News Releases

As the City’s Placemaker Public Art Program prepares for the spring installation of new art throughout Saskatoon’s key commercial districts, residents may notice some changes in these areas over the next few weeks.  

The City’s Visual Arts Placement Jury has approved the removal of the following temporary art installations: 

From Riversdale:

Winged Ascent

Stoic Dignity

Mediator

Maize  

From Downtown:

Pinnacle IX – Song of Ancients

Head

Walk in Beauty

Arabesque

Aphrodite (L’Espalier)

Sacrarium

Play  

From Broadway:

Buskers

Queen

Sentinel 

The Placemaker Program is a robust initiative that gives local, provincial and national artists the opportunity to have their work prominently featured in Saskatoon.  Currently, the City is accepting proposals for the Placemaker Program from independent artists or teams of artists to provide temporary public art to key commercial districts in Saskatoon.  The proposed art may be two or three dimensional work, installations, interventions or digital media such as video projection.  

For an information package and application form, please visit www.saskatoon.ca and search under “P” for Placemaker Program. The deadline for applications is April 8, 2014 at which time the City’s Visual Arts Placement Jury will adjudicate the applications received and select the works to be exhibited, in consultation with the Saskatoon’s Business Improvement Districts and with City Staff.  It is anticipated that the new pieces will be installed this spring. 

For more City of Saskatoon Public Service Announcements, News Releases, Traffic Detours and Service Alerts, visit www.saskatoon.ca or connect with the City of Saskatoon on Twitter and Facebook.

Not unlike the rest of the province, Saskatoon continues to respond to reports of water service issues in areas all across the city.  While repair crews are repairing locations quickly, the backlog is slowly growing.  The target for having repairs complete and the water back on from when it is turned off is 48 hours, in some cases this will be longer, even up to four days.  This is a challenging time of year for contract support; however, we continue to engage outside support when possible.

Temporary Water
We empathize with affected residents and businesses who are going days without running water and we are doing as much as possible to try and provide temporary drinking water.  Water trailers will continue to be provided to affected areas, but it can take longer than the normal eight hours to be available.  Bottled water was delivered to almost every home that didn’t have a water trailer on Wednesday.  We will continue to try and offer bottled water if a water trailer is not available, but over the weekend, it may take longer. 

We are pleased to be able to offer free admission for affected residents to use the shower facilities at the City Leisure Centre closest to them.  They will require identification or a recent utility bill showing their address, which will be compared to list of homes affected by a water main break.  

Weather contributes to water main breaks
This weekend, temperatures are expected to rise, which is great for most of us, but could mean water main breaks will continue to occur at this rate or higher.  What is different this year is that the ground frost level has reached as deep as the underground pipes.  Each time the temperature changes, the frost level can move, putting pressure on the pipes causing them to shift.  If there is already a weak spot in the pipe, caused by age, corrosion or previous work, it can break. 

Be prepared
Every home should have an emergency preparedness plan for any time of the year, not just for water outage.  Residents in areas where water main breaks have occurred in the past few years, including neighbourhoods adjacent to current water main breaks, are encouraged to be prepared by having extra drinking water stored as a precaution.  The recommended supply of water to have on hand for a 72-hour period is 3.8 litres (one gallon) per person or pet per day.  Emergency preparedness information is available on the Government of Canada’s public safety website getprepared.gc.ca, including further recommendations for an emergency water supply. 

Frozen water connections
Home owners are also reporting frozen water connections, where there is a blockage on the water connection from the City’s water main to the private home.  If your water does not turn on, it may be an issue with the private portion of your water connection.  If there is an issue on the City portion, we will come out and use specialized equipment to defrost the line from your home.  To help prevent this, we recommend making sure the pipes are well-insulated, including the portion at the outside walls of your home. 

Current water main breaks
All available staff and contractors are focused on isolating the location of the breaks, preparing the sites for excavation (identifying any underground utilities or hazards), and repairing the pipes.  Different expertise is required at each stage of repairing a water main break, so even if no workers are present, each location is scheduled and will be repaired as quickly as possible.   

Water service is currently off at the following locations:
- North of 1540 Avenue G N/1537 Ave F N on 37th St West
- 2130 Pembina Drive
- 929 Macklem Drive
- 1044 East Centre
- 1705 Quebec Avenue
- 11125 Coy Avenue
- 52 Athabasca Crescent
- 2309 McKinnon Street
- 13 Laurentian Drive
- 51/53 Yale Crescent
- 2416 Underwood Avenue 
- 138 Dalhousie Crescent  

Current water main breaks are available on the City’s website.  This list will be updated daily, including over the weekend. 

We want to thank everyone for their cooperation and understanding.  If you are affected by a water outage and have any questions, or to report a water main break, please call the Public Works customer service call centre 24/7 at 306-975-2476.  Find out more about the Precautionary Drinking Water Advisory that is in effect when the water is turned back on. 

For more City of Saskatoon Public Service Announcements, News Releases, Traffic Detours and Service Alerts, visit www.saskatoon.ca or connect with the City of Saskatoon on Twitter and Facebook from the links at saskatoon.ca.

Saskatoon Transit is proposing a series of Route Adjustments for 2014, and we would like your feedback before a final proposal is presented to council.

The proposed 2014 Route Adjustments were designed based on comments and ideas previously gathered from you, our customers. Each event will include a brief presentation, followed by a Q&A session and an opportunity for attendees to visit information stations. Transit staff will also be available to answer questions and hear what you have to say about the proposed route adjustments. 

Plans are to incorporate your feedback into the proposed adjustments and present a final report to Council for their approval.

The open house events will be held:

Tuesday, March 11, 2014
6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Mount Royal Collegiate Cafeteria (2220 Rusholme Road)

Wednesday March 12, 2014
6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Alice Turner Library (110 Nelson Road)

Free shuttles will be provided every 15 minutes from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. between the open house locations and the nearest mall terminal.

For more information, visit www.saskatoon.ca and click on “T” for transit or call the Transit Customer Service Centre at 306-975-3100.

For more City of Saskatoon Public Service Announcements, News Releases,  Traffic Detours and Service Alerts, visit www.saskatoon.ca or connect with the City of Saskatoon on Twitter and Facebook.

Today and tomorrow the following lane restrictions are in place while crews access manholes: 

- Avenue C northbound curb lane from Circle Drive to Cynthia Street,
- Cynthia Street eastbound lanes from Hanselman Avenue to Speers Avenue. 

The restrictions are expected to be lifted by late afternoon on March 6, weather permitting and barring any unforeseen circumstances.

Drivers are reminded to allow extra time when travelling through the orange zone, watch for pedestrians and work crews, and for everyone’s safety, please obey all detours, signs and barriers.

Know before you go! Find up-to-date traffic detour information at www.saskatoon.ca/go/traffic and follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

Starting at 7:30 a.m. on Thursday, March 6, Spadina Crescent East will be closed to traffic between 21st and 22nd Streets while a contractor works to assess the condition of an underground pipe. Motorists are advised to use 4th Avenue as an alternate route.

The roadway should reopen later that same evening, weather permitting and barring any unforeseen circumstances.

Drivers are reminded to allow extra time when travelling through the orange zone, watch for pedestrians and work crews, and for everyone’s safety, please obey all detours, signs and barriers.

Know before you go! Find up-to-date traffic detour information at www.saskatoon.ca/go/traffic and follow us on Twitter and Facebook.