From: Kim the Traffic Reporter
To: talk@kick.fm
I arrived at the North End Bikeway System Workshop taking place at 200 Powers (William Whyte School) at about 4:45pm on Tuesday May 4th.
At that time one of the consultants was placing signs on the front doors of the school regarding the open house, the signs were standard sizes of paper, one of the signs had an arrow pointing north. The entrance to the event was on the side of the building, entering in through the receiving doors. Rounding the corner, I took note of standard size paper with the usual notice of the open house.
(by the way Marty this is for you, Bill Woroby..in jest said he was feeling neglected because you hadn't mentioned his name for a few days..lol..sorry I had to tell you.)
According to the Active Transportation website, the workshop was supposed to follow a schedule. This however was not the case as there were enough consultants on hand to deal with any questions. There were six consultants available along with Bill Woroby and Kevin Nixon from the City. The number of people attending the event was 22.
Most of the people attending were cyclists and many of the comments did seem positive, though the turnout for this event was low, the consultants did say that approximately 50 people turned out for the previous open house which took place April 15/10.
However, there was a mix-up regarding the location for the open house that day which due to the efforts of Marty Gold and the The Great Canadian Talk Show another open house was scheduled.
The plans for the streets which have been targeted for the Active Transportation routes are at this point not finalized. Those attending the open house received an evaluation sheet for these streets, included on these sheets was the option of "no change". Meaning that the residents are able to opt for no changes.
The streets dealt with in this open house are as follows:
Main St.:
Beginning at Main and Sutherland heading Southbound towards downtown AT is looking at a shared sidewalk/multi-use path to Higgins. The consultants did say that the sidewalk was wide enough to support this.
The path then will run from Higgins to Princess.
From Princess to Logan a bike lane is proposed.
King St. from:
Flora to Dufferin - sharrows are planned with no loss of parking, a four way stop with curb extensions are also planned at Flora. Curb extension are planned for the crosswalk at David Livingstone School as well as a four-way stop and curb extensions at King and Dufferin.
Dufferin to Sutherland:
A bike lane is planned with no loss of parking
At the moment Main St. will be the connector for these routes to downtown, however, a future plan may include either a bridge over the CP mainline or an underpass on Maple St.. The consultants for the project did say that the cost for both projects would be "prohibitive" and "a huge cost". Also a problem with a bridge over CP would involve restrictions from Transport Canada.
On Sutherland from King to Main a bike lane is planned with no loss of parking.
An option being provided is Stella Walk from King to Charles. This area is a backlane which is not open to most traffic, though trucks including fire trucks would have access. The area is currently chained off and is already in use.
Charles will be a bike boulevard:
Will see no loss of parking and no diversions although with traffic calming circles one or two parking spots may be affected.
Flora to Selkirk - may see a multi-use path (though at the moment it is "potential")
At Pritchard the options are a raised intersection or a traffic calming circle.
Flora will become a bike boulevard with little (due to traffic circles) to no loss of parking.
@Charles: raised intersection
@Powers: either a raised intersection or traffic circle
@Andrews: a flip stop sign
@McKenzie: either a raised intersection or traffic circle
@Parr: either a: flip stop sign, raised intersection or traffic circle
@Arlington: either a median refuge or forced right turn/median refuge
-a median refuge is a median built into the roadway allowing cyclists to stop in the center of the road, then proceeding when safe to do so.
-a forced right turn median forces traffic to turn right at the median
Pritchard from Main to Keewatin will become a bike boulevard and only affected intersections will be mentioned.
@Aikins: either a flip stop sign or raised intersection
@Salter: either a forced right median refuge or median refuge
@Powers: raised intersection or traffic circle
@Andrews: Flip stop sign
Traffic counts on McGregor at Pritchard are:
Northbound: AM 291 PM 812 AADT (average annual daily total) 5435
Southbound: AM 769 PM 404 AADT 5865
there are no planned measures here
@McKenzie: raised intersection or traffic circle
Traffic counts on Pritchard from McKenzie to Parr:
Westbound: AM 29 PM 43 (no AADT)
Eastbound: AM 24 PM 34 (no AADT)
@Parr: flip stop sign or traffic circle
Traffic counts on Pritchard from Parr to Arlington:
Westbound: AM 18 PM 24 (no AADT)
Eastbound: AM 20 PM 28 (no AADT)
@Arlington: either forced right median refuge or median refuge
Traffic counts on Arlington at Pritchard:
Northbound: AM 457 PM 1148 AADT 8404
Southbound: AM 925 PM 553 AADT 7596
@Battery: either a flip stop sign or curb extensions or traffic circle
@McPhillips: forced right median refuge or median refuge
Traffic counts for McPhillips at Pritchard:
Northbound: AM 1050 PM 2010 AADT 21379
Southbound: AM 1825 PM 1472 AADT 20898
@McNichol: either a raised intersection or curb extensions or traffic circle
@Shaughnessy: stop signs will be converted to a two-way stop
At this point the bike boulevard will move to Sheppard to Railway St and onto Manitoba. At Manitoba and Chudley there could be curb extensions.
Machray from Main to Fife will become a bike boulevard.
@Aikens: raised intersection or traffic circle
@Powers: raised intersection or traffic circle
@Andrews: raised intersection
@McKenzie: raised intersection or traffic circle
@Arlington: median refuge or forced right median refuge
at this point the bike boulevard shifts to Sinclair to Cathedral to Cairnsmore back to Machray.
