Work on Regina bypass will take years to fully complete

Regina's busy east end corridor will get busier as construction crews work in the area for a major bypass project that will take several years to fully complete.

Highway 1 into Regina from the east will, by the time all the work is done, include several new overpasses.

Work for one of the overpasses, at the intersection with Highway 46 near Balgonie, has begun.

The entire Regina bypass project is scheduled to be completed in 2019, but three of the four overpasses in the east end will be ready in 2017.

"We definitely made that area a priority," Joel Cherry, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Highways, said Tuesday. "The ultimate solution — for safety issues and traffic congestion — has always been overpasses and that's why we're prioritising [and] getting those done first."

The first three overpasses will be built at the Balgonie, White City and Tower Road intersections. Another overpass will be built at the Pilot Butte crossing, the scene of a recent collision that killed a local couple.

Officials said complicated construction issues at that location mean the overpass won't be ready until 2019.

"In the meantime though, once the other overpasses at Balgonie, White City and Tower Road are functional, they will be accessible via service roads from the Pilot Butte access," Cherry noted.

Motorists have expressed support for other traffic measures, such as lights, to improve safety but the province is proceeding with the overpass projects.

As well, the speed limit has been reduced to 90 km/h for one stretch of the route. There will also be further speed reductions when construction crews are in the area.

Motorists must slow to 60 km/h in a construction zone.