Winnipeg’s two seasons: Winter and construction

North End

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 30/08/2023 (1000 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Growing up in Winnipeg, it was nice to experience the four seasons: spring, summer, fall and winter.

As a child, you’d play outside in the spring, enjoy the summer riding your bike when school was done. In the fall you would go back to school, dress up for Halloween knowing that soon the snow would come. I remember having to wear my parka under my Halloween costume because it was snowing and cold on more than one occasion! And in the winter time, you’d make snow forts and snowmen. We had to walk to school in that freezing weather and we never seemed to complain.

Oh, those long gone carefree days. As you got older and started driving, you realized that there are only two seasons in Winnipeg: Winter and — wait for it — construction season.

Although some of the roads turn into mazes with barricades here and there, which almost seem like some sort of carnival funhouse maze, it’s not very fun. In fact, it can be quite frustrating and you learn that you must allow extra time to get from point A to point B. A trip that used to take 15 minutes, now takes twice as long.

I understand that roads need to be repaired occasionally, but when you see the same roads being torn up every year — like a relative’s street that was torn up and redone to replace the sewer system last year and this summer they ripped it up again to do more road work — it really makes you wonder how much of this work is really necessary. Meanwhile, some roads — like another relative’s street — are in dire need of repair and haven’t been worked on in years.

Or, how about when you see those barriers on the road blocking off the next lane for a kilometre or so and there doesn’t seem to be any work being done there? Kind of makes you wonder, especially later in the day when the construction workers are done for the day. Why don’t they open up that lane when the workers leave and set the barriers up again in the morning? Or here’s another idea: 24 hour road construction work with a day shift, evening shift and overnight shift. This way, the work would be done in a third of the time. I’m sure there would be lots of workers who would rather work the night shift instead of working in the hot sun.

But I digress. Construction season is well upon us and, as Winnipeggers we seem to have this uncanny ability to adapt to almost anything. I really love Winnipeg and am very happy to have grown up here. I always tell people that people from Winnipeg are very hearty people and can live anywhere in the world. Think about it, we endure some of the coldest weather on the planet — I remember reading the forecast one time where we were colder than on the moon one cold winter night — and some of the hottest temperatures, although being in Australia a few years back where it was over 42 degrees celsius for a few days was very draining. I’ll take -42C over +42C any day, at least you can bundle up on those cold days.

In any case, hope you have a great construction — er, um — summer because soon fall and winter will be upon us.