Victoria Avenue is one of the main east-west streets in

Regina, Saskatchewan Regina ( ) is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Saskatchewan. The city is the second-largest in the province, and is a commercial centre for southern Saskatchewan. As of the 2021 Canadian census, ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. Victoria Avenue is named in honour of

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in January 1901. Her reign of 63 year ...

and crosses Albert Street, (named in honour of the Queen's consort and husband,

Prince Albert Prince Albert most commonly refers to: *Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (1819–1861), consort of Queen Victoria *Albert II, Prince of Monaco (born 1958), present head of state of Monaco Prince Albert may also refer to: Royalty * Alb ...

) in

downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in American and Canadian English to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political, and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business district ( ...

. It is the main eastern entrance into Regina.

Route description

Victoria Avenue begins as residential

collector road A collector road or distributor road is a low-to-moderate-capacity road which serves to move traffic from local streets to arterial roads. Unlike arterials, collector roads are designed to provide access to residential properties. Rarely, juris ...

in the

Cathedral A cathedral is a church (building), church that contains the of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, Annual conferences within Methodism, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually s ...

neighbourhood in Regina's old West End at Pasqua Street. Here Pasqua Street is a residential street, different from Pasqua Street N which is a northern extension of Lewvan Drive, a major north-south road in Regina; Victoria Avenue does not provide access to Lewvan Drive. Victoria Avenue continues east through the mature, residential neighbourhood to Albert Street in downtown Regina. It continues east as an arterial road to Broad Street, where it enters the Heritage neighbourhood and passes through another mature, residential neighbourhood. At Winnipeg Street, the streetscape transitions to commercial, leaving Heritage at Arcola Avenue. Victoria Avenue a

diamond interchange A diamond interchange is a common type of road junction, used where a controlled-access highway crosses a minor road. Design The freeway itself is grade separation, grade-separated from the minor road, one crossing the other over a bridge. ...

Ring Road A ring road (also known as circular road, beltline, beltway, circumferential (high)way, loop or orbital) is a road or a series of connected roads encircling a town, city or country. The most common purpose of a ring road is to assist in reducin ...

, where it becomes a

limited-access road A limited-access road, known by various terms worldwide, including limited-access highway, partial controlled-access highway, and expressway, is a highway or arterial road for high-speed traffic which has many or most characteristics of a contro ...

, passing numerous power centres and

big-box stores A big-box store, a hyperstore, a supercenter, a superstore, or a megastore is a physically large retail establishment, usually part of a chain of stores. The term sometimes also refers, by extension, to the company that operates the store. The ...

, as well as hotels, restaurants and a shopping mall, in an area known locally as "Vic East". At Tower Road, Victoria Avenue leaves Regina city limits and continues east to the Regina Bypass, where it merges onto the

Trans-Canada Highway The Trans-Canada Highway (Canadian French, French: ; abbreviated as the TCH or T-Can) is a transcontinental federal–provincial highway system that travels through all ten provinces of Canada, from the Pacific Ocean on the west coast to the A ...

( Highway 1 east); Tower Road provides access to Highway 1 west.

History

Victoria Avenue used to synonymous with the Trans-Canada Highway in Regina, as it continued east as the Trans-Canada Highway towards

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. It is centred on the confluence of the Red River of the North, Red and Assiniboine River, Assiniboine rivers. , Winnipeg h ...

. The Trans-Canada Highway was signed from the east to Ring Road, where the city route continued west into downtown Regina, then south on Albert Street; the Trans-Canada Highway Bypass followed Ring Road south and continued west. By the 1990s, traffic congestion on Victoria Avenue E (east of Ring Road) had become a major safety concern, and necessitated the study of a new bypass. The Regina Bypass was opened in October, 2019 and as part of the project the Highway 1 designation was moved from Victoria Avenue to the new route. In addition, the Highway 11 designation, which previously began at Ring Road and Victoria Avenue and continued north to

Saskatoon Saskatoon () is the largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It straddles a bend in the South Saskatchewan River in the central region of the province. It is located along the Trans-Canada Hig ...

, was moved to the Regina Bypass on the western edge of the city.

Major intersections

References

Roads in Regina, Saskatchewan Former segments of the Trans-Canada Highway {{Roads in Regina

Route description

History

Major intersections

See also

References