@Airlies: raised intersection or traffic circle
Traffic counts on Machray from Cairnsmore to Airlies:
Westbound: AM 14 PM 13 No AADT
Eastbound: AM 6 PM 20 No AADT
Traffic counts from Airlies to Robertson (on Machray)
Westbound: AM 11 PM 19 No AADT
Eastbound: AM 9 PM 32 No AADT
Traffic counts from McPhillips to Fife:
Westbound: AM 11 PM 19 No AADT
Eastbound: AM 19 PM 32 No AADT
the bike boulevard will continue onto Fife
Church from Fife to Keewatin will be a bike lane with no loss of parking or diversions.
THE COST?
The Charles/Flora bike paths are listed at $60, 000.00
Machray bike boulevard (Main-Keewatin) listed at $900,000.00
Pritchard bike boulevard (Main-Keewatin) listed at $900,000.00
Grand total listed is at $2,040,000.00.
Note: The project for Powers St. (below) is not part of the Federal Stimulus Fund.
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Powers from Sutherland to Leila will be a bike boulevard
@Jarvis: flip stop sign
@Stella: curb extensions
@Selkirk: a future plan is to add a multi-use pathway connection at the park
@Pritchard: raised intersection or traffic circle
@Burrows: forced right median refuge or median refuge
Traffic counts on Powers from Boyd to College:
Northbound: AM 11 PM 28 AADT 333
Southbound: AM 17 PM 27 AADT 351
Traffic counts on Mountain between Powers and Andrews:
Westbound: AM 417 PM 466 AADT 6028
Eastbound: AM 365 PM 989 AADT 6114
@Mountain: either curb extensions or forced right median refuge or median refuge
@Anderson: either curb extensions or traffic circle or raised intersection
@Church: raised intersection or traffic circle
@Machray: raised intersection or traffic circle
Traffic counts on Powers between Atlantic and Polson:
Northbound: AM 13 PM 32 AADT 304
Southbound: AM 15 PM 29 AADT 255
Powers from Polson to Inkster:
Northbound: AM 28 PM 46 AADT 436
Southbound: AM 7 PM 14 AADT 204
Traffic counts on Inkster from Powers to Andrews:
Westbound: AM 482 PM 448 AADT 5793
Eastbound: AM 383 PM 632 AADT 7657
@Inkster: forced right median refuge or median refuge
@Smithfield: convert from a 4way stop to a 2way stop
@Rupertsland: traffic circle or raised intersection
@Enniskillen: convert 4way stop to a 2way stop
@Hartford: traffic calming measures are considered, unknown what form they will take due to complaints of residents about speeding in the area.
Traffic counts on Powers from Partridge to Leila:
Northbound: AM 17 PM 63 No AADT
Southbound: 13 PM 25 No AADT
Complaints were made regarding speeding at Hartford, but there were also complaints made regarding Powers at Partridge because of obstructed views by vehicles and the bus shelter.
The project for Powers is not part of the Federal Stimulus Fund. The North Winnipeg Commuter Cyclists in 2007 began the project for Powers, offically being designated as an Active Transportation route in 2008.
In 2009 $145,000.00 was set aside for the Powers route, this however came from the Disraeli Project, but with the project delayed, the money for the Powers project has been tied up.
The idea was to alleviate bicycle traffic on Main Street by building the Powers Street bike path.
When asked what the cost would be to build the Powers bike path, Kevin Nixon was unable to provide a figure saying "it's in a design phase" and that there is "no urgency to build". Nixon went on to say that it is easier to do consultations along with the other projects. Money will be spent where Powers intersects with other AT projects in the area.
Kevin Nixon went on to say that they (ATAC) is looking at putting some of the money from other projects (such as the now defunct Omand's Creek Bridge) into Powers St., but can only be the 1/3 provided for in the stimulus package by the City. Nixon said that the Federal and Provinical Governments were clear on what could be done with the portions of money coming from those sectors.
Nixon went on to say that "ATAC sole purpose is to advise the Director of Public Works" and that the individuals on the committee may not advocate for any particular project, though the organizations represented on the committee may do so.
One member of the North Winnipeg Commuter Cyclists, Nona said that their area had the highest number of cyclists which is in part due to the high number of economically disadvantaged people. She went on to say that they "need a safe transportation corridor", further saying the North End needed a safe route to downtown.
Though this event had a low turnout, this project did seem to be one of the least controversial of all the projects planned. In fact, those who attended were pleased, however the one major complaint from most people was the condition of the roads. Potholes at intersections will be repaired, but no other road repairs will be made.
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Kim's thoughts:
One of my concerns for these projects are the forced turns onto streets like McPhillips and Arlington which already see larger amounts of traffic. Particularly McPhillips.
Having to make a right turn and then find a way to pull a U-Turn during rush hour traffic is not something I'd want to do.
Once again I think the majority is being sacrificed for the minority.
Another concern would be safety. This is not a good area of the city. Until the gangs and criminal elements are cleaned up, not sure how safe riding these routes are going to be.
It's a good thing to put in bike paths, cyclists share the road..that's understood. But I would rather see traffic lights utilized more in these plans. I think traffic devices are a safer way to travel even though the cyclists have to stop. But then so does vehicular traffic.
The idea of trying to cross McPhillips even with a median refuge is not one I'd contemplate at all.
I do have to say this about the North Winnipeg Commuter Cyclists, they are passionate about what they want to do. I understand what they want to achieve and agree with it, in this case it's not a matter of trying to ram their ideology down someone's throat (which I've seen from some other cyclists), instead they are looking to teach the kids in their neighbourhoods about safety, about life lessons and so much more which is a good thing to do.
