Saskatchewan Roads - SK 11

SK 11



SK 11 leaves a provision on either end of Chamberlain for a bypass, but is an undivided 2-lane road through town for now. These photos head south to the beginning of the SK 2/11 concurrency, which is not an exit. And there are many left turns before this next right, so it's not "Exit 1." And the concurrency is not "to" SK 2. And "11" shouldn't be in a bold font. It must have been a long day for SK's sign shop.


SB at Davidson, which also has no exits, only intersections, and at old SK 11 into Craik.


Do intersections really need diagrammatics? NB photo courtesy Rich Piehl, then another bold "11" on SK 15 EB.


Northbound through Saskatoon, courtesy Rich Piehl. The highway continues through the east side of Saskatoon as Circle Drive and becomes TCH 16 if you're not paying attention. If you are, you exit to stay with SK 11, and follow the other half of Circle Drive into Idylwyld Drive through the west side of Saskatoon. That said, with the completion of Circle Drive through the southwest corner of the city, both SK 11 and TCH 16 are on both sides of Circle Drive, and the last two photos (on Idylwyld Dr.) are no longer on SK 11 officially. Idylwyld may at one point have been TCH 16, but it hasn't been ever since Circle Drive was completed on the east side of Saskatoon in the 1980s. That would suggest that the sign in the 2nd photo is quite old, which would explain why it doesn't use the TCH maple leaf for TCH 16. Instead, you see a yellow head, for the Yellowhead Highway, which I've only ever seen in downtown Saskatoon, so call this a one-off rarity. The signs in the last photo need a graphic layout artist, and step 1 is proper sized and properly spaced shields.


The first photo is SB entering Idylwyld Dr. from the northern TCH 16 interchange. The second is the opposite direction of Rich's, and this sign is definitely not 30 years old in 2013, so I don't know what to say except "this is wrong, all wrong, but I like it."


Looking east along the South Saskatchewan River at the Traffic and Broadway Bridges, featured on my Saskatoon page (link at bottom).


Do a Saskatchewan special and squeeze right for SK 219 - except don't, the exit's closed. Nice job with that patch. Fortunately, you could have used the previous exit to follow SK 219.


Before I dive into the 2013 Circle Drive construction, here are the signs at the southern TCH 16/SK 11 interchange. Notice that SK 11 NB is signed onto Circle Drive from SK 11 SB; this will be the case after 2013, but even so is confusing, as traffic can just head west on Circle Drive if they wish to follow 11. (That said, Circle Dr. EB is now TCH 16 EB and SK 11 SB, and the ramp to stay on Circle Dr. is TCH 16 WB and SK 11 NB, so good luck.) The older 2nd sign does not have the problem of telling traffic to U-turn, and in fact might be old enough to predate TCH 16 being routed onto Circle Drive. That is sure an old patch and shield design.


The closed ramp to SK 219.


The embankment looks so weird before it's finished. Note the drainpipe, which probably needs to remain in some form in the final condition to prevent geological calamity.


Circle Dr. merges in, bringing future SK 11 (well, half of that and TCH 16) into current SK 11. The embankment to the left and the sign structure are for future Circle Dr. WB.


The future Idylwyld Dr. NB (no longer to be SK 11) will follow the new pavement attached to SK 11 SB. The separate ramp to Idylwyld on the far right is because there is a C/D road setup coming from the Clarence Ave. interchange. Mind the closed roadway.


Up to Clarence Ave., now heading east. Make sure to mind the 2 cm squares blocking out the closed lanes that haven't been built yet. From June 5 until opening in July 31, crews constructed a new median, new signs, and the new Idylwyld Dr. mainline. Not a tall order, apparently, but they didn't leave a cutout in the pavement for the median barrier. Oops? This would have been preferable to laying it on top of the pavement.


I guess we'll head right, then. The work zone takes SK 11 out of its future right-of-way to its southern margin, picks up a relocated Preston Ave. North, and takes it back to where it was detoured around the bridge under construction, which you can see in the last photo.


SK 11 gradually settles back into the future Circle Dr. EB lanes, and then gets divided in time for the TCH 16 interchange whose signs you saw above.


Bonus coverage from Preston Avenue, which was forced around the north side of the work zone to finish work on its overpass. I headed west until we were allowed to cross the future freeway to the south side where SK 11 was residing. You can see the delays from having a traffic signal for a major cross-street along a road that should be a freeway.


Last views of the Preston Ave. bridge.

Onto TCH 16 and SK 11/TCH 16
Onto Circle Drive alone (future SK 11)

Onto SK 2
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