News Releases

The City is pleased to announce Artists in Place: The Bunkhouse Project (The Bunkhouse Project), an artist-in-residence pilot program taking place in the historic Bunkhouse at the Saskatoon Forestry Farm Park & Zoo. 

Sponsored by the City of Saskatoon, with a grant from the Saskatchewan Arts Board’s Artists in Communities program, several local artists were selected to set up studios in the Bunkhouse for a year-long residency. 

“We are pleased to support The Bunkhouse Project through our Artists in Communities grant program. Residencies like these facilitate collaborations between professional artists and members of the public. They make art more accessible to everyone,” says Michael Jones, CEO of the Saskatchewan Arts Board. The Artists in Communities program is supported by funding from SaskCulture, through the Saskatchewan Lotteries Trust Fund for Sport, Culture and Recreation.

The artists in residence at the Bunkhouse include Danica Lorer (professional storyteller), Lenore Maier (sound artist, musician, filmmaker), Muveddet Al-Katib (visual artist), Wendy Sharpe (painter, fibre artist, filmmaker) and Marcel Petit (producer, filmmaker, actor, photographer, playwright). 

“The Bunkhouse Project furthers one of the key directions of the City’s Culture Plan, which is to Foster Creative Placemaking,” says Kevin Kitchen, the City’s Manager of Community Development.  “By partnering with the Saskatoon Forestry Farm Park & Zoo to renovate and reimagine the Bunkhouse as artist studio space, we are able to provide a platform to host artists and engage the community through public art projects.”

Over the course of their residencies, these artists will be working on a variety of different interactive projects including story creation workshops; monthly sohbets (conversations) where participants will explore the symbols of their culture and create small paintings; a stop-motion animation workshop; and, opportunities to spin wool into yarn. In addition to their community engagement projects, each artist will provide an artist talk about their art practice. 

“It is very exciting to have the artists here at the Saskatoon Forestry Farm Park & Zoo, bringing new life to the Bunkhouse and engaging with the public,” says Tim Sinclair-Smith, Manager of the Saskatoon Forestry Farm Park & Zoo.  “The renovations to the building are impressive.  Many people have worked hard to restore the building from what had become a storage facility to the beautiful space it is today.”

For more information on The Bunkhouse Project, including a schedule of activities, please visit saskatoon.ca/bunkhouse.

Bus Rapid Transit — or BRT — routes will travel down 1st Avenue downtown and Broadway Avenue in Nutana.  City Council made the decision at its regular business meeting Monday, April 29. 

Council opted for BRT dedicated lanes on 1st Avenue downtown and in mixed traffic for Broadway. 

The downtown north-south BRT route would run in dedicated transit lanes constructed in the centre of 1st Avenue with two centre median stations. One station is proposed to be constructed at the intersection of 1st Avenue and 21st Street and the other at the intersection of 1st Avenue and 23rd Street.

On Broadway, the mixed traffic plan is to construct two pairs of BRT stations on either side of Broadway Avenue at 12th Street and at 9th Street.

Under this option, there are no dedicated BRT lanes along Broadway Avenue, but Transit Signal Priority measures would be installed in traffic signals. The proposed BRT would mix with motor vehicle traffic that typically travels along Broadway Avenue, as well as vehicles entering and leaving on-street parking spaces.

BRT construction is not expected to begin until 2023 with a planned completion in 2025 and an estimated cost of $7.3 million for the Downtown and Nutana portions, subject to approval of funding. 

Downtown Active Transportation Network
Council endorsed a Downtown Active Transportation Network but wants more engagement on the design of sidewalk and cycling infrastructure along approved corridors. 

Fourth Avenue bike lanes to be removed 
City Council also approved a motion to remove the temporary bike lane demonstration on Fourth Avenue by the end of June.

The detailed reports and relevant attachments can be found here. 

Regina and Saskatoon are collaborating to find technology solutions that will improve mobility around their cities. The Civic Innovation Challenge, made possible through the support of Innovation Saskatchewan, seeks new approaches or innovative technology solutions that will reduce reliance on personal vehicles and enable better movement around the two cities.

“Saskatoon is home to so many innovative tech start-ups and companies and we have one of the fasting growing tech sectors in the country,” said Saskatoon Mayor Charlie Clark. “This partnership with the City of Regina and Innovation Saskatchewan can help to leverage this talent and expertise that our community and province has to address the challenges we are facing in creating a connected, accessible community for all.”

