Circle Drive

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Circle Drive is a major road constructed as a ring road in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. The northeastern portion of the road is part of the Yellowhead Highway.

Construction of a ring road in Saskatoon was first proposed in 1913, by city commissioner Christopher Yorath. It wasn't until the 1950s as the city expanded outward that the present roadway corridor was established. Circle Drive was built in sections, as required by traffic conditions and allowed by available funding. The last major section of the roadway that was constructed was in the northeast quadrant, from College Drive to Millar Avenue. This included the construction of the Circle Drive Bridge across the South Saskatchewan River, completed in 1983. At present, the road does not form a complete ring around the city. The last remaining portion between 11th Street West and Lorne Avenue, referred to as the "South River Crossing" as it will require the construction of another bridge across the South Saskatchewan, is now in the preliminary design stage. It is hoped that the project will be completed sometime between 2010 and 2012, depending on the availability of funding.

As of 2004, the Circle Drive Bridge portion of the road was carrying up to 50,000 vehicles per day, more than twice the volume from when it opened.^[1] Due to the greatly increased traffic the bridge was significantly expanded in 2007.^[2] Over the years, a number of at-grade intersections were converted to grade-separated interchanges to improve traffic flow.^[3] They include:

Idylwyld Drive North (formerly known as Avenue A) - 1960s
33rd Street - November 10, 1980
Warman Road - 1983
Taylor Street - September 16, 1996
8th Street - autumn 1999(?)
Attridge Drive/Preston Avenue North - October 1, 2001
22nd Street - October 28, 2002
College Drive - October 4, 2006
Clarence Avenue - November 20, 2007

The above is in addition to purpose-built interchanges at 14th Street East, 108th Street, and a cloverleaf interchange with highways 11 and 16 (meaning no at-grade intersection existed before the interchange). Between Miller Avenue and Avenue C North, Circle Drive downgrades from a freeway to an arterial street, with regular signalized intersections and driveway-accessed businesses. In its freeway sections, several intersections as of 2008 remain at-grade and signalized, to be eventually converted to interchanges: Preston Avenue South, Laurier Drive, Airport Drive, Clancy Drive, plus the terminal points at 11th Street West and Lorne Avenue which are slated to become interchanges as part of the South River Crossing project.