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Bike-trail betrayal alleged

Forks official upset with city, province

By: Bartley Kives

24/06/2009 1:00 AM | Comments: 41

The pathway slated to be built alongside the first phase of the bus corridor could prove dangerous to commuter cyclists because of a gap at the Osborne Street CN Rail underpass, according to Paul Jordan. Cyclists will be forced to either ride on the road or the narrow sidewalk.

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The pathway slated to be built alongside the first phase of the bus corridor could prove dangerous to commuter cyclists because of a gap at the Osborne Street CN Rail underpass, according to Paul Jordan. Cyclists will be forced to either ride on the road or the narrow sidewalk.

The city and province have reneged on a long-held promise to build a commuter-cycling route alongside the southwest rapid transit corridor, a senior official with The Forks claims in a letter to Mayor Sam Katz and Premier Gary Doer.

The active-transportation pathway, slated to be built alongside the first phase of Winnipeg's forthcoming bus corridor, will prove circuitous or even dangerous to commuter cyclists because of a gap at the Osborne Street CN Rail underpass, according to Paul Jordan, chief operating officer of The Forks and the volunteer chairman of the Winnipeg Trails Association.

Paul Jordan argues the concerns of cyclists and pedestrians have been ignored as part of a project that was supposed to benefit active transportation.

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Paul Jordan argues the concerns of cyclists and pedestrians have been ignored as part of a project that was supposed to benefit active transportation. (TREVOR.HAGAN@FREEPRESS.MB.CA)

On Monday, the city began construction on Phase One of the southwest rapid transit corridor, a $138-million, 3.6-kilometre busway that will run from Queen Elizabeth Way near The Forks to Jubilee Avenue near Pembina Highway. According to plans unveiled by Winnipeg Transit in May, a paved bike-and-pedestrian pathway will be constructed alongside the corridor, except for a gap near the Osborne underpass.

The underpass is not wide enough to accommodate a dedicated bike corridor, according to Winnipeg Transit. But a new busway bridge that will cross Osborne Street will be long enough to allow a bike path to run below it, should the city decide to spend millions on a wider underpass in the future, transit officials said in May.

That promise is not good enough, charges Jordan, who is best known for his work in extending the winter skating and walking trail on the Assiniboine River.

"The safe, connected pathway has disappeared," he writes in a letter criticizing the busway plans on behalf of The Forks, the Winnipeg Trails Association and five other Winnipeg non-profit organizations. "The fragmented remains of the pathway will (funnel) people into a treacherous bottleneck."

Jordan argues Winnipeg Transit's pathway design will force cyclists attempting to ride from either side of the Osborne underpass to either compete for space with motor vehicles on a four-lane roadway or ride on a narrow stretch of sidewalk.

He argues the concerns of cyclists and pedestrians have been ignored as part of a project that was supposed to benefit active transportation. "This is being designed by transit guys, so they want to move buses," he said in an interview on Tuesday. "They're not interested in building bike lanes."

In May, transit officials said cyclists who don't want to negotiate the Osborne underpass can use the South Winnipeg Parkway, an existing gravel path that runs southwest from The Forks along the Red River. That route is too circuitous and is also submerged during the spring flooding season, Jordan said.

City officials in charge of the bus corridor were unavailable for comment on Tuesday. But Fort Rouge Coun. Jenny Gerbasi, a bus-rapid transit proponent whose ward encompasses the Osborne underpass, said she understands why Winnipeg Transit would be reluctant to spend additional millions on an underpass-widening project.

The construction of a busway bridge over Osborne Street, a tunnel below CN's Fort Rouge Yards and the purchase of 11 pieces of private property accounts for a large portion of Phase One's $138-million price tag. There is no room in that budget to widen a motor-vehicle underpass, surmised Gerbasi, although she said she's heartened non-profit organizations are pushing for better active-transportation amenities.

All seven organizations -- The Forks, the Winnipeg Trails Association, the Prairie Pathfinders Walking Club, the Manitoba Cycling Association, One Green City, Bike To The Future and the Winnipeg Rapid Transit Coalition -- plan to hold a demonstration at the Osborne underpass on Thursday at noon.

 

bartley.kives@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition June 24, 2009 B1

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41 Commentscomment icon

?j01998 <-- sorry cant tell if the first letter is I or L

Exactly! I have relatives from Denmark that come over. They cannot believe the traffic and the distinct absence of bicycles.

As an aside, they also cannot believe how much water we use.

Why is North America so far behind!

I love riding my bike to work. Ya, it takes effort, but I think that runs in my family.

