Busway hits roadblock

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This article was published 24/04/2015 (4140 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Public concern over potential damage to the Parker wetlands has raised uncertainty over the start of construction of Stage 2 of the Southwest Transitway.

Manitoba Conservation has ordered the City of Winnipeg to prepare a report on the potential effects the transitway could have on the wetlands, a large parcel of undeveloped forest, grass and wet meadow west of Pembina Highway and north of the new corridor route.

The order is viewed as a victory by advocates of the Parker wetlands.

“That’s a small step forward in the right direction,” Cal Dueck, a member of the Parker Wetlands Conservation Committee, said.

The group fears the transitway will destroy the wetlands, and it wants the project stopped and another route chosen.

City officials received a letter dated April 20 from Tracey Braun, director of the environmental approvals branch, directing the City of Winnipeg to “provide a report, for my approval prior to construction of the (transitway project), on the potential effects of the project on the wetland.”

A civic spokeswoman said the city will prepare the report as requested, but would not say what impact this will have on the project’s timing.

Officials from Winnipeg Transit were not made available for comment but the spokeswoman said the project remains on schedule.

David Sanders, an activist, said the city was already required to conduct a field study of the wetlands later this spring as a condition of its environmental licence, adding this more comprehensive review could result in the province referring the project to the Clean Environment Commission.

“If that happens, the project certainly will be delayed,” Sanders said.

In her letter, Braun instructed the city to conduct a comprehensive review that will include the preparation of a drainage plan to ensure the transitway project does not impact the wetland.

The review was prompted by a flurry of appeals of Manitoba Conservation’s decision in December to issue an environmental licence for construction of the transitway and related infrastructure from Jubilee Avenue to the University of Manitoba.

The transitway is a $447.6-million project involving the construction of a dedicated corridor and related infrastructure, including bridges, underpasses, a tunnel, roadway connections, transit stations, park-and-ride facilities, related drainage work, and a new active-transportation path.

Construction is set to begin in 2016 and be completed by late 2019. The corridor is to open in early 2020.

The corridor and the Jubilee underpass reconstruction carry a total price tag of $590 million. City hall and the province are each contributing $225 million and the federal government is providing the remainder.

The transitway will be designed, constructed and maintained for 30 years by a consortium of engineers, designers and contractors, known formally as a public-private partnership (P3). The city has narrowed the list of competing consortiums to three, and is expected to pick the winning team in the fall.

The project has drawn a lot of criticism, mostly for the decision to run the route west of Pembina Highway, through a large parcel of undeveloped land, known as the Parker lands, before it returns to Pembina Highway and on to the University of Manitoba.

Dueck said he hopes the order to the city will lead to a broader study.

“We believe the wetlands is quite possibly some of the rarest ecosystem on the planet — tall grass prairie,” said Dueck, who lives in the area.

The group wants a full study of all animal life, including birds and insects, in the wetlands.

“The city has been pushing ahead with doing (this project) anyway,” Dueck said. “Now at least we’re getting a wetland study.”

aldo.santin@freepress.mb.ca