Saskatchewan Roads - Saskatoon

Saskatoon



20th St. EB heading toward downtown. Idylwyld Dr. is the dividing line between the western lettered streets and the downtown numbered grid. Incidentally, "Ave" is Latin for "greetings", so the last sign reads "Love and greetings to BS ♥".


This relic was on Wilson Crescent heading southeast.


33rd St. had a railway crossing at Warman Road once. It still has parts thereof. SK tried to patch them over, but not very hard.


The 1908 Canadian Pacific Railway, or CPR, Bridge, crosses the South Saskatchewan River just south of 33rd St. at Spadina Crescent. It would appear to be a trail now.


As Kinsmen Park was developed south of the CPR Bridge, Spadina Crescent got a bridge of its own to cross in 1930. For 20 years, the Ravine Bridge had a purpose, spanning a drainage canal from the manmade lagoons in the park. The park was then drained, so this vintage concrete arch only crosses a path.


As Spadina Crescent diverts toward the river, this is the 1916 University Bridge, which now carries SK 5 out of downtown. Pardon it being insect season. The original through movement is now a pair of ramps to and from SK 5. Think of all the wasted parkland!


The southerly, sunlit side.


Remember this bridge? No, you don't. This similar span is the 1932 Broadway Bridge. Spadina Crescent also deviates from its alignment here, but the old alignment is partially excavated as parkland and partially cul-de-sac.


See? Different railing. But Broadway and University Bridges are essentially twins.


Sacrarium, by Les Potter, "graced" the western entrance to Broadway Bridge from 2008-2013. If you consider that "sacrarium" is a synonym for "sanctuary," you can almost see it.


I have one more bridge to show you, and that's the Traffic Bridge (nice name?). From 1907 to 1916, it was the only South Saskatchewan River roadway bridge (and for a glorious year, the only bridge at all), so it was probably called Traffic Bridge as something more than a footbridge. Its accompanying statue, Founders by Hans Holtcamp (also 2008), is a permanent installation, depicting Chief Whitecap and John Lake who together selected the site for a "temperance colony" that became the now-intemperate Saskatoon.


As many photos as I was allowed to take of Traffic Bridge, which closed in 2010 and was demolished in 2016. You can see that the southern approach is torn out (if you squint) in preparation. There is now a replica bridge, similar in overall shape but not as delicate in construction.


The closed southern approach of Victoria Avenue toward Traffic Bridge.


So, with that, let's head east across Broadway Bridge.


From the bridge, looking north at University Bridge and south at Traffic Bridge.

Circle Drive
SK 11
TCH 16
Saskatoon Non-Roads
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