatoon is investigating future improvements to older parts of the freeway, including revisions to the aged Idylwyld Drive North/Circle Drive interchange and finding ways to deal with traffic congestion along the non-freeway "42nd Street" (Warman Road to Avenue C) section of the road. As of October 2013 the city's Projected Growth Concept Plan map shows a proposed interchange at Airport Drive. There remain two further seagull intersections along the western freeway portion of Circle Drive at Laurier Drive and Clancy Drive that the city is looking to redevelop in the future in order to create "freeflow" conditions along the non-42nd Street portion of the road; the same long-term plan also calls for revision to the complicated interchange at 22nd Street and Circle Drive (and adjacent roadways). [13]

    In February 2018, Saskatoon announced preliminary plans to replace the aging cloverleaf interchange where Circle Drive intersects Highway 11 and 16 in the southeast corner of the city. With an estimated cost of $280 million, work on the upgrade is not expected to begin until the late 2020s or early 2030s. [14]

    A new Saskatoon Freeway is (as of 2022) in the planning phase. Located on the current development periphery of Saskatoon (much as Circle Drive initially was when construction on it began in the 1960s), it is expected to relieve pressure on Circle by allowing a city bypass. However, planning documents for the freeway show there are no plans for a southwest section of the road (between Highway 7 and Highway 11), as the new southwest portion of Circle Drive is expected to handle this traffic for the foreseeable future. [15]

    Interchanges

    Clarence Avenue/Circle Drive interchange ClarenceAvenueInterchange.jpg
    Clarence Avenue/Circle Drive interchange

    As of 2004, the Circle Drive Bridge portion of the road was carrying up to 50,000 vehicles per day, more than twice the volume from when it opened. [16] Due to the greatly increased traffic the bridge was significantly expanded in 2007. [17] Over the years, a number of at-grade intersections were converted to grade-separated interchanges to improve traffic flow. [18] They include:

    There are also purpose-built half-diamond interchanges at 14th Street East and 108th Street, and a cloverleaf interchange at highways 11 and 16. Between Millar Avenue and Avenue C North, Circle Drive downgrades from a freeway to an arterial road, with regular signalized intersections and driveway-accessed businesses. Additional at-grade intersections are located at Circle Place (no signals, eastbound access only), Airport Drive (signals; north-eastbound traffic free-flow), Laurier Drive (signals; northbound traffic free-flow), and Clancy Drive (signals, northbound traffic free-flow). A short spur of Circle Drive between the Idylwyld Freeway and Lorne Avenue formerly included a T-intersection at Lorne and at-grade intersections at Jasper Avenue and Melville Street, but these were removed as part of the southwest construction (see below).

    As noted above, the junction of 8th Street and Circle Drive was originally, in the late 1960s, constructed as a large roundabout dubbed the "Traffic Circle". The first such construction of its kind in Saskatchewan, motorists found it difficult to navigate, leading to local media airing advisories on how to use it. The site of many accidents over the years, and dubbed the most accident-prone location in the city, [20] the circle was ultimately dismantled in the 1980s and replaced with a split at-grade intersection in anticipation for a standard diamond interchange that was constructed in the 1990s.

    Exits and intersections

    This is a list of present exits and intersections on Circle Drive, beginning clockwise from the Highway 11 / Highway 16 interchange in southeast Saskatoon. The entire route is in Saskatoon.

