Construction on 11th Avenue finishes for year, transit plans remain

A popular street in Regina’s downtown core has reopened now that the city has concluded its construction on 11th Avenue for the year.

Construction on 11th Avenue between Broad Street and Albert Street has finished and is open to the public as of Monday, Nov. 10.

“It’s been a long time waiting, especially for the businesses that have lived through the construction, which obviously can be very frustrating and is impactful to them,” said Mayor Chad Bachynski.

“It looks amazing. I’ve had commentary that it truly looks like a downtown space. I’m extremely excited to see it wrapping up and open it up so people can actually get out and enjoy it.”

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The City of Regina’s four-year revitalization project focuses on upgrading the underground infrastructure, along with rebuilding the roads and sidewalks all across 11th Avenue.

Work on the major downtown artery has been done in phases, roughly two to four blocks at a time.

Although construction has ended, the city said it will continue to keep its bus stops at Victoria Avenue, Lorne Street, 12th Avenue and Albert Street for public transit users.

“In the future, and pending budget approvals, we wouldn’t have a time point where all the busses just sit down and wait together. It’d be a simple flow through the downtown,” explained Nathan Luhning, the City’s director of transit.

Luhning said the city’s long-term plans are to improve the frequency of Regina Transit buses. Until then, buses will not be driving down 11th Avenue.

“If you come down here at night, you know all the busses come down, meet together and transfers occur. If we’re moving away from that model, we need increased frequency to make sure if people do want to have transfers, that if they miss a bus, they’re not waiting an hour for the next one.” he said.

“That budget request is asking for increased frequencies to make sure that we have the correct service for customers if they want to do transfers in the downtown.”

The City’s director of roadways and transportation, Chris Warren, said the project contributes to beautifying Regina’s downtown core.

“As part of this project we want to revitalize the downtown as well as renew all of the infrastructure and prepare us for growth into the future,” shared Warren.

“There will be a lot of amenities, new wider sidewalks, we’ll definitely have trees installed. It’s part of our regular tree planting process.”

Construction for the remaining and final phase of the project are expected to resume in spring 2026.

“We want to make sure that any of the work that remains going into the 2026 construction season is repaired in an accessible way, that our residents can enjoy the sidewalks,” explained Warren.

“There’s a few locations on the north side of 11th Avenue, just past the Cornwall that we didn’t complete that construction. We put some temporary asphalt in there, and then we’ll resume at that location in 2026.”

11th Avenue from Hamilton St. to Rose St. are currently closed to vehicle traffic. However, sidewalks in the area remain open.