Traffic counts on the rise on McPhillips

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 02/11/2011 (5314 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Commuters who use McPhillips Street on a regular basis were greeted by the return of a familiar sight in recent days — gridlock.

City crews began resurfacing northbound McPhillips between Notre Dame and Logan avenues earlier this summer. The construction reduced northbound McPhillips from four lanes to three.

While the construction caused frequent traffic tie-ups, motorists got some relief late last week when work on the $600,000 project wrapped up.

Adding to the recent delays was the closure of the street’s southbound curb lane between Logan and the McPhillips underpass. That work isn’t scheduled to be completed until Nov. 14.

After nearly two years of off-and-on construction, some motorists say they now try to avoid taking McPhillips whenever possible.

Tina Bridges, a customer at the Asian Meat Market located near the corner of Logan and McPhillips, said she only travels to the area out of necessity.

“Unless it is a real food emergency, I try to stay away,” she said.

The manager of one McPhillips business said he hopes the short-term pain translates into long-term gains for people who live and work in the area.

Mitchell Traa, manager of Winnipeg U-Drive on McPhillips, said prior to the work, many commuters avoided the thoroughfare’s northbound curb lane.

“It was slanted in and was in pretty bad condition,” he said.

“Since construction has been completed, the northbound curb lane is being used by many more drivers compared to before.”

Lester Deane, manager of engineering for the city’s public works department, said all of the current construction along McPhillips is expected to be completed some time later this month.

“Work is weather-dependent of course, but most of the traffic bottle-necking will be disappearing soon,” he said.

Deane said city crews are also in the midst of finishing up sidewalk and other paving work on Logan.

Manitoba Hydro workers are in the area, having shut down the southbound curb lane of McPhillips while crews finish some conduit work.

“Because of the Logan construction, things are still bogged down during rush hour,” Traa said.

Winnipeg Harvest, located a block west of McPhillips at 1085 Winnipeg Ave., has dozens of trucks making deliveries and pick-ups each day, but hasn’t experienced any major disruptions as a result of the recent construction.

“It really hasn’t affected us. Sure, things have been slower at times, however at the end of the day there has been no real issue,” said spokesperson Chris Albi.

Deane said some of the McPhillips improvements were delayed due to a scheduling conflict with improvements to the Arlington Street Bridge that were performed earlier this summer.

“(Work) was delayed earlier this summer to accommodate increased traffic volumes caused by maintenance work required on the bridge,” he said.

“We obviously couldn’t have both roads out of commission at the same time.”

City crews dug up the intersection of Logan and McPhillips in the fall of 2010, to replace a 100-year-old underground infrastructure.

Facebook.com/TheTimesWpg  
Twitter: @TimesWPG

rob.brown@canstarnews.com