    km [21] miDestinationsNotes
    0.00.0Saskatchewan Highway 16.svgYellowhead Blank.svg Highway 16 (TCH/YH) east (Yellowhead Highway) Yorkton
    Saskatchewan Highway 11 (jct).svgSaskatchewan Highway 16.svg Highway 11 south (Louis Riel Trail) / Circle Drive north (Highway 11 north / Highway 16 west) Regina
    Cloverleaf interchange; roadway continues as Hwy 16 east
    1.20.75Preston Avenue S Diamond interchange
    2.91.8Clarence Avenue SDiamond interchange
    4.02.5 Idylwyld Drive  City Centre Flyover interchange; no eastbound exit
    4.62.9Saskatchewan Highway 219 (jct).svg Lorne Avenue (Highway 219 south) City Centre Partial cloverleaf interchange; eastbound access to Idylwyld Freeway; no eastbound entrance
    6.44.0 Gordie Howe Bridge over South Saskatchewan River
    7.94.9Valley Road (Highway 762 south) Trumpet interchange; Circle Drive turns north.
    9.15.711th Street W Partial cloverleaf interchange
    10.06.2Clancy Drive Seagull intersection; northbound freeflow
    10.86.7Saskatchewan Highway 7 (jct).svgSaskatchewan Highway 14 (jct).svg  22nd Street W ( Highway 7 west / Highway 14 west) / Confederation Drive City Centre, Biggar, Rosetown Spaghetti Junction
    Fairmont DriveSouthbound exit only
    11.47.1Laurier Drive (alternate route to Confederation Drive) Seagull intersection; northbound freeflow; Circle Drive turns northeast
    13.08.133rd Street WDiamond interchange
    14.89.2Ontario M502.svg Airport Drive – Saskatoon John G. Diefenbaker International Airport Seagull intersection; northbound freeflow
    15.29.4Circle PlaceEastbound Right-in/right-out
    Freeway ends; becomes major arterial road (former 42nd Street)
    15.59.6Avenue C NTraffic signals; Circle Drive turns east.
    15.79.8Saskatchewan Highway 11 (jct).svgSaskatchewan Highway 16.svgYellowhead Blank.svgSaskatchewan Highway 12 (jct).svg Highway 11 north / Highway 16 (TCH/YH) west to Highway 12  / Idylwyld Drive N  City Centre, Prince Albert, The Battlefords Diamond interchange; traffic signals
    15.99.9Northridge Drive (north) / Alberta Avenue (south)Traffic signals
    16.110.0Faithfull AvenueTraffic signals
    16.210.1Quebec AvenueTraffic signals
    16.410.21st Avenue NTraffic signals
    16.610.3Shopping centre accessTraffic signals
    17.010.6Millar Avenue north / Venture Crescent southTraffic signals
    Freeway resumes
    17.310.7Warman Road City Centre Parclo AB4 interchange
    18.411.4 Circle Drive Bridge over South Saskatchewan River
    19.011.8Shopping centre access to Preston Avenue NEastbound exit only; former Preston Avenue alignment.
    19.912.4Preston Avenue N south / Attridge Drive east Parclo B4 interchange; Circle Drive turns south
    21.413.3108th Street EHalf diamond interchange; northbound entrance (including second NB access from Lanyon Avenue), southbound exit
    22.313.9Saskatchewan Highway 5 (jct).svgSaskatchewan Highway 41 (jct).svg College Drive (Highway 5 east) to Highway 41  City Centre, University of Saskatchewan, Humboldt, Melfort Parclo B4 interchange
    23.214.414th Street EHalf diamond interchange; northbound entrance, southbound exit
    24.014.9 8th Street E Diamond interchange; northbound ramp access into The Centre shopping mall
    25.115.6Taylor Street EDiamond interchange
    26.816.7Saskatchewan Highway 16.svgYellowhead Blank.svg Highway 16 (TCH/YH) east / Circle Drive west (Highway 11 north / Highway 16 west) Yorkton, City Centre
    Saskatchewan Highway 11 (jct).svg Highway 11 south (Louis Riel Trail) Regina
    Cloverleaf interchange; roadway continues Hwy 11 south
    1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi

    References

    1. "Circle Drive South bridge needs a name". CTV News. June 4, 2013. Retrieved August 13, 2019.
    2. Kerr, Don; Stan Hanson (1982). Georgina Lewis (ed.). Saskatoon: The First Half-Century . NeWest Press. p.  286. ISBN   0-920316-37-9.
    3. "Third Page: I See..." The StarPhoenix . May 5, 1959. Retrieved February 25, 2022.
    4. "Proposed Circle Drive Would Give Access to All Parts of City". The StarPhoenix . October 1, 1960. Retrieved February 25, 2022.
    5. "Expect Early Start on Circle Drive Project". The StarPhoenix . April 22, 1961. Retrieved January 19, 2013.
    6. An example can be found in the 23 February 1971 edition of the Saskatoon Star-Phoenix, p.10, in an advertisement for CAC Realty Ltd.
    7. "Circle Drive South Bridge". Archived from the original on May 9, 2008. Retrieved December 24, 2008.
    8. "River Crossing Studies". City of Saskatoon. Archived from the original on November 15, 2010. Retrieved November 4, 2010.
    9. Nickel, Rod (June 21, 2008). "Bridge builders". The StarPhoenix . pp. A1. Archived from the original on November 6, 2012. Retrieved November 4, 2010.
    10. 1 2 "Circle Drive South Project". City of Saskatoon. Archived from the original on November 15, 2010. Retrieved November 4, 2010.
    11. 1 2 Hutton, David (May 30, 2009). "Builders to receive details on bridge project". The StarPhoenix . CanWest. Archived from the original on August 20, 2012. Retrieved November 4, 2010.
    12. Hutton, David (June 23, 2009). "City, CP agree to study move of downtown yard". The StarPhoenix . Canwest. p. A3. Retrieved November 4, 2010.
    13. "Circle Drive West FPS".
    14. Mattern, Ashleigh (February 16, 2018). "Proposed $280M cloverleaf replacement would be among most expensive projects in Saskatoon's history". CBC News . Retrieved October 2, 2018.
    15. "Map". Saskatoon Freeway. September 28, 2020. Retrieved February 25, 2022.
    16. "(pdf) Circle Drive South River Crossing, Questions and Answers" (PDF). City of Saskatoon. June 2004. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 12, 2007. Retrieved November 28, 2007.
    17. "Circle Drive Widening". City of Saskatoon. Archived from the original on May 14, 2007. Retrieved November 29, 2007.
    18. "The City of Saskatoon Municipal Manual 2007" (PDF). City of Saskatoon. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 26, 2007. Retrieved December 12, 2007.
    19. "Circle Drive and Preston Avenue Interchange Information Session on October 19". City of Saskatoon. Archived from the original on March 27, 2012. Retrieved November 4, 2010.
    20. Robinson, Art (December 29, 1979). "1980 to see start on long-awaited 42nd Street Bridge". The StarPhoenix . Retrieved January 19, 2013.
    21. "Circle Drive in Saskatoon, SK" (Map). Google Maps . April 18, 2016.
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