East end of Regina bypass making good progress, says manager

The first phase of Area 3 for the Regina bypass is about 80 per cent complete, says a project manager.

Area 3 is the east end of the project, the Arcola Avenue portion of the bypass that extends out to Balgonie, Sask. Stephen Connolly, Area 3 project manager, said everything is on schedule.

"A big focus for us right now is to have traffic flipped after the long weekend in early July," Connolly said.

Once that is done, traffic will be moved to a bridge called the Victoria Avenue flyover. More work will be done after that and the bypass in that area should be completed by the end of the construction season.

The bulk of the work remaining is paving. There is about 40,000 tonnes left on Highway 1, and another 100,000 tonnes remaining for the overall project.

"Things are progressing well so that we'll have major infrastructure openings throughout the season here in different locations starting in the east end from Balgonie, all the way down to Arcola," Connolly said.

The area's construction is on schedule, he added.

Work on this part of the project is expected to be complete by Oct. 31. The overall project is slated for a 2019 completion.