Ring Road (Regina, Saskatchewan)

Highway in Saskatchewan

Ring Road is a 4 lane controlled access highway in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. Ring Road is a partial ring road or beltway that forms a partial circle around Regina, bypasses the city on the north, east, and south sides, with Lewvan Drive and Pasqua Street N functioning as the de facto western leg. East of Pasqua Street, Ring Road continues west as 9th Avenue N, an arterial road. Ring Road has a speed limit of and consists of 13 interchanges.

Ring Road forms a partial circle around Regina, connecting the city's eastern, southern, and northern suburbs and commercial districts with Regina's industrial centre. In addition to being used as a commuting highway, Ring Road sufficiently connects Highway 6 and Highway 11 to the Trans Canada Highway (Highway 1) There is no western leg of Ring Road, nor is one planned; however, the north south limited access road of Lewvan Drive and Pasqua Street N functions as the de facto western leg. The western leg of the Regina Bypass, which opened in October 2019, provides a western freeway link between Highway 1 and Highway 11. With the west suburban developments flourishing in Regina, the Pasqua Street and Ring Road intersection becomes congested at peak hours. Thus the city plans to construct a new interchange at this point in the near future.

The southern portion of Ring Road was originally constructed in the late 1950s as part of the initial construction of the Trans Canada Highway, which bypassed the city route of Albert Street and Victoria Avenue through downtown Regina, and was called the Trans Canada Highway Bypass. Extensive work continued throughout the 1960s, one of the first two cloverleaf interchanges in Saskatchewan at Highway 1 and Highway 6 (Albert Street S), which opened in 1967 (the other cloverleaf was located at the southeast corner of Circle Drive in Saskatoon). Around the same time, Ring Road was constructed by bypassing 9th Avenue N east of Albert Street N and extending it towards Victoria Avenue, and was completed in 1979, which included a realignment of the Trans Canada Highway Bypass at Victoria Avenue to link with Ring Road at Victoria Avenue and form a continuous roadway. Highway 1, 6, and 11 designations were moved from Albert Street and Victoria Avenue to Ring Road, bypassing Downtown Regina. By the 1990s, traffic congestion on Victoria Avenue E (Highway 1) had become a major safety concern, and necessitated the study of a new bypass. In addition, the Global Transportation Hub (GTH), an 1,800 acre logistics park, was constructed in 2009 in required improved access to Highway 1 and Highway 11. The Regina Bypass was opened in October, 2019 and as part of the project, the Highway 1 and Highway 11 designations were moved from Ring Road to the new route. As part of the project, the Trans Canada Highway Bypass section (Victoria Avenue E – Regina Bypass) was renamed to Ring Road.

Travelling counterclockwise (south to north).