Mayor Katz goes off track

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This article was published 27/10/2009 (6095 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

He used to dream of trains, but now he’s OK with a set of wheels.

One year after announcing a bus rapid-transit plan without actually mentioning buses, Winnipeg Mayor Sam Katz has fully embraced the $138-million bus corridor under construction in Fort Rouge.

Earlier this summer, Winnipeg Transit began building the first phase of the southwest rapid-transit corridor, a 3.6-kilometre link between Queen Elizabeth Way near The Forks and Jubilee Avenue at Pembina Highway.

When it’s finished in 2011, the corridor will allow transit buses to bypass congestion in Osborne Village, Confusion Corner and along the northernmost stretch of Pembina Highway, thanks to the construction of a dedicated two-lane busway that includes a new bridge over Osborne Street and a tunnel below the CN Fort Rouge Yards.

When Katz and former Manitoba premier Gary Doer unveiled the project in September 2008, the word "bus" wasn’t part of the announcement, largely because Katz cancelled an earlier bus-corridor plan in 2004 and has since expressed a preference for light rail instead. "LRT is right around the corner," Katz said at the time, referring to a mode of transportation transit officials have repeatedly rejected due to the high cost of construction.

But since the busway under construction will be wide enough to accommodate light-rail tracks in the future, Katz instructed three city departments to explore the possibility of leapfrogging over BRT to LRT as soon as possible. Early this year, the city asked Ottawa for $600 million to make the upgrades possible, while the city explored the feasibility of building some form of ultralight-rail "automated people-mover" system in downtown Winnipeg.

Now, the rail plans have been relegated to the future, as federal cash has not materialized and the automated people -mover idea has been shelved.

The mayor has adjusted his rhetoric accordingly and is now praising the bus corridor as a good first rapid-transit step. "I’m happy to see BRT move forward because it will have a very positive impact from downtown to Jubilee. We know where the real congestion is and what we’re doing right now will most definitely eliminate the majority of the congestion," Katz told reporters, referring to traffic bottlenecks around Confusion Corner.

"Down the road, when there is money available, there is no question, I very much believe in light-rail transit. That’s what will certainly push people a little quicker to leave their cars at home and take alternative transportation."

Ottawa, which has been doling out infrastructure funds as part of a time-sensitive economic-stimulus program, was apparently reluctant to fund a piecemeal rapid-transit system that will be built in stages.

"It’s a matter of how quickly you can get everything done with the resources that are available," Katz said. "I think you can appreciate if you’re going to go a certain distance, you want to ensure you have the capacity to get there with a plan to get there, as opposed to just starting and not knowing when you’re going to finish."

Katz’s embrace of BRT is prudent, said Arne Elias, the director of Winnipeg’s Centre for Sustainable Transportation and a member of the Mayor’s Environmental Advisory Council.

"We really don’t have the density for light rail. I know the mayor wants to go there, but unless it’s gifted by the feds, it doesn’t make financial sense," Elias said. "This is possibly the biggest transportation decision the city has ever made. We need to be very careful we do the due diligence and select what’s right for Winnipeg."

bartley.kives@freepress.mb.ca