City won’t be considering Lyon parkway extension

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This article was published 06/11/2017 (2904 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Costs comparisons released by city hall Monday show it would be less expensive to construct the Sterling Lyon Parkway extension rather than to twin Wilkes Avenue.

City of Winnipeg chief administrative officer Doug McNeil circulated an email to members of council Monday, trying to clarify the cost estimates for the two competing east-west corridor routes through the south Charleswood area.

McNeil said in his email the Sterling Lyon Parkway route — unanimously rejected by the public works committee last week — has a price tag of $85 million, compared to $92 million to twin Wilkes.

However, McNeil said the cost to twin Wilkes Avenue is very preliminary, not even a Class 5 estimate, with a price range of $46 million to $184 million; while the Sterling Lyon Parkway route is a more reliable Class 3 estimate, with a price range of $68 million to $111 million.

Despite it having a lower price tag, city hall will not be pursuing the Sterling Lyon Parkway extension as a corridor option.

“We have very clearly heard that (Sterling Lyon Parkway extension is) an option that is not preferred by area residents or the area councillor and will not be further explored,” McNeil said in his email.

Meanwhile, city hall confirmed the public works department engineer who headed up the project — and who was targeted for criticism by ward Coun. Marty Morantz — will be leaving his job with the city at the end of the month.

Transportation facilities planning engineer Scott Suderman recently gave his notice, said Felicia Wiltshire, City of Winnipeg communications director.

“We have recently been made aware of Mr. Suderman’s intention to step away from his current position with public works at the end of this month,” Wiltshire said in an email exchange with the Free Press. “We were definitely disappointed to learn of his upcoming departure as he is a valued city employee, and we wish him all the best in the next phase of his career.”

Suderman was targeted by Morantz at last week’s public works committee meeting, where Morantz said he wanted Suderman to be removed as head of the roadway project and the consulting firm, WSP Canada, to be dismissed.

In an unusual move, the public works committee made a recommendation to council that stipulates only the twinning of Wilkes Avenue would be considered as the east-west corridor for the area — bowing to pressure from area residents who were upset with how they said Suderman and WSP had surprised them with the Sterling Lyon Parkway extension.

City hall had engaged engineering consulting firm WSP Canada in December 2014 to help staff develop options for the southward expansion of the William R. Clement Parkway and to study a possible east-west corridor linking the Clement Parkway to Kenaston Boulevard, part of the city’s long-term plan to complete the inner-ring road network.

After the city and WSP had presented three route options to area residents in January 2016, WSP staff — apparently on their own initiative — developed the controversial fourth option and submitted it to the province as the city’s preferred choice. Residents learned of the new route only in October, prompting an intense lobbying effort which led to last week’s public works meeting.

The costing information released by McNeil followed a commitment he had given the public works committee last week. Several other councillors also demanded the cost comparison before they vote on the committee’s proposal at the Nov. 15 council meeting.

McNeil said the administration is reviewing the south Charleswood east-west corridor project in light of the community backlash and the committee’s unanimous rejection of what appeared to be the preferred route.

“We need to reset the direction on this project, and will determine how next to proceed once this motion has been voted on by council,” McNeil said in his email. “Ideally, we would like to go back and further examine Option 1, which is the east-west alignment along Wilkes Avenue and was the option that was favoured by the community.”

In addition to the cost estimates, McNeil told members of council the Wilkes route would require the city to acquire more individual pieces of private property — the partial or complete acquisition of 50 residential and/or agricultural properties and 10 commercial properties.

In comparison, McNeil said the Sterling Lyon Parkway extension route would require the partial or complete acquisition of 48 residential and/or agricultural properties.

aldo.santin@freepress.mb.ca