Ring Road is a 4 lane controlled access highway in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. Ring Road is a partial ring road or beltway that forms a partial circle around Regina, bypasses the city on the north, east, and south sides, with Lewvan Drive and Pasqua Street N functioning as the de facto western leg. East of Pasqua Street, Ring Road continues west as 9th Avenue N, an arterial road. Ring Road has a speed limit of 100 km/h (60 mph) and consists of 13 interchanges.
.svg) Ring Road | |
|---|---|
| Trans-Canada Highway Bypass (partial, former) | |
 Ring Road highlighted in red | |
| Route information | |
| Maintained by Ministry of Highways and Infrastructure | |
| Length | 22.3 km (13.9 mi) |
| Component highways | Current: Hwy 6 Former: Hwy 1 (TCH), Hwy 11 |
| Ring Road | |
| South end |   Highway 1 (TCH) / Highway 11 |
| Major intersections | |
| North end | Pasqua Street N / 9th Avenue N |
| 9th Avenue N | |
| East end | Pasqua Street N / Ring Road |
| West end | Highway 11 (Regina Bypass) |
| Location | |
| Country | Canada |
| Province | Saskatchewan |
| Highway system | |
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Route description
editRing Road forms a partial circle around Regina, connecting the city's eastern, southern, and northern suburbs and commercial districts with Regina's industrial centre. In addition to being used as a commuting highway, Ring Road sufficiently connects Highway 6 and Highway 11 to the Trans-Canada Highway (Highway 1) There is no western leg of Ring Road, nor is one planned; however, the north-south limited-access road of Lewvan Drive and Pasqua Street N functions as the de facto western leg. The western leg of the Regina Bypass, which opened in October 2019, provides a western freeway link between Highway 1 and Highway 11. With the west suburban developments flourishing in Regina, the Pasqua Street and Ring Road intersection becomes congested at peak hours. Thus the city plans to construct a new interchange at this point in the near future.[1]
Route details
editGoing from the south to north, the first interchange is combination interchange at the Regina Bypass, which is also where Ring Road intersects Highway 1 and Highway 11, and travels east. It continues past a partial cloverleaf interchange at Lewvan Drive to a cloverleaf interchange at Albert Street, where Highway 6 is directed to follow Ring Road. East of Albert Street, Ring Road turns northeast and passes a diamond interchange at Wascana Parkway, separating the campuses of the University of Regina and the Regina Campus of Saskatchewan Polytechnic. Ring Road crosses the Wascana Creek and a partial interchange with Assiniboine Avenue before reaching a diamond interchange with Arcola Avenue (Highway 33). Ring Road turns north and reaches a diamond interchange that bridges over 7-lane-wide Victoria Avenue. Prior to October 2019, section between the Regina Bypass and Victoria Avenue was part of Highway 1, and was named the Trans-Canada Highway Bypass.[2]
From Victoria Avenue, Ring Road continues north and reaches a half-diamond interchange that overpasses 3 lane wide Dewdney Avenue. Continuing north, Ring Road descends to underpass the Canadian Pacific rail line, curves to the north-west and also underpasses 5 lane Ross Avenue that connects to Ring Road with a half-diamond interchange. Immediately after this underpass, another rail line bridges over the highway. Ring Road then ascends to overpass McDonald Street (Highway 46) with a full diamond interchange.
After this point, there are 2 light-controlled railway crossings that are not bridged over Ring Road. The first is a CN line that has infrequent train crossings, and shortly afterwards approaches the CP line that has moderate train crossings. Even though typically the trains crossing these lines are short in length, evening rush hour in Regina often causes vehicle stand-stills at this point of Ring Road stretching over the McDonald Street interchange.
