Regina street tops list of Sask.'s worst roads

A Regina street was voted the worst road in Saskatchewan, according to a CAA poll.

The organization released its annual 10 worst roads list on Monday morning, which included three Regina streets in total: Mayfair Crescent placed first, Grant Drive placed eighth and Ingersoll Crescent placed ninth.

Grant Drive also made the top 10 in 2019 and 2021.

The list was voted on by Saskatchewan drivers, cyclists, pedestrians, transit users and motorcyclists from April 6 to 30. The campaign is aimed at drawing attention to unsafe roads in the province.

Christine Niemczyk, director of corporate communications with CAA Saskatchewan, said potholes, unpaved areas and crumpling pavement were on the list of concerns for Mayfair Crescent.

Seeing the street land at the top of the list wasn’t a surprise to area residents.

“I was more surprised it wasn’t number one before,” said John Allen, who has lived in the area for 30 years.

“It’s the only plus of winter, when the snow comes it ices up the potholes and this road gets better.”

The focus of this year’s campaign was defining worst roads as unsafe for all types of road users, according to a release from CAA.

The major road issues included potholes, unpaved roads, poor road maintenance, poor road signs and traffic congestion.

In some parts of Mayfair Crescent the sidewalks have blended into the road, a concern for those in the neighbourhood.

“There’s certain things that are just completely making our area of the city, groceries and transit access inaccessible,” said Carla Harris, who lives on Grant Drive.

She is concerned for the aging population and for those on her street who are in wheelchairs.

Ingersoll Crescent, according to resident Jason Keddy, is worse than some grid roads he has driven on.

“We end up usually having to play a game of frogger all around to avoid everything, and I’ve seen many vehicles come out of the alley and hit their bumper and everything. It’s pretty bad,” said Keddy.

He has nominated the street in the CAA campaign for several years, and has also been in contact with city council.

Niemczyk said the campaign aims to spark conversation and engage action.

“We want to bring that to the attention of those who do control the budgets and say ‘these roads are still a problem’,” explained Niemczyk.

“We do have roads that come back year and year again,” she continued, “that tells me those road users still aren’t safe and still aren’t pleased.”

Here is the full list which will be given to government and business leaders with the goal of creating safer roads.

1. Mayfair Crescent, Regina, SK

2. Saskatchewan 47, Springside, SK (#2 in 2018 CAA Top Ten Worst Roads)

3. Highway 9, Hudson Bay, SK (#3 in 2021 and #5 in 2018 CAA Top Ten Worst Roads)

4. Saskatchewan 155, La Loche, SK (#1 in 2017 CAA Top Ten Worst Roads)

5. Saskatchewan 5, Buchanan, SK

6. Circle Drive, Saskatoon, SK

7. 4th Avenue Viaduct S.W., Moose Jaw, SK

8. Grant Drive, Regina, SK (#6 in 2021 and #8 in 2019 CAA Top Ten Worst Roads)

9. Ingersoll Crescent, Regina, SK

10. 9th Avenue S.W., Moose Jaw, SK (#10 in 2018 CAA Top Ten Worst Roads)