North Commuter Parkway includes a six-lane bridge crossing the South Saskatchewan River and 8.3 kilometres of new four and six-lane arterial roadways.
The project improves travel times across Saskatoon and reduces fuel consumption for commuters and public transit, thereby reducing greenhouse gas emissions, improving business productivity, and enhancing the quality of life for local citizens.
In 2017, North Commuter Parkways’ operator negotiated a fish habitat offsetting plan with Fisheries and Oceans Canada to compensate for serious harm to fish arising from the construction of the bridge. The offsetting measures of the plan included a substrate improvement area in the South Saskatchewan River to create artificial spawning habitat for walleye and other fish species, which covers an area of 7,525 m2 near the Chief Mistawasis Bridge.
Included as part of the offsetting plan was a three-year habitat effectiveness monitoring programme, with the goal of ensuring that the habitat offsetting measures function as intended, resulting in a condition similar to or better than habitat upstream of the bridge. The programme aimed to determine the success of the offsetting measures based on three factors: fish egg density, catch-per-unit-effort, and benthic invertebrate community density and taxon richness. If any of these factors were statistically the same or higher than the baseline conditions, the offsetting measures would be considered a success.
Statistical analyses comparing the substrate improvement area and the upstream control area over the three years showed no significant difference between areas for egg density, catch-per-unit-effort, and benthic invertebrate community indices, indicating that the habitat offset measures implemented were successful.
The success of this project highlights the importance of environmental offsetting plans in infrastructure projects, especially when they involve activities that could harm aquatic habitats. The use of substrate improvement areas to create artificial spawning habitats for fish is an effective way to mitigate the negative impacts of construction on aquatic ecosystems.
