Breaking the bottleneck Widening roadway, adding active transportation part of $550-million Route 90 upgrade By: Joyanne Pursaga Posted: 7:00 PM CDT Friday, May. 5, 2023

A long-awaited proposal to improve a notorious Route 90 bottleneck would widen the street to offer three traffic lanes in each direction, install active transportation pathways on both sides and update aging infrastructure.

The overhaul of the busy route, between Taylor and Ness avenues, was identified as a strategic infrastructure priority for council in 2011, partly because there are few other alternative routes nearby.

On each weekday, more than 40,000 vehicles pass through this section of Route 90, with travel times ranging from about seven to eight minutes during peak periods in both directions. If nothing changes along the route, travel time is expected to grow to nearly 14 minutes (morning rush) and 10.7 minutes (afternoon rush) for northbound traffic by 2041, while reaching 8.5 minutes (morning) and 10.8 minutes (afternoon) for vehicles heading southbound the same year, public consultation documents state.

With the improvements, city staff predicts travel times would range from roughly seven to nine minutes, preventing delays from roughly doubling in some cases as the population grows.

“There will be significant improvements for travel time,” said Vaibhav Banthia, a project manager for the city.

The plans also call to impose a consistent speed limit of 60 km/h for the area, where it currently varies between 50 km/h and 70 km/h. Combined sewers would be separated to prevent overflows and crews would also rehabilitate the St. James bridges, which the proposal describes as “deteriorating.”

Since pavement in the area is “nearing the end of its life,” infrastructure improvements would go beyond the widening itself, the report notes.

Proposed changes to Route 90

While the long-debated project has typically been described as a “widening” of Kenaston Boulevard south of the St. James bridges for several years, Banthia stressed the current vision is much broader.

“I don’t think calling it a widening project is necessarily fair because we are targeting improvements to all forms of transportation and widening is one facet of it,” he said.

The proposal notes there are no active transportation paths along this portion of Route 90 yet, which has been noted as a key gap in the cycling network. The new plan would add off-street multi-use paths on each side to serve pedestrians and cyclists.

The documents also describe a new streetscape “designed for people” with trees and grasses, bus stop enhancements, as well as possible historic monuments and public art.

A preliminary estimate predicts the project would cost around $550 million, though Banthia notes the final design and this year’s soaring construction inflation costs could alter the price. The project is expected to take about eight years to complete after council approves it.

Council is not expected to consider the plan until sometime later this year.

The potential price tag sparked criticism from Coun. Matt Allard, who believes the city will be stretched thin to handle the cost to widen and maintain the new lanes.

“In an environment where we can’t keep up (with) our existing road inventory, adding net new roads (and lanes), I believe is the wrong direction, especially when there are other projects that would much better address traffic problems in Winnipeg,” said Allard, noting public transit investments as an alternative.

“This is just a small part of the overall road network, which is already crumbling. In terms of priorities, it’s not the right one.”

Mayor Scott Gillingham, who campaigned on a pledge to expand Kenaston, as long as a business case supports it, stressed widening the street is only one piece of the investment.

“The information shows that almost 70 per cent of the work that needs to be done is for things other than widening. There’s (a) significant amount of sewer work that needs to be done related to combined sewer overflows and preventing (those). There’s a significant amount of upgrades that need to be done (to the) condition of Kenaston Boulevard…. The St. James (bridges) need to be (redone),” said Gillingham.

A chart in the proposal states 42 per cent of the project’s price will be spent on renewing roads and bridges, 31 per cent will be devoted to widening the route and 27 per cent will go to separating combined sewers.

The mayor stressed adding more lanes must remain part of the project, even if most spending is directed elsewhere.

“The road does need to be widened. It’s a bottleneck… traffic really does pinch at that point,” he said.

The route’s infrastructure also begs for improvement, said Gillingham.

“Anyone who’s driven Kenaston in this section… knows that there are many potholes to avoid, that the curbs are broken. It looks in a sorry state right now,” he said.

City council has ordered a staff report to determine the return on investment for the project, which has not yet been completed.

To implement the current vision, the city would need to acquire at least a portion of 145 separate properties, said Banthia.

Gillingham said consultations will help determine the public impact of that and how concerns can be mitigated.

Winnipeggers can share their views on the proposal through an online survey at winnipeg.ca/route90 until June 1 or attend an open house at 6 p.m. May 18 at the Viscount Gort Hotel (1670 Portage Ave.).

joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @joyanne_pursaga

Joyanne Pursaga
Reporter

Born and raised in Winnipeg, Joyanne loves to tell the stories of this city, especially when politics is involved. Joyanne became the city hall reporter for the Winnipeg Free Press in early 2020.

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