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New Bishop Grandin Bridge Over Pembina Highway – Public Input

May 1, 2017

Community Feedback Collected at Public Workshop

Resulting from the May 11th Public Workshop, the Bishop Grandin Walk Bike Bridge over Pembina Highway SUMMARY is now available for your review.

  • Addition information on the project can be seen on the Public Works website: Bishop Grandin Walk Bike Bridge over Pembina Highway
  • The City of Winnipeg is currently working with the consultant to finalize the preliminary design for the bridge.
  • The preliminary design will be presented at a public open house in fall, 2017 with construction anticipated to start as early as March 2018, subject to Council approval and funding.

 

The City of Winnipeg is gathering public input on the Bishop Grandin Walk Bike Bridge Over Pembina Highway project. This is YOUR opportunity to ask questions and provide feedback.   I encourage all Winnipeggers to participate in a workshop on Thursday, May 11, 2017 to help shape the preliminary design:

Date:  Thursday, May 11, 2017
Time:  6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Location:  Sky Deck Event Centre (South end of stadium) –  Investors Group Field, 315 Chancellor Matheson Rd
Parking:  Free parking is available in the “U Lot” at the south end of the stadium
Format::  Presentation followed by group discussion

The Bishop Grandin Walk Bike Bridge Over Pembina Highway will close a gap in one of Winnipeg’s most prominent active transportation pathways by connecting the Bishop Grandin Greenway across the very busy and complex intersection at Pembina Highway and University Crescent at Bishop Grandin.

The bridge will provide a safe and more convenient walking and biking connection to nearby neighbourhoods, Investors Group Field and the University of Manitoba. Another key component of this improved connection is to allow people from nearby neighborhoods to walk or bike to new Southwest Rapid Transitway Stage 2 stations where secure bike parking will be available.

The City is committed to building pedestrian and cycling infrastructure for people of all ages and abilities. The bridge will be designed using current accessibility standards and also using crime prevention through environmental design principles. Some features will include:

  • Lighting of the bridge and connecting pathways
  • A wide, clear bridge space similar to Esplanade Riel
  • Rest areas
  • Mid-point egress opportunities to exit or enter the bridge
  • Users on the bridge will be visible to motorists and sidewalk users on Pembina Highway

If you would like to attend the workshop, please RSVP to:

The City intends to start construction as early as in March 2018 with the bridge anticipated to open in 2019, subject to Council approval and funding.

To learn more about the timeline and background of this project, visit winnipeg.ca/BishopWalkBikeBridge   My thanks to CBC Manitoba News for reporting on this story.

bishop grandin bridge

Bridge a ‘game changer’ for Winnipeg cyclists, city councillor says

1st steps towards the Bishop Grandin Walk Bike Bridge Over Pembina Highway project are underway

CBC News Posted: Apr 30, 2017 9:48 AM CT

A new cycling and walking bridge in the south end is a game changer for Winnipeg, says a city councillor.

The first big steps towards the Bishop Grandin Walk Bike Bridge Over Pembina Highway project are underway with a public workshop to help shape the design.

“It’s a game-changer. It’s extremely complicated and dangerous, there’s transit routes and buses that are turning around, there’s traffic you know Bishop Grandin is a very, very busy primary artery in the south end,” said South Winnipeg–St. Norbert Coun. Janice Lukes.

“It’s going to bypass all of that, right.”

The bridge will connect the Bishop Grandin Greenway across the busy intersection of Pembina Highway and University Crescent at Bishop Grandin. That means safer travel for pedestrians and cyclists to Investors Group Field and the University of Manitoba, as well as the new rapid transit stations, Lukes said.

“It’s a huge safety factor, that’s what it really is,” she said.

The bridge is expected to cost around $12 million, according to a frequently asked question section on the city’s website. While it isn’t completely funded yet, Lukes is optimistic that “it fits the federal transit funding perfectly.”

The public information sessions and design are part of the application for federal funding, which have yet to be sent in. But the city still intends to start construction as early as March 2018, with an opening in 2019, as long as Council approves the plan and the funding can be secured.

‘A step in the right direction, but really a small step’

The new bridge is a step in the right direction to improve safety in a particularly dangerous area for the city’s cyclists, said Jason Carter, a member of Bike Winnipeg and the former president of the Manitoba Cycling Association.

“It’s a little piece of what the system needs to be in order to be very comfortable for us and very safe for us,” he said.
“A step in the right direction, but really a small step.”

Carter had just been riding in the area when he spoke to CBC News on Saturday and the bridge will make a large impact for cyclists moving east-west.

“There are too many tiny little islands and the light sequence is very long so people are jaywalking anyway. So going east-west it’s going to be very good,” he said.

However, he said he was concerned that there’d be little impact for bicycle and pedestrian traffic moving north and south.

“In fact, if people do go north-south to get to the bridge, or as they tend to do, to get to a Bomber game, they have to go over that Bishop Grandin bridge,” he said.

“Now, that is really a very, very bad what they call mixing zone. In other words, where cars are coming up beside you to hit the verges.”

In 2014, Dick Stevenson, a longtime Bombers fan, was on his way to pre-season game when he was hit near Bishop Grandin Boulevard and Pembina Highway. The 69-year-old’s death prompted calls for safer streets for cyclists and better access to the stadium.

“A cyclist going southbound is literally stuck between these two sets of cars veering back and forth,” Carter said. “There’s that problem with that flow so I’m not sure the bridge is going to address that.”

Lukes said the city recognizes that north-south commuting for cyclists can still be a challenge but work is being done to increase accessibility and safety.

While still in preliminary stages, Carter said he’s optimistic the design can increase safety. Last year, Lukes said the city should implement Sweden’s Vision Zero, after there were more than 98 road deaths in 2016 — a dramatic increase over the 78 fatalities in 2015.

Vision Zero was adopted in Sweden in 1997 and shares the responsibility for road safety between road users and transportation system designers. The goal is to achieve zero fatalities on roads through smart transit design that mediates human error.

The city’s public engagement session about the bridge’s design will take place at the Sky Deck Event Centre on May 11 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

 

 

 

 

Twitter:  https://janicelukes.ca/?p=9012