Municipal politicians and officials will wrestle this month with the contentious issue of which back lanes the city will rebuild next year.
Deciding which stretches of the city's 800 kilometres of back lanes make the reconstruction list is one of the most disputed issues at city hall, insiders said this week.
"We get more calls for back lanes than we do for streets," said Daniel McIntyre Coun. Harvey Smith. Many lanes in Smith's inner-city ward are in the worst condition in Winnipeg.
Even in the suburbs, back lanes generate large numbers of complaints.
"I make more calls on back lanes than anything else, with the possible exception of snow," echoed St. Vital Coun. Gord Steeves, in an e-mail. "I am constantly on the phone (about) back lanes and trying to help get work done."
As the city wraps up its road construction projects for 2008, it is focusing on back-lane repairs.
The city is rebuilding 13 stretches of back lanes, covering about 2.4 kilometres, in 2008. Overall, it has budgeted $3 million per year for back-lane repairs for the next five years.
That figure is almost four times higher than the $750,000 budgeted in 2007.
City sources attributed the hike to efforts by River Heights Coun. Brenda Leipsic, whose ward attracts significant lane repairs annually.
Leipsic was away because of a family matter and could not be reached for comment.
However, Smith said the budget increase for lane reconstruction is still far from adequate, especially in older areas of the city where infrastructure is aging.
"That's peanuts," Smith said of the 2008 budget amount. "There should be enough to go ahead and address the problem of bad back lanes."
The city estimates the cost of repairing one kilometre of back lane to be about $1.3 million.
joe.paraskevas@freepress.mb.ca
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