The freedom from the traffic is very gratifying. I can sit at an intersection and just watch for a bit if I want. I am not compelled to move when the light is green. Sitting and watching traffic is entertaining when you don't have to participate in it.

So many awful driving habits I have sat and watched.

By the way, Denmark is in the North. Limited biking season.
But when it thaws, everyone is anxious to get on there bikes.

Does this really surprise anyone? Why is it that I could ride across Toronto on their subway in just over a half hour in 1978 but it takes much longer to ride a bus across Winnipeg? Because of the so called leaders, insiders, elites and decision makers that we have-they don't ride the bus, cycle and some don't even live here anymore. Instead of a subway like Toronto or Montreal or even a light rail system like Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver, we are getting the half way bus way originally conceived by glen murray. The worst part is not just that we won't have a cycle path next to this bus way, but that Phase II (from Jubilee to the U of M) will never be built. We'll just get more diamond lanes and more lanes with pictures of bicycles painted on them and a "share the road" sign. So much for progress.

A friend recently sent me pictures of Stockholm streets. They were all pothole free and "he says" almost every street had at least a clearly marked 4 foot wide bike lane. And they have been this way for years. We cannot even get it done right in 2009.

I have to agree with the comments by ggpow2, Jonah, Markmcd. I grew up in Winnipeg. Lived the majority of my life there. It definitely is an eye opener seeing the city from an outsider's perspective.

Winnipeg has so much potential and is poised to build a bright future. The biggest hurdle I see is a population with a long history of so much mistrust in its government that it is in its blood to find faults in every vision. Not every initiative is going to please everyone but they need to move forward for the greater good.

Winnipeg has a lot going for it and there are many positives that are recognized by other cities that Winnipeggers don't even realize.

I say its time to believe in yourselves. Support initiatives and criticize constructively.

And by the way... Calgary is only beginning to talk about bike corridors. You're well on your way.

Actually 'RememberNorthPortage" I don't 'hate' this city I love it, I just dislike people like you for lending it a great big helping hand at becoming the hole that it presently is. I mean really, you know things suck in your city when things were better 30 years ago then they are now. Are you seriously that blind(I know, stupid question)? Let me ask you, why do you think that Winnipeg's the butt of so many jokes? For no reason? Because 'everyone's just jealous?'Please, tell me...

Insofar as me living somewhere 'modern and progressive'well,I hate to break it to you but I've lived in London and have resided in Australia for the last 10 years, so, indeed, the laugh's on you.



From Chuck W
"Personally I'm not too daunted by using the underpass on a bike, I just ride in the middle of the lane and the hell with drivers who can't slow down for 30 seconds."

This should result in a ticket, maybe even jail time."

What a load of crap. Don't you know that a cyclist is entitled under law to the entire lane anyway? He said he doesn't do this during rush hour, so the couple of motorists inconvenienced by this should just learn to leave home a minute earlier. Sheesh.

City Hall is setting us all back 50 years. I hope this will lead to Katz getting the boot next election. He needs to be held to account. There has to be someone out there with some vision.

I find it hard to believe that some consider activity that promotes health, fitness, and ecology as "special interests".

Dark ages indeed. Try prehistoric there Homo habalis, cause you're a "tool" man.

I honestly had thought that Winnipeg FINALLY turned a corner and was beyond this mindset. I really thought that City Hall had learned by now that prior corner-cutting has created a massive infrastructure deficit that is causing one big headache for planners. This attitude of "it can wait for later" has simply got to stop or this problem will only get worse! We need to set higher standards for our city and strive to make it the best it can be instead of always needing to settle for such atrocious decision-making.

I will be taking the lunch hour off on Thursday to protest this and I hope that I will see many of you there as well.

:ggpow2, so angry! We're a pathetic backwater laughingstock because we don't have bike paths? Are you serious? Maybe a big old taste of the real world will help with your Wolsleyite plans for the city.

I'm guessing you yourself haven't lived anywhere modern and progressive or you'd be there since you are so aggressively livid with having to live here. And don't be backing down now. You hate this city. It's right there in your ranting. You wish you could live somewhere else but you just can't do it. That's not our fault bud. It's yours.

And RememberNorthPortage is an ironic name given the subject matter cause we were all high falootin when we razed half of downtown to build that modern EDITED box Portage Place. Yup. We were sure modern thinkers there, eh? Yup. Just shut up and plow through blocks of real estate because we've gotta think forward. Hey NAYSAYERS!!! You'll see, you just need to look to the future! Walkways and shops and a CINEMA!! Stand back! Construction starts now! You'll see. We need to march forward we do we do!

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