City unveils Waverley underpass project plans

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This article was published 06/10/2016 (3506 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The design for the new Waverley underpass is right on track and no one will miss the trains.

Those were the overarching sentiments by residents who live in the area and commuters who travel the route at Thursday’s open house hosted by the City of Winnipeg at the Caboto Centre. At least a half dozen city staff as well as project manager Cam Ward were on hand to answer questions and hear ideas from members of the public.

Plans for the $155-million Waverley underpass project were unveiled for the public at the open house which included large scale plans on tables, design boards and video images on a large screen of what the area looks like now and renderings of what it will look like at the completion of the project, in three years from now if all goes as planned.

“This is my main route to my son’s, who lives in River Heights. It’s quite amazing how often there is a train,” said Meta Eccleston, who has only lived in Winnipeg for three years. “What always annoys me is when they have a train going one way and then a train going the other way immediately afterwards. So instead of waiting for five, six minutes, you’re there for 12. (It happens) I would say infrequently, but often enough to be a bother.”

Construction is expected to start in January 2017, with completion anticipated by October 2019.

She expressed optimism that the new underpass will address those concerns.

“If you’re going to build an underpass, you’d hope so. Otherwise there’s no point in doing anything, is there?”

The project will include the construction of a roadway underneath the CN Rail line that crosses Waverley Street, the reconstruction of Waverley between Taylor Avenue and Wilkes Avenue/Hurst Way, and the twinning of Taylor between Waverley Street and Lindsay Street.

Transport Canada has deemed the crossing at Waverley Street near Taylor Avenue high risk as there are an average of 33 trains per day at the intersection and 33,665 vehicles crossing over it. It is the busiest crossing in Manitoba and in the top five in Canada, according to Transport Canada data.

Doreen and Arnold Kapitz know first-hand how dangerous the area can be. Doreen was involved in a collision at Waverley Street and Taylor Avenue in February 2015 in which she was fortunate to not have been hurt but their car was totalled. The couple has lived in their bungalow condominium at the corner of Waverley and Taylor for 13 years and said they welcome the Waverley underpass.

“It’s going to be safer. You always see pieces of cars at that intersection,” Arnold said. “People hurry through that intersection, especially those that have been waiting for a 15-minute train. When the light changes, they just zoom through the orange and the red. A lot.”

Vaibhav Banthia said he lives in Richmond West but he came to the open house because Waverley Street is part of his daily commute to work.

“Every time, it seems, I have to be at a meeting or on time somewhere, for some reason or another, I encounter a train,” said Banthia, noting he has waited up to 10 minutes for a train to cross. “I’m looking forward to this.”

Catherine and Stephen Klassen expressed concerns about accessing businesses in the area, such as La Grotta Mediterranean Market.

“The basic plan is good, there would still have to be a few refinements in it, espcecially insofar as how local businesses are affected and the traffic (to get to them),” Stephen said. “Even now, it’s a little awkward to get in and out of there (La Grotta).”

Catherine said one solution would be another set of lights at Cambridge.

“But I know the concern is that there would be too many lights too close together and it could obstruct the traffic flow,” she said. “There’s a restaurant there, filling station, dental office, store, they’re going to have to deal with that to make it easily accessible.”

Ward said a detour roadway will be built as part of the project. It will be a four-lane detour on Waverley Street to the west of the existing crossing. It will allow two lanes of traffic in each direction on Waverley Street while while the underpass is being constructed.

“The broader transportation in the area will be improved as well, it’s not just an underpass,” Ward said, noting there will be “significant intersection improvements at Waverley and Wilkes Avenue, Waverley and Taylor Avenue as well as Waverley and Grant Avenue.

“A real opportunity on this project was to incorporate pedestrian and cycling infrastructure. We’re going to have a three metre-wide cycling path as well as a one-and-a-half metre-wide pedestrian pathway, or sidewalk, and that’s going to be on both sides of Waverley.”

Ottawa and the provincial government will each contribute $45.9 million, leaving city hall to cover the remaining $63.3 million.

ashley.prest@freepress.mb.ca