City launches first step en route to eastern transit corridor

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This article was published 04/05/2017 (3109 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

City hall formally launched the start of its eastern corridor rapid transit route study Thursday, five months after the consulting contract for the project was awarded.

Coun. Marty Morantz, chairman of the public works committee, said the study and its associated public consultations are the first step in choosing a rapid transit corridor linking downtown with the eastern part of the city.

“The launch of the eastern corridor study represents an important next step to our further implementation of rapid transit in Winnipeg,” Morantz said at a news conference outside city hall. “We are looking forward to hearing citizens’ priorities and ideas.”

The consulting contract for the design study and public consultation process was awarded in late December to MMM Group, which submitted a bid of $2.9 million for the work.

The study will determine which one of two possible routes is best to link downtown to Nairn Avenue— through South Point Douglas and across a new Louise bridge, or across north St. Boniface.

The eastern corridor is one of six adopted by council in its Transportation Master Plan, which called for the southwest corridor to be constructed first, followed by the east, north and west corridors — all by 2030. Corridors to the northeast and southeast are expected to be built after that, depending on transit demand.

The design study is complex and comprehensive, and will include an environmental review, co-ordinating related capital projects in the public works, water and waste and property, planning and development departments. There will be a comprehensive process where, in co-operation with civic staff, public input will be provided at every stage of the project.

The study will also include options for replacing the Louise Bridge.

“Public engagement is a significant piece of this project and there will be very many opportunities for the public to participate in this process,” Morantz said.

The first of a series of public workshops will be held, at different locations, the week of May 15.

Morantz said the study will be completed in the spring of 2018 and a preferred route will be chosen at that time.

The study builds on the work of a 2006 report, which proposed the eastern corridor be built in two stages: first from the Graham Avenue transit mall to the Crossroads Station shopping centre at Lagimodiere and Regent Avenue; and then from Crossroads Station to Plessis Road and Kildare Avenue. One of the objectives of the study will be to determine how deep into Transcona the corridor should go.

The north St. Boniface route includes a corridor that links the Graham Avenue transit mall to east Elmwood (Foster Avenue), from there to the CNR overpass at Lagimodiere Boulevard, and then to the Crossroads Station area.

Dave Wardrop, the city’s chief transportation and utilities officer, said once a route has been chosen, the city would initiate land assembly within the downtown area and detailed planning.

“Until we know where the route will go, it would be premature to have conversations or negotiations with existing land owners,” he said, adding the city’s doesn’t have a preferred choice between the two options.

Winnipeg Transit wants a better route between the Graham mall and the Main-Stradbrook entrance to the southwest corridor — linking Graham Avenue to Union Station and using CNR tracks to the corridor. The city has an agreement with the railroad to use the right of way along two of those tracks, including through Union Station, where Transit wants to locate a stop.

 

aldo.santin@freepress.mb.ca