Transit station unveiled at U of M expected to cut stadium traffic

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This article was published 4/7/2017 (1819 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Football fans who take the bus to the Blue Bombers' home opener Friday are in for a treat.

They will be the first to experience Stadium Station, the first piece of the Southwest Rapid Transitway and Pembina Highway underpass project.

The new station at Investors Group Field will make for smoother arrivals and quicker getaways from major events, Winnipeg Transit project manager Jesse Crowder said.

The station — with its walkways, signage and new access road for buses — is designed to handle 12,000 riders in a 15-minute period, Crowder said.

Stadium Station will initially be used for major events, including football games, the Canada Summer Games and concerts, Mayor Brian Bowman said at a ribbon-cutting ceremony Tuesday.

In 2020 it will be part of regular transit service when Stage 2 of the southwest rapid transit corridor is completed, Bowman said. The first leg of the second stage of the corridor, the new Bohémier Trail, connects buses from the stadium to Pembina Highway. It can handle up to 200 buses and moves transit traffic off Chancellor Matheson Drive and University Crescent, Coun. Janice Lukes said.

It will cut down on traffic congestion into and out of the campus on event days, Lukes said.

The Bohémier Trail is named for Quebec family that settled in the area in 1884, she said.

Dozens of Bohémier descendants attended the ribbon-cutting ceremony, including football fans Larry Bohémier and Jacquie Dorge.

"It's pretty cool," Dorge said of the station and the familiar name of the road that leads to it. "It's a great honour."

The project was funded through PPP Canada, Province of Manitoba and the City of Winnipeg. Stage 2, being built as a public-private partnership, extends Stage 1 of the Southwest Transitway to the University of Manitoba. Nearly $200 million in government funding has been dedicated to support the first two stages of rapid transit projects.

"This is a perfectly fitting location for a rapid transit station, at the home of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and on the grounds of Manitoba’s largest university," Bowman said.

"Rapid transit has been talked about for years and I am proud of the progress made by this council on getting it done."

Construction of the Southwest Rapid Transitway Stage 2 and Pembina Highway Underpass project is expected to be completed in late 2019. Following a period of testing, training and commissioning, operations on the new transitway are expected to begin in April 2020.

More information on the Southwest Rapid Transitway Stage 2 project can be found on the project website: www.winnipeg.ca/southwestrapidtransitway.

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca