Traffic circles continue to sprout

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 02/11/2010 (5539 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A fresh crop of traffic circles has materialized on Nassau Street as construction crews attempt to complete the city’s $20.4-million active-transportation upgrade before the snow falls.

Thirty five new bike-and-pedestrian projects planned for Winnipeg this year must be finished before April 2011 to meet the terms of a funding agreement between the city, province and Ottawa. Since all but three involve pouring concrete, that means 32 must be completed before the winter.

At least three of those projects are on hold right now as the city reviews some of the remaining routes and attempts to mitigate the fallout from a public-relations disaster involving some of the Assiniboine Bikeway, traffic circles on Grosvenor Avenue and other contentious aspects of the active-transportation upgrade.

Work has already begun at one of the most ambitious changes: A $225,000 traffic-calming project that will prevent cars from using Nassau Street as a means of short-cutting past Osborne Village.

Portions of Nassau Street between Stradbrook Avenue and Pembina Highway are now one way for motor vehicles. Four new traffic circles are also in place.

Corydon Village resident Bill Spornitz, who supports the new traffic-calming measure, said he is nonetheless annoyed that signage promoting the changes is not sufficient.

“Maybe it just my grumpiness after the election, but I’m not sure the city is taking care to lay this out properly,” he said. “Over the weekend, the signs blew down.”

Fort Rouge Coun. Jenny Gerbasi said she expected to receive a lot of calls about Nassau Street, but few have come so far.

Area residents didn’t like the way their neighbourhood was used a shortcut, she said.

A spokesman for the city could not say how many of Winnipeg’s 35 active-transportation projects remain incomplete, due to the amount of work underway.

— Bartley Kives

Archive Video: Traffic circle cam highlights – October 21