CONCLUSION
Due to the proximity of the Regina Bypass to Pinkie Road, options for managing traffic flow in and around 9th Avenue North are limited. City of Regina (City) Administration, with input from the Ministry of Highways and Infrastructure (MHI) and major land developers, have developed a short and long-term plan for the 9th Avenue North corridor from Courtney Street to Pinkie Road, which will optimize traffic flow and minimize impacts to adjacent landowners. It will also allow access to development, while ensuring that 9th Avenue North can be maintained as an expressway connection to the bypass.
BACKGROUND
The MHI is in the process of constructing a new bypass around Regina. Due to the proximity of the 9th Avenue North interchange and Regina Bypass, the City is not permitted to maintain all traffic movements at the intersection of 9th Avenue North and Pinkie Road, nor to signalize that intersection now or in the future. The MHI has the authority to close all or part of any public highway through The Highways and Transportation Act, 2007.
With all movements not permitted at the intersection of 9th Avenue North and Pinkie Road in both the short and long-term, the City’s long-term plans for the road network require adjustments to these new conditions.
The City and MHI agreed to cost-share a Value Engineering Study (VE) that would explore different options for managing traffic along the 9th Avenue North corridor. This report provides an overview of the VE process and illustrates the short and long-term plans for the corridor.
DISCUSSION
In the summer of 2017, the City retained the services of ISL Engineering who partnered with eHan Engineering to conduct a series of Value Engineering and Risk Assessment Workshops, as well as providing traffic analysis. In September of 2017, the first workshop was held and participant organizations included the City, MHI, Dream Development, Harvard Development and Forster Projects. The purpose of this workshop was to brainstorm ideas for managing short and long-term traffic flow on and around the 9th Avenue North corridor, given the constraints presented by the location of the Regina Bypass.
The workshop resulted in the creation of 66 different options for managing traffic in and around the corridor. Through a series of discussions and voting processes, the options were subsequently narrowed to three, which were subjected to more detailed traffic analysis and cost estimating before the second workshop.
A smaller group comprised of all the previously mentioned stakeholders reconvened in December of 2017 to establish the formal criteria to rank each of the options against a series of criteria, such as traffic performance, accessibility and impact to landowners, cost, overall functionality and to create a benefit-cost ratio for each of the options to establish a preferred option.
While a preferred long-term option was identified, additional follow-up items were necessary to ensure that all stakeholder concerns were addressed in the short-term. Specifically, the MHI had indicated that all left-turn movements at the intersection of Pinkie Road would not be permissible in the short-term; however, the west-bound to south-bound left turn movement was deemed to be an important turn movement in the short-term for some stakeholders.
Following the workshop, the City and MHI agreed that a west-bound to south-bound left turn movement onto Pinkie Road from 9th Avenue North could be safely accommodated in the short-term and the MHI have subsequently made plans to include the construction of this left turn lane as part of their current project that would enable that movement, while blocking the unsafe movements that were of concern in the Regina Bypass construction project. This can be found in Appendix A - 9th Avenue Corridor - Short-term Plan.
The long-term plan is shown in Appendix B - 9th Avenue Corridor - Long-term Plan. While the City had intended for Pinkie Road to be an all-turns intersection at 9th Avenue North in both the short and long-term, this is no longer a viable option due to short weaving distances that would pose safety concerns and negatively affect the operation of the Regina Bypass in the long-term.
As illustrated in Appendix B, the long-term plan calls for restricted access to 9th Avenue North from Pinkie Road. In order to manage traffic volumes from the future Coopertown neighbourhood, in the absence of all-turns movements at Pinkie Road, the importance of the future connection north of Fairway Road is elevated.
To manage traffic volumes and maintain 9th Avenue North as an expressway and ultimately a freeway, the long-term plan calls for interchanges at both Courtney Street (consistent with City’s previous plan) and at Fairway Road, as well as an off-ramp from the Regina Bypass at roughly the mid-point between 9th Avenue North and Armour Road.
While the long-term plan will be subject to change and refinement closer to implementation, which will be years if not decades away depending on the pace of growth, the short-term plan is imminent and must be in place prior to the opening of the Regina Bypass in 2019.
The work associated with the 9th Avenue North corridor was accelerated to meet timeframes associated with the Regina Bypass Project construction schedule. The City has also been conducting a study related to the function and planning of the Courtney Street and Pinkie Road corridors from 9th Avenue North and Dewdney Avenue and the findings from that study will consider the outcome from the 9th Avenue North Corridor VE and will be presented to City Council separately.
RECOMMENDATION IMPLICATIONS
Financial Implications
Any costs to the City associated with the short-term work will be funded through Servicing Agreement Fees (SAFs). Any financial implications to the City associated with the long-term work will be in accordance with applicable SAF policy in effect at the time of the work. Any costs associated with both the short and long-term solution will be included in ongoing cost-sharing negotiations with MHI for the 9th Avenue North interchange.
Environmental Implications
None with respect to this report.
Policy and/or Strategic Implications
The proposed solution does not directly conflict with policies within Design Regina: The Official Community Plan Bylaw No. 2013-48 or the Transportation Master Plan; however, the design solution is not consistent with the City’s original intent for the Fairway Road/Coopertown Boulevard north leg or the Pinkie Road corridor. The Coopertown Neighbourhood Plan will require a future update to reflect the changes to the 9th Avenue North corridor.
Other Implications
None with respect to this report.
Accessibility Implications
None with respect to this report.
COMMUNICATIONS
A copy of this report is being provided to the stakeholders who have been engaged in previous discussions related to the intersection of 9th Avenue North and Pinkie Road.
A letter will be provided to property owners within 1,000 m of the intersection of 9th Avenue North and Pinkie Road advising them of the short-term changes they can expect at the intersection. Proper signage will be placed at the intersection of 9th Avenue North and Pinkie Road in advance of the changes being made. Residents can learn more about the Regina Bypass and the 9th Avenue North interchange at reginabypass.ca/.
DELEGATED AUTHORITY
The recommendation contained in this report is within the delegated authority of the Public Works & Infrastructure Committee.
Respectfully submitted, 
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Report prepared by:
Shanie Leugner, Manager, Business Support