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The City of Saskatoon said a series of events caused gridlock along the main road connecting the University of Saskatchewan (USask), one of its hospitals, and the city centre.
Last Friday, the city opened the University Bridge to vehicular traffic after months of repairs and delays. But the reopening of the route, coinciding with the end of summer vacation and the return of students to the area for lectures, led to an increase in traffic, according to the city’s special projects manager.
“Of course, we’re not in control of everything that people do when they travel. I think we’re starting to see people who maybe heard that the bridge was opening and want to try to take that route again, making those efforts and having those restrictions,” said Rob Dudiak.
The construction along College Drive is for the city’s bus rapid transit project known as Link. Currently, the city is implementing platforms along the stretch of road between Clarence and Cumberland Avenues, with one lane of traffic moving in each direction.
A number of intersection changes and restrictions are also being implemented on College Drive for road improvements.
For many USask students, the traffic-causing construction greatly lengthened their commute time and they told Global News that exiting the parking area along Campus Drive added about half an hour to their commute time.
Global News takes a 30-minute drive from Campus Drive near the student center to the intersection of Campus and College Drive.
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In a statement, the university acknowledged that construction could impact travel times and encouraged students facing delays to communicate with instructors.
“While construction may cause temporary inconveniences, these projects will provide long-term improvements to campus infrastructure, accessibility and transportation access,” USask said.
Dudiak said the city is working with the university and the Saskatchewan Health Authority to make adjustments to reduce traffic congestion, adding that the city has seen a decrease in traffic in the last two days.
“We spent over a year planning how the series would play out,” Dudiak said.
“Obviously, there’s a difference in seeing it as part of a planned sequence and then what we see in everyday reality, which we then try to monitor and make adjustments to as best we can to reduce stress and frustration for everyone.”
Dudiak said emergency vehicles can use the new transit lanes added at the College to bypass traffic. Medavie Health Services West, which operates the city’s ambulance system, told Global News in a statement that they did not experience significant delays in getting into Royal University Hospital, located just off College Drive.
“Our zone-based deployment model allows us to adapt to changing circumstances allowing us to continue operating safely and effectively without impacting patient care,” Medavie said.
Meanwhile, the Cancer Agency in its statement stated that it would continue to accommodate patients who were late arriving at the Cancer Center located next to the hospital, or reschedule as needed.
Road closures remain in effect
A number of road closures remain in effect in the area, including lane reductions along College Drive, with one lane each eastbound on Hospital Drive to Cumberland Avenue.
The exit from the University Bridge to the Saskatchewan Crescent will remain closed, although the city said it would reopen “in the coming days,” according to the city.
Meanwhile, construction on 25th Street continues, with lane restrictions up to the bridge. The intersection between 25th Street and 2nd Avenue North also remains closed.
Dudiak said work will continue along College Drive until it is completely paved by the end of October, when construction is most “reliable.”
“It really depends, right? What is clear is that we don’t have control over when it actually happens, but they will work as long as possible,” said Dudiak.
“As we get to winter, we don’t want to be in a situation where there are still temporary traffic controls in place during the winter.”
The city is completing the project along College Drive in two phases. The second phase, scheduled for next year, will continue construction of the platform between Cumberland and Preston Avenues.
Saskatoon closed the University Bridge on April 6 for repairs, initially planning to reopen it in June. The deadline was later pushed back to mid-to-late July due to weather-related construction delays, according to the city.
Additional repairs to the bridge also increased the project cost by $213,000, bringing the total to $1.7 million.
© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
