University of Saskatchewan students returning to campus are being greeted by gridlock traffic. The fall term began on Wednesday, representing the first day of classes for many programs and the start of a new academic year for tens of thousands of students. One major change many people are noticing this year is the impact construction is having on welcome week. “We have approximately 30,000 people descending on our campus,” Wade Epp, the university’s associate vice-president of campus operations, said. “About the population of Moose Jaw and about 8,000 to 10,000 cars daily. So, it’s definitely a very busy time of year in this first couple of weeks.” On Thursday morning, the bottleneck of traffic moving through campus could be seen along Preston Avenue and north through Preston Crossing with some vehicles stopped at the Circle Drive exit ramp onto Preston. The biggest factor affecting traffic is the lingering closure of University Bridge and College Drive. The bridge has been closed since April for major repairs. Sections of College Drive from the bridge to Cumberland Avenue have been closed for infrastructure repairs and to make way for the launch of Link in 2028. As of Thursday, there is one lane of traffic moving in each direction on the south side of College Drive up to Hospital Drive. The city says due to overnight rain on Wednesday, the city couldn’t commit to an exact date, but said College Drive and University Bridge would reopen “within days,” which includes access in and out of campus from College Drive eastbound at Wiggins Road. “People are adjusting. It is slowing things down as people are trying to find their way onto campus,” Epp said. Before construction began in April, the city said University Bridge would partially reopen in mid-June with a majority of road restrictions lifted by the time U of S students returned in September. After weather delays, that plan was scrapped in mid-July when the city announced the bridge would not reopen to general traffic following discussions with emergency services and the Saskatchewan Health Authority. Aside from vehicles leaving Hospital Drive eastbound on College Drive, there are no other vehicle accesses to campus from College Drive. Another feature causing major delays throughout campus — and even affecting people leaving the Royal University Hospital — are new stop signs the university has installed as a pilot project along Campus Drive. While they may be adding delays for some drivers, Epp says the stop signs were needed to avoid total gridlock or have some drivers attempting to find back roads or alternate routes where no signage exists. “Is to allow certain roads that might otherwise just be complete gridlock because of the flow through the main campus drive,” he said. “Because of people having to access that compared to using maybe some of their more previous routes like Wiggins,” Epp said.
