Regina mayor proposes city consider relocating Ring Road rail lines

Regina's mayor wants the city to consider relocating the two rail lines that cross the Ring Road.

Mayor Michael Fougere brought forward a motion to city council last night to look for solutions to the traffic problems caused by the rail crossings.

His motion originally proposed a feasibility study consider an overpass or underpass for those crossings. But last night, he added he would also like the study to consider relocating those two lines.

Fougere said it may be more efficient to do it this way.

"Not a day goes by that we don't hear that there's been a delay on Ring Road," said Fougere to city council.

The Canadian National (CN) and Canadian Pacific (CP) lines are located on the Ring Road between McDonald Street and Winnipeg Street.

The area sees 63,000 vehicles pass through per day. Fougereadded that onthe CP line, 10trainscross Ring Road per day while on the CN line, it's sixtrains per day.

"That is a safety issue. It is also a frustration issue," said Fougere.

He said there have been eight separate collisions in the area from 2009 to 2018.

"What I want to do is provide the widest possible scope for this review to see what works best," said Fougere.

"On its face, it would seem that an underpass or overpass would work. Relocating those lines likely would be the most efficient."

City council agreed with the mayor that the study should consider all options. It's expected the feasibility study will be complete in about a year.