Ah, the joys of driving in Winnipeg…

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 18/01/2018 (2907 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

I have encountered a few traffic problems while trying to get from one part of Winnipeg to another.

The first and most noticeable thing is the number of traffic lights around the Perimeter Highway
The purpose of the Perimeter was to serve as a bypass for highway traffic otherwise faced travelling through Winnipeg’s urban centre. Yet there are lights at Pipeline Road, Highway 6, Oak Bluff, McGillivray Boulevard, LaSalle, Kenaston Boulevard, Waverley Street, St. Mary’s Road, St. Annes Road, Fermor Avenue and Dugald Road.

I don’t think taking the Perimeter is a much faster route than going through the city. I tried two trips to the Army, Navy and Air Force Veterans’ hall at 3584 Portage Ave. West. The west Perimeter route is 38 kilometres and took 30 minutes from my home in North Kildonan.

For comparison’s sake, I drove across the Chief Peguis Trail to Main Street, down Main to Portage Avenue and straight out to the facility. The trip was 25 kilometres and took 40 minutes. There are shorter city routes but I wanted the worst case scenario, which took me only 10 minutes longer even though my speed on the Perimeter was 100 km/h and I likely averaged 55 km/h through the city.

Another problem with traffic in the city is the never-ending changes in speed limits.

To give you an example, here’s an account of a recent trip from the corner of Hamilton Avenue and Cavalier Drive to the corner of Grant Avenue and Pembina Highway.

From Cavalier to Portage Avenue the speed limit is 50 km/h. From Portage Avenue to the Moray Street bridge it changes to 60 km/h. On the William R. Clement Parkway to Grant, the speed limit is 80 km/h and upon turning east at Grant it changes once again to 60 km/h. Driving past the Assiniboine Forest it picks up to 70 km/h and at Shaftesbury Boulevard it reverts back to 60. At Kenaston Boulevard, the speed slows to 50 and at Stafford it changes again to 60 though to Pembina Highway.

This was an approximately 20-minute trip in which the speed limit changed seven different times.

One has to be very alert to spot all of these speed signs..
 
Rick Sparling is a community correspondent for North Kildonan. Email him at ricksparling@shaw.ca