Regina city council passed a motion in favour of improving traffic flow and safety along with one of Regina’s busiest roads.

Council approved the Arcola Avenue Corridor study, which lays out a list of proposed improvements to roadways in the southwest part of the City that would amount to an estimated cost of around $76 million.

The study found five major issues, including that intersections operate at unacceptable levels of service during commuter peak hours and that traffic along with the Arcola Avenue interchange experiences unacceptable delays such as congestion, longer delays and potential for increased accidents.

The study found a spike in collisions during afternoon peak hours. The top three intersections for collisions are Arcola Avenue and University Park Drive (159), Arcola Avenue and Park Street (120), and Arcola Avenue and Prince of Wales Drive (107).

Other issues founder were traffic weaving occurs in the short distance between University Park Drive and the Arcola Avenue interchange and several issues for pedestrians, including no west crosswalk at the University Park Drive intersection, two-stage pedestrian crossings at Chuka Boulevard and Woodland Grove Drive, and wide intersections with high traffic volumes.

Several projects addressing the issues are expected to be brought to council as part of the 2023-2027 capital budget for approval later in 2022.