If you’ve been by the old Plains Hotel site on the corner of Vic and Albert lately you’ve perhaps noticed some signs of life (besides weeds kicking into growth spurt mode, that is). According to a news release from the city today, SaskPower is preparing to relocate a concrete “duct bank” that houses the high voltage cables that supply downtown with electricity. Depending on weather and construction conditions, the presser noted, the job would take five months to do.
To accommodate the first phase, the west-bound lanes of Victoria will be closed with Victoria east-bound becoming two-way as per the above diagram on May 21. As well, traffic northbound on McIntyre will be reduced to one lane for a quarter of a block. Access to Victoria and Albert for cyclists and pedestrians is supposed to remain, although detours may perhaps be required. The work needs to be done before construction can begin on the long-delayed-bordering-on-being-declared-legally-dead Capitol Pointe project; plus I imagine its an infrastructure upgrade SaskPower needs to do to accommodate increased power demands in the downtown.