A Regional Transportation Study was given a first public look at the regular meeting of Yorkton Council Monday.
“At a regular Council meeting on April 27, 2015, Council authorized Administration to participate in a Regional Transportation Study along with the Saskatchewan Ministry of Highways and Infrastructure (Ministry) as well as both the RM of Orkney and the RM of Wallace,” explained Moshiur Rahman, City Engineer, with the City at Monday’s meeting.
“In October 2015, the Ministry issued a Request for Proposals for the “Yorkton Regional Transportation Study.” Proposals were received from five consultants. The proposal from Associated Engineering was selected as the successful proposal. The total cost of the study is approximately $160,000.”
The cost of the project was cost-shared, said Rahman.
“An agreement was signed on February 11, 2016 in which the City of Yorkton committed to pay 37.5 per cent ($59,787.5) of the total cost with the Ministry committing to 50 per cent ($79,878.50) and each of the RM’s committing to 6.25 per cent ($10,000.00,” he detailed.
“The City of Yorkton also agreed to provide representation on the Steering and Technical committees for the project.”
The work has been ongoing.
“Since then, Associated Engineering has reviewed existing conditions, analyzed potential constraints, and collected traffic data. This was used to create a Traffic Demand Model (TDM) for Yorkton and the surrounding areas. The TDM was used to identify issues, establish future needs and help with long term planning of the regional transportation network,” said Rahman.
Monday Monique Kealey, Project Manager for this study representing Associated Engineering reported on the final report.
Key project objective included;
• Identify regional transportation issues and needs
• Further develop planning work completed to date
• Develop a long range plan that meets the unique transportation and mobility needs of the regional partners and protects the integrity of the Saskatchewan provincial highway network
The report showed around 11,300 vehicles come into the region daily on all highways combined.
Of those 52 per cent stay in the city at least 12 hours, said Kealey.
Thirty-three per cent come in and go back out the same way, she continued. Twelve per cent travel through with a stop of less than 12 hours, and three per cent travel through without stopping (less than 150 cars and 200 trucks per day).
The data is part of the information needed to create a regional road network plan mainly about access to and from the region, not through it, said Kealey.
Regional connectors would be most useful for connecting existing truck routes to commercial-industrial growth area, she added.
The road network options basically covers three main areas, a Grain Miller Drive regional connector connecting Highways 9 and 16, and east connector link and a third link in the southwest area of the city.
The Grain Miller connector is the most critical aspect of the plan, said Kealey.
“We see this as a must do,” she said, adding it is estimated its development would shift about 3000 vehicles from York Road. The project would;
• Provide access to the Northwest Industrial area
• Support adjacent development
• Improve connection between Highway 9 and Highway 16
• Staging may progress from a primary weight Super Grid to a four-lane paved road with limited access
Farther into the future, potentially decades, a ring road around Yorkton is part of the far-ranging plan.
“Eventually it makes sense to have a ring around the city,” said Kealey, adding that is a need as the city grows.
The next step is to focus greater attention on details of the Grain Millers Drive option, said Kealey. She said there are positives and negatives to having it designated provincial highway, or to have it as a municipal roadway, and those pluses and minuses need to be studied to know which direction to go.
Other aspects of the plan unveiled Monday would only follow the Grain Millers Drive work as City growth made them worthwhile, said Kealey.
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