FINAL REPORT Saskatchewan Ministry of Highways and Infrastructure South Saskatoon Freeway General Location Study November 2017 CONFIDENTIALITY AND © COPYRIGHT This document is for the sole use of the addressee and Associated Engineering (Sask.) Ltd. The document contains proprietary and confidential information that shall not be reproduced in any manner or disclosed to or discussed with any other parties without the express written permission of Associated Engineering (Sask.) Ltd. Information in this document is to be considered the intellectual property of Associated Engineering (Sask.) Ltd. in accordance with Canadian copyright law. This report was prepared by Associated Engineering (Sask.) Ltd. for the account of Saskatchewan Ministry of Highways and Infrastructure. The material in it reflects Associated Engineering (Sask.) Ltd.’s best judgement, in the light of the information available to it, at the time of preparation. Any use which a third party makes of this report, or any reliance on or decisions to be made based on it, are the responsibility of such third parties. Associated Engineering (Sask.) Ltd. accepts no respons bility for damages, if any, suffered by any third party as a result of decisions made or actions based on this report. FINAL REPORT Executive Summary The purpose of this project is to complete a General Location Study for the south Saskatoon Freeway. A General Location Study is the first action taken when a new highway is being planned. A 500m wide corridor is defined, from which a detailed location can be established in future planning work. This report presents the findings of the study including a general discussion of the constraints that were considered, the alignment options that were evaluated and the results of the evaluation. The recommended options in both the southeast and west sections of the Saskatoon Freeway are presented along with recommendations for further study. The original scope of work for this project included the South Saskatoon Freeway alignment extending from south of Highway No. 5 east of the City of Saskatoon (City), clockwise to Highway No. 14 in the west. The connection from Highway No. 11 to Highway No. 7 was eliminated from the scope of work as the results of a cost benefit analysis indicated that it was not warranted. A connection from Highway No. 11 to Highway No. 7 could be added in the future, but it would likely be in the vicinity of Victor Road or further south due to existing and planned future development within the RM of Corman Park (RM), south of the City. With the removal of the connection from Highway No. 11 to Highway No. 7, the study was broken up into two sections. The southeast section (south of Highway No. 5 to Highway No. 11) and the west section (Highway No. 14 to Highway No. 7). Three options were developed for the west section and 5 options were developed for the southeast section. The Triple Bottom Line (TBL) evaluation method considers a series of weighted evaluation criteria in three key areas including environmental, social and economic criteria. The TBL evaluation method was used to rank the options. The recommended options are Option W-2 (shown in red on Figure 9-2) for the west section and Option SE-1 (shown in red on Figure 9-3) for the southeast section. i Saskatchewan Ministry of Highways and Infrastructure Table of Contents SECTION PAGE NO. Executive Summary i Table of Contents ii List of Tables iv 1 Introduction 1-1 2 Scope of Work 2-1 2.1 Study Locations 2-1 2.2 Triple Bottom Line EvaluAtion 2-1 2.3 Limitations of General Location Work and SW Quadrant Exclusion 2-1 3 Project Team 3-1 4 Background Data Review 4-1 4.1 East Perimeter Highway Functional Planning Study – June 2005 4-1 4.2 Perimeter Highway Phase 2 Route Location and Functional Planning Study – August 2007 4-1 4.3 Saskatoon Perimeter Highway Validation Study Report Final June 2014 4-1 4.4 Saskatoon North Partnership for Growth Regional Plan Draft – May 2017 4-4 4.5 West Connector Route 4-4 5 Geotechnical Assessment 5-1 5.1 General Information 5-1 5.2 Geotechnical considerations for the west Study Area 5-3 5.3 geotechnical consideration for the southeast study Area 5-4 5.4 Future Study 5-4 6 Heritage and Environmental Assessment 6-1 7 Design Criteria 7-1 7.1 Functional Requirements 7-1 7.2 Geometric Design Standards 7-5 8 Cost Estimate 8-1 9 Design Considerations 9-1 9.1 West (Highway No. 14 to Highway No. 7) 9-1 9.2 Southeast (South of Highway No. 5 to Highway No. 11) 9-5 10 Stakeholder and Public Engagement 10-1 ii p:\20154611\00_s_prm_hwy_gls_bc\engineering\04 00_preliminary_design\general location study report\draft_rpt_south_saskatoon_freeway_gls-2017-11-30 docx Table of Contents 10.1 Public Information Session #1 10-2 10.2 Public Information