Circle Drive - Interchanges

Interchanges

As of 2004, the Circle Drive Bridge portion of the road was carrying up to 50,000 vehicles per day, more than twice the volume from when it opened. Due to the greatly increased traffic the bridge was significantly expanded in 2007. Over the years, a number of at-grade intersections were converted to grade-separated interchanges to improve traffic flow. They include:

• Idylwyld Drive North (formerly known as Avenue A) – 1960s
• 33rd Street – November 10, 1980 (expanded in summer 1992)
• Warman Road – July 1, 1983 (coinciding with the opening of Circle Drive Bridge)
• Taylor Street – September 16, 1996
• 8th Street – October 31, 1999 – initially constructed as a large traffic circle, this traffic control device proved unpopular and was eventually replaced by an interchange.
• Attridge Drive/Preston Avenue North – October 1, 2001
• 22nd Street – October 28, 2002
• College Drive – October 4, 2006
• Clarence Avenue – November 20, 2007
• Preston Avenue South – projected 2012; currently traffic signals

There are also purpose-built half-diamond interchanges at 14th Street East and 108th Street, and a cloverleaf interchange at highways 11 and 16. Between Millar Avenue and Avenue C North, Circle Drive downgrades from a freeway to an arterial road, with regular signalized intersections and driveway-accessed businesses. Additional at-grade intersections are located at Circle Place (no signals), Airport Drive (signals), Laurier Drive (signals), Clancy Drive (signals) and 11th Street West (temporary signals pending construction detailed below). A short spur of Circle Drive between the Idylwyld Freeway and Lorne Avenue formerly included signals at Lorne and at-grade intersections at Jasper Avenue and Melville Street, but these have been removed as part of the southwest construction (see below).

The present terminal points at 11th Street West and Lorne Avenue are slated to become interchanges as part of the South River Crossing project. A further interchange at Valley Road is also under development, as is a flyover-style directional interchange where Circle Drive junctions with Idylwyld Freeway. The federal government committed $70 million in 2007 for the Lorne Avenue and Idylwyld interchanges. The city has allocated $37 million for land and its share of the new interchange.

As noted above, the junction of 8th Street and Circle Drive was originally, in the late 1960s, constructed as a large roundabout dubbed the "Traffic Circle". The first such construction of its kind in Saskatchewan, motorists found it difficult to navigate, leading to local media airing advisories on how to use it. The site of many accidents over the years, and dubbed the most accident-prone location in the city, the circle was ultimately dismantled in the 1980s and replaced with a standard at-grade intersection for a decade until a standard diamond interchange was constructed.