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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Winnipeggers' top concern? Roads, transit

Younger people evenly split

By: Bartley Kives

Posted: 04/8/2009 1:00 AM | Comments: 0 (including replies)

Younger Winnipeg adults are more likely than their older counterparts to consider rapid transit a priority, according to a new Probe Research poll commissioned by the Free Press.

Given the choice of approving just one infrastructure project in Winnipeg, 52 per cent of respondents to a March telephone survey of 600 adults selected road and bridge repairs as their priority, compared to 22 per cent who favoured the construction of a rapid-transit line, 21 per cent who chose to complete the city's $1.8-billion waste-water upgrade and a mere five per cent who valued a new football stadium for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers above the other three options.

While those numbers are not surprising, the picture changes dramatically when the sample is broken down by age, as Winnipeggers 18 to 34 are almost just as concerned about rapid transit as they are with road repairs, the survey suggests.

"That's something to know for the future," said Probe Research president Scott MacKay. "As the debate over rapid transit continues, the people who will really be driving this are the young people. Young people are greener, it would seem."

This summer, Winnipeg will begin to build the first phase of a $327-million, 9.6-kilometre bus corridor that will eventually connect downtown with the University of Manitoba.

The first phase, slated to be completed in 2011, is a $138-million, 3.6-kilometre span between Queen Elizabeth Way near The Forks and Jubilee Avenue near Pembina Highway. The expense includes a bridge over Osborne Street south of Confusion Corner, a tunnel under the CNR Fort Rouge Yards and the purchase or expropriation of 11 parcels of privately owned land along the corridor.

The city is borrowing $90 million to help pay for its share of the first phase of the project and doesn't expect to pay off the loan until 2039. Ottawa and the province have contributed a total of $45 million.

But the city has yet to determine how it will finance the $189-million second phase of the bus corridor. To that end, Mayor Sam Katz has asked Ottawa for $600 million to complete the corridor and also build an ultra-light rail tramway that would run from Queen Elizabeth Way through downtown to the University of Winnipeg.

While it's clear the majority of Winnipeggers see road and bridge repairs as their top priority, Mayor Sam Katz said he was pleased to see rapid transit and waste water each seem to be the top infrastructure priorities for a fifth of the populace.

"These are things that should be on the top of people's minds, because we're talking about them here at city hall and they're getting media attention," Katz said.

The city is in the midst of upgrading its three waste-water treatment facilities to reduce nutrient loading into the Lake Winnipeg watershed and is also replacing combined sewers with dedicated pipes for rainwater and sewage.

The poll was conducted before all three levels of government and Canwest vice-president David Asper announced a $135-million deal to build a new Canadian Football League stadium at the University of Manitoba, aided by $35 million from Ottawa and Broadway.

The nature of the survey, which forced respondents to choose just one infrastructure project when governments can in fact complete several simultaneously, should not be construed as suggesting Winnipeggers don't care about a new stadium for the Blue Bombers, MacKay said.

"People aren't saying 'We don't want one.' They're saying, 'If you're making us pick one thing, we have to pick the roads,'" said the pollster, noting the survey was carried out at a time of year when Winnipeggers are most concerned about roads. "When the snow retreats, we see how bad a shape the roads are in."

bartley.kives@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition April 8, 2009 A5

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