Immediately after these 2 rail crossings, Ring Road underpasses 5 lane wide Winnipeg Street which connects with a diamond interchange and curves to the west. Next, the highway underpasses Broad Street (with no interchange) followed by a pedestrian walkway. Ring Road then underpasses 6 lane wide Albert Street with a partial cloverleaf interchange that's missing the loop on the south-east corner as it's occupied by restaurants. Highway 6 exits Ring Road and continues north, providing access to Highway 11A (former Highway 11). Ring Road underpasses 5 lane Argyle Street connected with a half-diamond interchange before ending with a traffic light controlled intersection at Pasqua Street. Further west from this point, the road becomes 9th Avenue N.
9th Avenue N continues as an arterial road with traffic signals, intersecting McIntosh Street, McCarthy Boulevard, and Courtney Street before reaching the Regina Bypass.
| Section | Pasqua St – Argyle St |
Argyle St – Albert St N |
Albert St N– Winnipeg St |
Winnipeg St – McDonald St |
McDonald St – Ross Ave |
Ross Ave – Dewdney Ave |
Dewdney Ave – Victoria Ave |
Victoria Ave – Arcola Ave |
Arcola Ave – Assiniboine Ave |
Assiniboine Ave – Waskana Pkwy |
Waskana Pkwy – Albert St N |
Albert St N – Lewvan Dr | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Traffic volume | |||||||||||||
| 2007[3] | 32,300 | 36,300 | 38,900 | 37,700 | 27,700 | 33,500 | 32,300 | 22,600 | 22,500 | 34,000 | 18,600 | 12,300 | |
| 2017[4] | 40,100 | 51,000 | 64,000 | 60,000 | 52,000 | 68,000 | 52,000 | 56,000 | 52,000 | 67,000 | 50,000 | 36,000 | |
History
editThe southern portion of Ring Road was originally constructed in the late 1950s as part of the initial construction of the Trans-Canada Highway,[5][6] which bypassed the city route of Albert Street and Victoria Avenue through downtown Regina, and was called the Trans-Canada Highway Bypass. Extensive work continued throughout the 1960s, one of the first two cloverleaf interchanges in Saskatchewan at Highway 1 and Highway 6 (Albert Street S), which opened in 1967 (the other cloverleaf was located at the southeast corner of Circle Drive in Saskatoon).[7] Around the same time, Ring Road was constructed by bypassing 9th Avenue N east of Albert Street N and extending it towards Victoria Avenue, and was completed in 1979,[8] which included a realignment of the Trans-Canada Highway Bypass at Victoria Avenue to link with Ring Road at Victoria Avenue and form a continuous roadway.[9][10] Highway 1, 6, and 11 designations were moved from Albert Street and Victoria Avenue to Ring Road, bypassing Downtown Regina.
By the 1990s, traffic congestion on Victoria Avenue E (Highway 1) had become a major safety concern, and necessitated the study of a new bypass. In addition, the Global Transportation Hub (GTH), an 1,800-acre logistics park, was constructed in 2009 in required improved access to Highway 1 and Highway 11.[11] The Regina Bypass was opened in October, 2019 and as part of the project, the Highway 1 and Highway 11 designations were moved from Ring Road to the new route.[2] As part of the project, the Trans-Canada Highway Bypass section (Victoria Avenue E – Regina Bypass) was renamed to Ring Road.[2]
Exit list
editTravelling counterclockwise (south to north). The entire route is in Regina. All exits are unnumbered.