Session #2 10-2 10.3 Online Engagement 10-4 11 Option Evaluation 11-1 11.1 Evaluation Criteria 11-1 11.2 Criteria Ranking 11-3 11.3 Option Evaluation 11-4 12 Conclusion and Recommendations 12-1 Certification Page Appendix A – Steering and Technical Committee – Meeting Minutes Appendix B - Geotechnical Desktop Study – Saskatoon Freeway Appendix C - Saskatoon Freeway - General Location Study Environmental Screening Study Appendix D - Cost Estimate Appendix E - Potential Interchange Configurations Appendix F - Stakeholder and Public Consultation iii Saskatchewan Ministry of Highways and Infrastructure List of Tables PAGE NO. Table 7-1 Traffic Volume Projections 7-1 Table 7-2 Typical Daily Traffic Volume Ranges (TAC, 2017) 7-2 Table 7-3 Classification Based on Typical Daily Traffic Volume 7-2 Table 7-4 PM Peak Hour Passenger-Car Equivalent Volume 7-3 Table 7-5 Maximum Base Flow Rate for Planning Purposes 7-3 Table 7-6 Maximum Adjusted Flow Rate for Planning Purposes 7-4 Table 7-7 Basic Lane Requirements for Target LOS 7-4 Table 7-8 Minimum Functional Requirements for 2041 7-5 Table 7-9 Recommended Geometric Design Standards 7-5 Table 11-1 Option Comparison Criteria 11-3 Table 11-2 Options Comparison 11-7 Table 11-3 Options Comparison 11-11 iv p:\20154611\00_s_prm_hwy_gls_bc\engineering\04 00_preliminary_design\general location study report\draft_rpt_south_saskatoon_freeway_gls-2017-11-30 docx FINAL REPORT 1 Introduction The City of Saskatoon (City) has been experiencing rapid growth over the past decade. This has led to increased traffic volumes, resulting in congestion on City streets. A Travel Demand Model (TDM) project was completed jointly by the Saskatchewan Ministry of Highways and Infrastructure (MHI) and the City of Saskatoon, in coordination with other regional stakeholders. The purpose of the TDM project is to help provide evidence-based traffic forecasts to support key highway planning initiatives in Saskatoon and area. According to the TDM project, the majority of traffic that would use the Saskatoon Freeway is destined for the City. There is currently no efficient way for traffic to reach its destination within the City, resulting in increased congestion on City streets. The Saskatoon Freeway will help to relieve congestion in Saskatoon by providing an efficient way for this traffic to reach its destination within the City with minimal use of City streets. The Saskatoon Freeway will also provide a high speed free-flow bypass route for through traffic that is not destined for the City. In previous planning work and through the early stages of this project, the Saskatoon Freeway was referred to as the Perimeter Highway. After work was underway on the General Location Study, it was determined that the Saskatoon Freeway is a more appropriate name for the roadway. Therefore, it is now referred to as the Saskatoon Freeway throughout this report. The City’s growth has slowed down more recently. However, development is still proceeding in and around the City. To mitigate the effect of development on the Saskatoon Freeway, a development freeze was placed on the lands in the study area. This project seeks to define a corridor for the Saskatoon Freeway so the size of the area under development control can be reduced. This will help reduce or eliminate the impact on many landowners within the RM of Corman Park (RM), south of the City. The north route for the Saskatoon Freeway was studied in the mid-2000’s, was validated in 2014, and is approved. It is shown on Figure 1-1 in red. The route for the South Saskatoon Freeway is being established as part of this project so that it can be integrated into the overall community planning work that is occurring. It will also help guide development and provide certainty for investment by the public and industry. The South Saskatoon Freeway General Location Study extends from south of Highway No. 5 in the east, clockwise to Highway No. 14 west of the City. The study area is broken down into several sections which are shown on Figure 1-1. The west section includes the connection from Highway No. 14 to Highway No. 7 and the southeast section is from south of Highway No. 5 to Highway No. 11. The connection from Highway No. 7 to Highway No. 219, and from Highway No. 219 to Highway No. 11 were also initially included in the scope of work, but have since been eliminated. Additional details and justification are provided in Section 2, Scope of Work. Associated Engineering (AE) was commissioned by MHI to complete a General Location Study (GLS) for the South Saskatoon Freeway. A GLS is the first action taken when a new highway is being planned. A 500m wide corridor is defined at the GLS stage, from which a detailed location can be established in future planning work.