City gets public feedback on two-way traffic on Central Avenue

City planning staff were looking for feedback on the during the open house, but that is just one aspect of what will be a five-year rehabilitation plan.

“This is one of the last things we need to make a decision on so that we can proceed. It’s intuitive, so why wouldn’t we? The concerns that come up are functional,” said Kristina Karpluk, planner manager.

“So far, most of the feedback that I’ve been hearing is that two-way generally makes sense.”

The functional concerns revolve around delivery service and snow removal.

It will be up to council to decide whether the change should be made, something they will do next month and then staff will prepare a request for proposals for a design.

After that, there will be a lot of consultations with property owners, businesses and residents downtown. That will take about two years.

Evan Hastings, capital projects manager for the city, said some major work needs to be done one way or another, so it makes sense to redo the surface at the same time.

“At its heart, this is an infrastructure project. The entirety of our water main underneath Central Avenue is from 1906. So, it’s among the oldest infrastructure in the entire city,” he said.

The asphalt is patched, bricks are out of place, tree grates are in the wrong location and concrete is cracked in multiple places.

“Rather than doing multiple projects, rehabilitation, emergency work every year, every couple of years, it’s about bringing it all together and doing a project as a whole to revitalize the downtown,” he said.

Public feedback is not limited to the open house. A dedicated page on the city’s website also allows for input.

The city has heard elsewhere that the street should be a two-way as it encourages people to stay.

A presentation from BMI Group’s Chris Rickett, who is also a fellow with the Canadian Urban Institute, revealed some surprising information.

Ricket said that 2025 cell phone data showed almost 9.5 million people visiting the downtown, made up of 700,000 unique visitors.

Rickett presented the data to the city’s business community at a Chamber hosted lunch in April.

Businesses and city hall alike were surprised by the volume of people in the downtown.

“It was an extraordinary number. It was a number I most certainly didn’t anticipate. I saw it as all the more reason to keep going with what we’re doing,” Karpluk said.

Rickett also said that having one way traffic discourages people from staying, shopping or spending more money and the next challenge is to find a way to get the people to stay longer and spend more money.

Businesses have been consulted but will get more opportunities for feedback as the project progresses.

“There’s going to be in-person public consultation with everyone that we can get in touch with along Central Avenue. We need to go hear from them what their current concerns are, what their future concerns are. We need to see what the back alley looks like,” Karpluk said.

On the department’s to-do list for 2026 is releasing the RFP for design consultants and engineers, designing the replacement underground infrastructure, consulting the Crown Corporations (SaskPower and SaskEnergy) on their infrastructure, which is also outdated and finalizing the surface design.

The surface plan will include streetscaping, irrigation, electrical work and a parking plan.

“It’s bringing that all together and then providing us the design about what they think should be done to this downtown,” Hastings explained.

When that is done, staff will bring recommendations back to council and have another open house. The work will be done in phases, though and with the idea to keep disruptions to the businesses along the street to a minimum.

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susan.mcneil@pattisonmedia.com

On BueSky: @susanmcneil.bsky.social

by Susan McNeil

City gets public feedback on two-way traffic on Central Avenue

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