Saskatchewan and Canada’s best and brightest innovators and technology start-ups are invited to propose solutions that could help address the urban transportation challenge.

“This is a unique opportunity to work with Saskatoon to explore and pursue innovative solutions to transportation challenges facing both cities,” said Regina Mayor Michael Fougere. “We are interested in hearing diverse solutions and perspectives, while pursuing and incorporating modern, innovative technology.”

Participants offering solutions are invited to submit their proposals for consideration by May 13.  A winner will be selected through a competitive process and announced in the summer of 2019.

Companies interested in participating the challenge can become involved by visiting Communitech.ca/collisiondays.

City Council will soon have the opportunity to consider detailed information about what routes a rapid bus service and active transportation network could look like for Nutana and the city centre.

Following more than three years of technical work and public engagement, Saskatoon City Council will receive reports with recommendations on possible routes for Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) and the Downtown Active Transportation (AT) Network.

“The BRT system and Downtown AT Network are about more than transit, cycling and walking,” says Jay Magus, Director of Transportation. “They are about making a transportation system that works for everybody as the city grows and more people need to safely and efficiently move around the same amount of space.”

The BRT system and Downtown AT Network are key components of the City’s Plan for Growth, supporting corridor growth and economic development by improving the mobility of current and future residents. They enable viable options to automobile travel, helping the City with sustainability, climate and population growth challenges that are becoming increasingly important to address.

A number of network options have been evaluated in both the Downtown and Nutana areas for the BRT, and Downtown for the AT Network. The City Administration has considered the implications for each of the options and has made its recommendations. While there are recommended and preferred options based on the technical criteria for each system (BRT and AT), it must be stressed that any of the routing options evaluated will work and are supported by the Administration.

Magus says an intensive public engagement campaign was conducted that covered all areas of the city and offered many opportunities for input. “As our neighbourhoods and population continue to grow, by undertaking such a concerted engagement effort – for both the BRT and Downtown AT Network – we were able to look at how our technical recommendations can best work with what the citizens of Saskatoon see as important for the future of moving around our city.”

Report information, including technical recommendations and engagement results, are available on the City of Saskatoon website at saskatoon.ca/transit-plan (for BRT) and saskatoon.ca/moving-around/cycling/cycling-plans-projects (for Downtown AT Network). The official Agenda for the April 29^th City Council meeting will be available April 24^th at 4:00 p.m. at saskatoon.ca/city-hall.

With warming temperatures, median and street sweeping shifts into full gear this week. Simultaneously, pothole patching crews get started with hot mix asphalt for permanent repairs.

“We’re officially in spring cleaning mode with sweepers moving through high-traffic priority streets and crews filling broken pavement with hot-mix asphalt,” says Brodie Thompson, Acting Director of Roadways, Fleet & Support.

Over the next four weeks, citizens will notice sweeping on the driving lanes along priority streets, business improvement districts, and on medians and boulevards. The goal of this phase is to pick-up debris collected through winter and reduce dust. Curb-to-curb cleaning will occur as part of residential street sweeping beginning May 6.

“Thinking about potholes, the great news this spring is that roads are overall pretty smooth thanks to all the road rehabilitation the City’s been investing in,” says Thompson. “This summer, we will focus more of our energy on proactive treatments such as crack sealing to prevent potholes and deterioration of our roads.”

Sweeping
To allow for sweeping the entire road, a few neighbourhoods will see the yellow “No Parking” signs pop up in April. These roads will be swept ahead so they are available for parking when the residential street sweeping starts in those areas.

City-wide residential street sweeping will begin May 6, weather permitting. Bright yellow “No Parking” signs will be posted in neighbourhoods 36-48 hours in advance of street sweeping, followed up with ticketing and relocation towing. City crews will follow a similar schedule for permanently repairing potholes with a hot mix asphalt through neighbourhoods.  

Utility Cut Repairs
In addition to sweeping and pothole repairs, the City is maintaining more than 1,000 road cuts due to underground utility work. Permanent repairs of these road cuts will start next week.

Citizens can report dangerous locations to our Customer Care Centre, and continue to report pesky potholes on our Report-a-Pothole app to help the City prioritize repairs.

Visit saskatoon.ca/betterroads to report a pothole and for street sweeping schedules and information on spring road maintenance programs.