Activists want BRT finished

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This article was published 13/03/2011 (5344 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Rapid transit advocates want Mayor Sam Katz to finish what he started and plan to reignite their push to get city council to extend the southwest corridor to the University of Manitoba.

The $138-million first phase of the rapid-transit corridor is slated to be complete later this year, and will create a 3.6-kilometre link between Queen Elizabeth Way near The Forks and Jubilee Avenue at Pembina Highway. The bus rapid transit (BRT) corridor will allow riders to bypass traffic gridlock in areas such as Confusion Corner, but extending the line to the University of Manitoba has dropped off city council’s priority list.

Thomas Novak, past co-chairman of the Winnipeg Rapid Transit Coalition, said there was not a penny for any sort of rapid transit — bus or light-rail — in Winnipeg’s 2011 capital budget. He said he’s not convinced Katz and his inner circle have any intention of moving ahead on a second phase, despite concerns over traffic gridlock on Pembina Highway due to the new football stadium at the University of Manitoba.

Novak said advocates will hold events in the coming weeks in an attempt to put transit back on the city’s radar. While he declined to specify what is planned, Novak said he believes public pressure to get the job done will be the only impetus on council to move ahead with the project.

“We believe it’s only going to be pressure that will convince the mayor and EPC that this has to be finished,” Novak said.

“We don’t see evidence the mayor is committed to any kind of rapid transit because there’s not a cent for BRT or LRT money in this year’s capital budget.”

Katz declined to speak to the Free Press about rapid transit and a spokesman for the mayor said “there is nothing new to report.”

Last year, Katz turned down $130 million in infrastructure-stimulus funding for the second phase of the busway that would create a six-kilometre extension to Bison Drive at the U of M. He said it wasn’t enough money and said he would rather see the Building Canada Fund used to finance road and bridge projects, including traffic improvements around Polo Park and an extension of the Chief Peguis Trail.

During last fall’s municipal election campaign, Katz told Winnipeggers he will continue to lobby other levels of government to transform the first phase of the southwest corridor into a light-rail route and try to access P3 Canada Funds for the project.

Since then, there has been no update on the status of the project.

“We’re waiting because the mayor has other priorities,” said Fort Rouge Coun. Jenny Gerbasi.

Gerbasi said the mayor has deferred the second phase — for which there is still no plan or design — which could lead to further cost overruns. She said Winnipeggers will probably scratch their heads once the first phase is complete as transit riders will be able to bypass downtown traffic congestion only to wind up back in traffic on Pembina Highway.

“It’s going to be very frustrating for transit riders,” Gerbasi said. “When people are stuck in traffic waiting to go to the stadium, they’re going to be thinking, ‘Why didn’t we finish this thing?’ “

Novak said he’s optimistic Winnipeggers will want more rapid transit lines once the first line is operational later this year. He said city council would be foolish not to accept federal-provincial dollars earmarked for the project.

“Build the rapid transit and Winnipeggers will say, ‘We need this all over the rest of the city,'” Novak said.

jen.skerritt@freepress.mb.ca