| km | mi | Destinations | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0.0 | 0.0 | Highway 1 (TCH) west – Moose Jaw Highway 1 (TCH) east / Highway 11 north (Regina Bypass) – Winnipeg, Saskatoon | Combination interchange; continues as Hwy 1 west; exit 258 on Hwy 1; exit 0 on Hwy 11 | ||
| 4.6 | 2.9 |  Lewvan Drive – Regina International Airport | Partial-cloverleaf interchange | ||
| 6.5 | 4.0 |   Albert Street S (Highway 6 south) – City Centre, Weyburn | Cloverleaf interchange; south end of Hwy 6 concurrency | ||
| 9.1 | 5.7 | Wascana Parkway – University of Regina, Saskatchewan Polytechnic | Diamond interchange | ||
| 11.1 | 6.9 | Crosses Wascana Creek | |||
| 11.4 | 7.1 | Assiniboine Avenue | Partial Y-interchange; northbound exit, southbound entrance | ||
| 12.8 | 8.0 |  Arcola Avenue (Highway 33 east) – Francis | Diamond interchange | ||
| 14.0 | 8.7 | Victoria Avenue E to Highway 1 east – City Centre, Winnipeg | Diamond interchange | ||
| 14.9 | 9.3 | Dewdney Avenue | Half diamond interchange; southbound exit, northbound entrance | ||
| 16.1 | 10.0 | Ross Avenue | Half diamond interchange; northbound exit, southbound entrance | ||
| 17.4 | 10.8 |  McDonald Street (Highway 46 east) – Pilot Butte, Balgonie | Diamond interchange | ||
| 18.4 | 11.4 | Railway crossing | At-grade crossing | ||
| 18.6 | 11.6 | Railway crossing | At-grade crossing | ||
| 18.8 | 11.7 | Winnipeg Street | Diamond interchange | ||
| 20.7 | 12.9 |  Albert Street N (Highway 6 north) to Highway 11A north – City Centre, Melfort, Saskatoon | Cloverleaf interchange; north end of Hwy 6 concurrency | ||
| 21.7 | 13.5 | Argyle Street | Half diamond interchange; westbound exit, eastbound entrance | ||
| 22.3 0.0 | 13.9 0.0 | Pasqua Street N – Regina International Airport | At-grade (traffic signals); interchange proposed Ring Road north end • 9th Avenue N east end | ||
| 0.8 | 0.50 | McIntosh Street | At-grade (traffic signals) | ||
| 1.6 | 0.99 | McCarthy Boulevard | At-grade (traffic signals) | ||
| 2.4 | 1.5 | Railway crossing | At-grade crossing | ||
| 3.3 | 2.1 | Courtney Street | At-grade (traffic signals) | ||
| 5.7 | 3.5 | Highway 11 (Regina Bypass) to Highway 1 – Saskatoon | Partial cloverleaf interchange (at-grade ramps); exit 11 on Hwy 11 | ||
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi
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References
edit- ^ "Current & Future Road Construction Projects". City of Regina. Archived from the original on 2009-02-16. Retrieved 2009-01-15.
- ^ a b c "Highway Name Changes At The Regina Bypass". Government of Saskatchewan | News and Media. October 10, 2019. Archived from the original on October 10, 2019. Retrieved December 12, 2019.
- ^ "2007 Traffic Flow Map". City of Regina. Archived from the original on 2011-05-21. Retrieved 2009-01-15.
- ^ "2017 - 2018 Traffic Counts" (PDF). City of Regina. Archived (PDF) from the original on December 12, 2019. Retrieved December 12, 2019.
- ^ The H.M. Gousha Company (1956). "Saskatchewan & Manitoba" (Map). Shell Map of British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. The Shell Oil Company.
- ^ "History of the Trans-Canada across Saskatchewan". TransCanadaHighway.com. Retrieved 2019-12-12.
- ^ Cousins, Brian. "Transportation". The Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan. CANADIAN PLAINS RESEARCH CENTER, UNIVERSITY OF REGINA. Archived from the original on May 16, 2014. Retrieved December 14, 2019.
- ^ "History". Regina Bypass. Retrieved 2019-12-12.
- ^ Department of Highways and Transportation (1972). Saskatchewan Official Highway Map (Map). Government of Saskatchewan. Regina inset.
- ^ Department of Highways and Transportation (1978). Complimentary City Guide and Map: Regina, Saskatchewan (Map). 1:20000. Government of Saskatchewan. §§ J-8, J-7, K-7, K-8.
- ^ Vigliotti, Marco. "Traffic danger increasing in Regina's west end with growth in commercial trucking, critics charge". Metro News. Retrieved 2014-05-29.