By Chelsea Laskowski

POLL: 2 new bridges for Saskatoon, what about Prince Albert?

Jun 10, 2014 | 5:52 PM

Saskatoon has offered a lending hand to Prince Albert in pursuing a second bridge, but it will only be grabbed if the City of Prince Albert decides to go the public-private partnership (P3) route.

Mayor Greg Dionne said Saskatoon’s mayor, Don Atchison, reached out to help with the process.

“We’ve been in discussion with them about how the process works,” Dionne said.

Saskatoon had success with the P3 process in publicly splitting the funding for the North Commuter Parkway bridge and Traffic Bridge between the city, provincial and federal governments.

Despite that, Dionne is hesitant to hop onboard with a P3.

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“They’re too new, so we’ve been talking to the province of Alberta, who’s familiar with P3s and a lot of them are getting out of P3s claiming they’re too expensive, they don’t use local contractors. So there’s pros and cons to both and because P3s are new to us we’re studying it,” he said.

He added the City is looking at all options for funding a second bridge, such as “not doing anything, leaving it up to the province.”

On that topic, he is optimistic about the recent appointment of Nancy Heppner as the minister of highways and infrastructure.

“We intend to ask for a meeting, and that will be on the discussion table,” he said. “She’ll come with a new set of eyes and ears whereas the previous highways minister had a mindset and the answer was ‘no’ and there was no wobbling from that. So with the new minister now we think we have an opportunity to work together.”

Councillor points out importance of location

Ward 2 Councillor Rick Orr, the ward the Diefenbaker Bridge is in, added that before any decisions are made on P3, or other alternative methods of paying for a second bridge, a location for the bridge must be chosen.

He referenced a report that was passed onto the City of Prince Albert, with three potential locations. One was along Sixth Avenue East, another on the edge of the city and another further out near the airport.

“The discussions at this stage are preliminary. I would hope that we would have public consultations when we look at the options for the bridge,” Orr said.

He noted the current bridge, because of its location, will likely remain popular. The second bridge will likely mostly pick up heavy trucks and haulers that are looking to bypass Prince Albert.

Orr also indicated lots of ideas have been thrown out in city council’s meetings, including a user toll, but no decisions have been made.

As to which location would be best, Orr emphasizes the importance of thinking to the future.

“I want to think of our community, not at 50,000, or 75[000], but I want to think about it at 100,000. That may be a long-time coming but today, if we don’t plan for that 100,000 I don’t think we’re doing justice to the future of our region or our city,” Orr said.

He considers two days this week, which city council will devote to strategic planning, as a good opportunity to think about that.
With no decisions made yet, Orr notes the cost of the bridge would depend on location.

Dionne did say he expects the second bridge will end up near the airport, but with the method of funding up in the air he said they aren’t sure who could contribute financially.

They’re speaking with northern partners to detail “what the economic benefit of a new bridge would be in Prince Albert.” But with no funding model decided on, Dionne hasn’t inquired with northern communities or businesses on contributing.

claskowski@panow.com

On Twitter: @chelsealaskowsk