Is there movement on Portage and Main?

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 20/09/2017 (2964 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Underground, it can take a long time for Portage and Main’s subterranean pedestrians to get from one side of the street to the other, particularly visitors to Winnipeg who can’t easily find their destination in the labyrinth of tunnels.

Meanwhile, up on the surface of the city’s signature corner, it’s taking a long time for Mayor Brian Bowman to negotiate the political labyrinth that is city hall and reach a long-desired destination, which is fulfilling his campaign pledge to reopen the intersection to pedestrian traffic.

There were several developments last week in the long-promised effort to remove the ugly concrete barriers that have blockaded Canada’s most imposing urban wind tunnel and forced pedestrians underground since 1979.

Councillors learned that next month they will finally see the Dillon Report, a consultant’s assessment of how opening the intersection will affect traffic and pedestrians. Civic administration had refused to release the completed $116,000 study, even though Councillor Jeff Browaty has been requesting it since January and even filed a complaint with the provincial ombudsman to get the report.

Many eyes are anxious to see the Dillon Report’s recommendations on how opening the intersection to pedestrians will affect the flow of the 77,000 vehicles — including many city buses — that drive through Portage and Main each day.

City councillors were also told city administration has commissioned a Vancouver firm to study the effect of opening Portage and Main on nearby property owners, including how the businesses and city hall will work together on public spaces and private development.

Also last week, a U.S.-based software firm called State of Place raised eyebrows when it concluded Winnipeg can expect dramatic increases in property values and rental rates in the area adjacent to Portage and Main. The firm’s findings were immediately dismissed by local commercial property appraiser Rocky Neufeld, who said he believes opening the intersection will actually lead to lower property values for nearby buildings.

Clearly, the economic impact of the intersection’s opening on businesses is a matter of speculation, but shrewd speculation is essential for success in business. Likely, owners of businesses tied to the intersection, both underground and above, are already pondering the possibility of government considerations, including financial, to help them cope with the big shift in pedestrian and vehicle traffic.

While the economic and traffic considerations are significant, equally important are the intersection’s esthetics and Portage and Main’s impact on this city’s collective consciousness. The waist-high barriers make the major downtown interchange appear closed, inhospitable and possibly dangerous. The nature of barriers is to communicate “Don’t come here,” which negates the city’s repeated efforts to persuade people to shop and live downtown.

When Mr. Bowman was running for mayor, he held a press conference at Portage and Main on Aug. 10, 2014, and — with breathless boosterism — proclaimed, “We’ll all be here when the Winnipeg Jets win the Stanley Cup.”

The reality is that in the six seasons since the NHL returned to Winnipeg, the team has made the playoffs only once. Even the most optimistic Jets fans aren’t picking them to win the Cup anytime soon.

One can only hope the odds of reopening the intersection are a bit better than chances of a Stanley Cup celebration at Portage and Main.