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Transportation studies add up

At least $2.7M spent; another one in works

By: Bartley Kives

Posted: 04/22/2010 1:00 AM | Comments: 0

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Jenny Gerbasi: ‘Finish it off’

Let's study this

Transportation studies conducted by the City of Winnipeg since Sam Katz was elected mayor in 2004:

Rapid Transit Task Force (2005): Transcona Coun. Russ Wyatt oversaw a committee that concluded Winnipeg wasn't dense enough for light-rail transit. Its $220,000 final report called for the creation of two bus rapid transit corridors -- one along Pembina Highway and the other along Nairn Avenue.

Mayor's Trade Council (2008): A nine-member committee appointed by Katz issued a report calling for a ring road within the Perimeter and other new arteries.

Transportation authority study (2009): Winnipeg Transit set aside $1.25 million last year to plan the creation of a transportation authority.

The report remains "in progress," a city spokeswoman said.

LRT conversion study (2009-2010): Consulting firm HDR was awarded a $53,000 contract to "undertake a cost-benefit analysis in support of a business case for a potential conversion of bus rapid transit to light-rail transit." The analysis has not been made public.

Winnipeg transportation strategy (2009-2010): As part of Our Winnipeg, a $3.2-million effort to develop a new long-term planning framework for the city, consultants IBI and Mc-Cormick Rankin were awarded $1.15 million to develop a transportation plan. It too has yet to be completed.

In other news

Other decisions made by executive policy committee on Wednesday:

Football stadium: EPC approved the city's share of the complex deal to build a new home for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers at the University of Manitoba. Pending council approval next week, the city will declare the Canad Inns Stadium site at Polo Park surplus once the new U of M venue is complete. The city will then sell the old stadium site to David Asper's Creswin Properties, which will build a new retail destination called The Elms.

Hockey arenas: EPC voted to allow the community services department to ask private-sector and non-profit groups to come forward with ideas about renovating, replacing or taking over aging city hockey arenas.

Council expenses: EPC voted to delay a plan to post councillors' expenses online until the city auditor completes a new report about the practice. Council's Secretariat committee wanted the city to hold off until the province decides what to do about MLA expenses, but EPC councillors didn't want to wait until 2011.

Roadside memorials: EPC voted to approve a plan to charge $125 to install roadside memorials on city property upon request from a family member of the deceased.

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Sam Katz: ‘Time... to get out of the Dark Ages’

The City of Winnipeg has set aside at least $2.7 million to study transit and transportation since Sam Katz was elected mayor -- and may spend another $100,000 over the next three months.

On Wednesday, city council's executive policy committee voted to spend up to $100,000 by July on a study that will compare the costs and benefits of light-rail transit versus bus rapid transit.

"It's time for Winnipeg to get out of the Dark Ages," Katz told EPC, which also voted Wednesday to remove the second phase of the Southwest Rapid Transit Corridor from a city wish list for infrastructure funding.

The city is in the midst of building the 3.6-kilometre first phase of the bus corridor, which runs from Queen Elizabeth Way near The Forks to Jubilee Avenue near Pembina Highway, at a cost of $138 million.

The Selinger government has offered the city $63 million toward the $210-million cost of building the six-kilometre second leg of the corridor, but Katz wants to spend that money on other road and bridge projects.

The mayor said he's turned down the provincial money because it falls short of the $73.3-million figure that represents one-third of the cost of Phase 2, noting all three levels of government must agree to pay projects financed by the Building Canada Fund. The mayor also said Winnipeg has not received its fair share of infrastructure money from this program.

On Wednesday, Katz again called on Premier Greg Selinger to fly to Ottawa with him to lobby the federal Conservatives to fund a light-rail network in Winnipeg.

The Selinger government has been cool to the idea and wants Winnipeg to complete the bus corridor before it explores other rapid-transit options.

Appearing before EPC, Fort Rouge Coun. Jenny Gerbasi accused Katz of repeating a manoeuvre from 2004, when the newly elected mayor cancelled plans for a bus corridor and asked the city to study rapid transit instead.

"Finish it off," said Gerbasi. "Don't kill it again."

In 2005, the Katz-commissioned Rapid Transit Task Force concluded Winnipeg was better suited for bus rapid transit. But the city began dabbling with light rail again in 2009, when consulting firm HDR was awarded a $53,000 contract to develop a business case for converting bus rapid transit to light-rail transit.

Katz said another $100,000 study is needed to verify a claim made last month by an unnamed rail-industry official who contends light-rail transit now costs no more than twice as much as bus rapid transit, as opposed to six times as much.

Light rail also does more to reduce greenhouse gases and increase both ridership and urban density, the mayor said.

His critics are not convinced.

"This isn't time to study rapid transit. This is the time to build rapid transit," said Paul Hesse of the Winnipeg Rapid Transit Coalition.

Over the last two years, the city has also devoted $1.25 million to develop a transportation authority and another $1.15 million to develop a new transportation strategy.

The multitude of transportation studies seems redundant, said Colin Craig of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.

"It's like they're commissioning them now for the fun of it. Unfortunately, it's costing taxpayers a fortune," he said.

"I understand what the mayor wants to do with light rail, but how many times do you need to study it?"

bartley.kives@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition April 22, 2010 B1

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