Saskatoon’s Broadway Bridge to reopen Saturday night, city says

Relief is coming this weekend for about 20,000 Saskatoon motorists a day.

The Broadway Bridge, which has been closed since May for major rehabilitation work, is expected to reopen Saturday night, the City of Saskatoon said Thursday afternoon.

Earlier Thursday, a city official could not quite pin down exactly when the bridge would reopen.

“It’s day by day,” Matt Jurkiewicz, the City of Saskatoon’s director of construction and design, told Saskatoon Morning host Stephanie Massicotte on Thursday. “We’re hoping by the end of Friday.”

Jurkiewicz said rain or snow could delay the reopening. But he said the bridge will “definitely” be open for Monday morning commuters.

When the bridge reopens, motorists travelling north into downtown will encounter a reconfigured intersection at Fourth Avenue and 19th Street. The previous  unusual convergence between Fourth and 19th has been transformed into a traditional T intersection with three sets of traffic lights and pedestrian crossings.

On Thursday, the bridge looked nearly finished, with the paving and painting of the lane dividing lines appearing to be complete. Work on the bridge spans and other infrastructure underneath the bridge is expected to continue after the bridge reopens.

At Wednesday's city council meeting, Mayor Cynthia Block pressed Terry Schmidt, the city’s general manager of transportation and construction, about the bridge reopening.

Block asked Schmidt whether crews would work through the weekend to get the final work done if the bridge doesn't reopen on Friday.

There was some laughter when Schmidt dithered over whether the work would be done “before” the end of the week or “by” the end of the week. 

“We are doing all that we can to get the bridge open by the end of the week,” Schmidt said. “The road surfaces are ready. The pavement markings are done. The streetlights are in place. It’s just dealing with a few deficiencies that we need to get addressed.”

An Ontario company that specializes in bridge rehabilitation, Julmac Contracting Ltd., was awarded the $15.5-million contract to upgrade the bridge. The contract covers deck repairs, new traffic barriers, improvements to the railing and arches and the removal of old and unused utilities underneath the bridge.

The Broadway Bridge was built in just 11 months as a make-work project during the Great Depression at a cost of $850,000, opening on Nov. 11, 1932. It’s the steepest bridge in Saskatoon and accommodates about 20,000 vehicles a day when open.