‘Carmageddon’: How Saskatoon is responding to the complete closure of a bridge

WATCH: Carla Shynkaruk reports on the impacts following the sudden closure of a Saskatoon bridge.

In a place with the moniker, “City of Bridges,” the closure of one of the main access routes across the river is impactful for not only commuters, but also emergency service providers and transit officials who had to quickly plan new routes.

With a river running through the middle of the city, having a bridge closure poses some challenges that need to be rectified fast.

Saskatoon Transit told CTV News that Monday’s closure of the University Bridge due to an encampment fire has hit them hard.

“Saskatoon Transit is significantly impacted by The University Bridge closure this week. Routes 4, 16, 43, 44, 45 and 46 are rerouting via the Broadway Bridge, adding up to 40 minutes to those routes at peak travel times. We’ve added in extra buses to keep on schedule where possible,” they said.

Transit customers are encouraged to pay attention to service alerts about delays.

As far as the bridge itself, an assessment will be done Wednesday to determine when it can be opened. For now, the south pedestrian walkway is open.

The group Bus Riders of Saskatoon say this is not the first time this bridge has been limited.

“It’s surprising when these things happen, they always refer to them as carmageddon. It’s, you know, the end of the world is going to hit,” Robert Clipperton told CTV.

Riders in that group post comments on their Facebook page and Clipperton is surprised by the responses over the last day.

“This time I thought it would have been a lot worse. We’ve had very little feedback, and the feedback has people saying, you know what, it’s not so bad,” he said.

It’s not just commuters who are affected by the closure. Emergency services must pivot also.

According to Medavie Health Services West, Saskatoon is preplanning response and transport routes to appropriate hospitals based on locations of responses, acuity, and destination guidelines.

“Our deployment functions on a zone response model under normal circumstances (i.e. closest available ambulance, highest acuity, etc.) and while this closure will impact it, we can continue to function with more awareness to this challenge without negative consequence,” they said.

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The Saskatoon Police Service said the bridge closure has not affected their response times as they continue to provide service to Saskatoon residents.

“Officers patrol all areas of our city. This closure, like other road closures in Saskatoon, may be inconvenient but has not negatively impacted the service we provide,” they said.

Saskatoon Mayor Cynthia Block said she wants to ensure safety is the priority for those using the bridge.

“I think we want to just make very sure that everything is good to go and if there’s an all clear,” she said.

Once the assessment is done Wednesday, the plan moving forward will be decided.