Narrowing road will slow traffic, add green space at Forks

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This article was published 01/05/2017 (3053 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The entranceway to The Forks is getting a major makeover.

Paul Jordan, Forks CEO, said a redesign of Israel Asper Way from south of York Avenue to The Forks Market will be the subject of a design competition with the goal to create a pedestrian-friendly, tree-lined linear parkway leading to The Forks.

“This has been an idea since The Forks was created,” he said. “The four-lane divided roadway is getting dangerous for pedestrians to cross. We want to reduce it to two lanes and take a look at this long, linear parkway.”

Jordan said the design competition, which will be formally announced in a few weeks, will seek proposals on creating the parkway and shrinking the number of lanes from four to two, while still maintaining access to the parking lot site east of Israel Asper Way, formally known as the Railside lands, which The Forks plans to develop.

Jordan said he favours eliminating the two lanes along Israel Asper Way now reserved for southbound traffic, using that land for the parkway and converting the two northbound lanes to one lane each way.

But nothing is finalized.

“We want to see what the design community comes up with,” he said.

The redesign will not affect York Avenue or Israel Asper Way north of York to Waterfront Drive, he said.

The submitted design proposals will likely be revealed in the fall, followed by public input, Jordan said, adding he expects a decision on the winning design and timelines for construction will be announced in about a year.

Jordan said the number of vehicles speeding along Israel Asper Way confirmed the roadway was overbuilt.

“If hindsight was perfect, we never would have built the four lanes to begin with, we would have just done two lanes,” he said.

aldo.santin@freepress.mb.ca