Circle Drive Completion

In 1913 Saskatoon’s City Commissioner proposed a circular roadway around the outskirts of Saskatoon. One hundred years later in 2013, the bridge and the freeway in Saskatoon’s southwest was opened. The 100-year-old vision was completed.

Talks to revive the plan and complete the circle resurfaced in the mid-1990s. From that moment, members of the Montgomery Place Community Association (MPCA) and other residents of Montgomery Place followed City of Saskatoon discussions and progress. It took more than a decade of participation, countless meetings, written submissions to City Council and to the Star Phoenix – all focussed on doing the best job for Montgomery Place. MPCA executive and Montgomery Place residents fought tirelessly to ensure that Montgomery Place would fare well with the completion of Circle Drive.

At one point, City engineers had the idea to run the freeway down Dundonald Avenue, and with that in mind had purchased eight houses along Caen, Dundonald and Dieppe.

Jim Earle was MPCA president from 1996 until 2011. He recalls that “once the decision to flip to the east side of Dundonald was made, everything kind of rolled forward from there, and we were not involved any longer. That must have been around 2008 or 2009.” Dave Price was MPCA vice-president at the time and worked alongside Jim as voices for Montgomery Place. Barb Biddle and many others joined the effort.

Ultimately, The MPCA members and residents of Montgomery Place were stymied. Time proved that the interchanges at Laurier Drive, Clancy Drive and 11th Street along Circle Drive South were less than ideal. Especially important for Montgomery Place, the road level railway tracks at 11th Street West remained, resulting in countless periods of community inaccessibility when long, slow-moving trains block the street.

The completion of the circle also had many benefits for Montgomery Place, connecting residents to the east side of Saskatoon quickly and efficiently, providing the route is not blocked by a train. Thanks to the Montgomery Place residents and MPCA members who lobbied endlessly, but unsuccessfully, for the best Circle Drive South roadway design.