TIRED of waiting at railway crossings?
Well just imagine what life will be like for Transcona residents when trains start parking in their neighbourhood.
A last-minute appeal from the Manitoba Floodway Authority prompted a group of Winnipeg city councillors to allow Canadian Pacific Railroad to use a residential area to park its trains while a new railroad bridge is built over the expanded floodway.
The proposal will allow the CPR to block traffic on three streets in east Winnipeg -- Panet Road, Plessis Road and Peguis Street -- for up to an hour at a time, possibly several times a day, during a 11-month period beginning in September, as its east- and westbound trains shuffle past each other.
The plan was approved on a desperate appeal from Ernie Gilroy, the chief executive officer of the Manitoba Floodway Authority, who said the railroad would need a large staging area on the east side of the city while its twin-track railroad bridge over the floodway is replaced with a new structure.
Gilroy said CPR had agreed to let the province build a new bridge but only if the schedules for its trains were not delayed. Gilroy told the councillors that all other options had been examined and rejected, adding the proposal had to be approved Tuesday to ensure that construction of the new bridge can begin in September.
The councillors on the infrastructure renewal and public works committee wrestled with the proposal, upset that it came to them at the last minute and that the plan jeopardized public safety and would play havoc with rush-hour traffic in those areas.
Area councillor Russ Wyatt said CPR was benefitting from the construction of a new bridge but isn't willing to be inconvenienced in any way by the project.
A compromise plan, to speed up response times of fire trucks and paramedics, will see the city explore the possibility of opening Ravelston Avenue onto Lagimodiere Boulevard, giving the emergency vehicles an alternate route if Peguis Street is blocked by a train.
But city officials admitted opening Ravelston could also pose a serious traffic concern, adding it's not an opening they would approve under any other circumstance.
Aldo.santin@freepress.mb.ca
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