From: Kim the Traffic reporter
Hi Marty
I've taken a look at the new plans for the Bike Boulevard on Assiniboine Ave., which has completely changed from the plans previously shown at open houses.
According to the maps provided, motorists will still be able to access Assiniboine Ave from Osborne, yet all that traffic is going to be funnelled up Edmonton, this doesn't make any sense. If I'm reading the maps correctly (both maps are a little vague I thought)people will be able to travel Westbound from Main St. all the way to Edmonton. The letter says
"Assiniboine Ave. from Edmonton St. to Navy Way will become one-way westbound". Actually that should read from navy way to edmonton. so all traffic heading off Main is westbound and from my reading looks as though can go right through to Edmonton. It is two-way traffic from Navy Way east to Main.
This means traffic coming off Main will be adding to the traffic coming off the side streets.
I think eventually Kennedy, Edmonton, Carlton and that section of Assiniboine will be "calmed" as people realize they can only go in circles. However, Hargrave, Navy Way, Garry and Fort will likely become busier and will bear the brunt of the traffic.
There are a few issues I find with the new plans. Beginning on Hargrave going East as I think this area is going to be hardest hit.
Hargrave:
The plans tell us that Hargrave will become a two-way street from Hargrave Place to Assiniboine. Which means all parking in that stretch will have to be removed. Even though it should be obvious that parking would be removed on Hargrave, the information letter at no point indicated that there would be any loss of parking on Hargrave.
This area is heavily used by Unicity Taxi (the office is the only building with a Hargrave Place address) and by the residents especially after hours for parking. Are the residents aware they will be losing all those parking spots? What about the meters which were put in place, only to be removed again.
Another problem I see on Hargrave is the apartment building, 33 Hargrave. People are always parking in the no parking zone. I can't begin to tell you how many tickets I've written in front of that building. Sometimes I'd get two or three vehicles at the same time. Even if a No Stopping zone is put in place, that won't stop the problem. People are going to stop in front of that building.
I fail to see the logic in having traffic come off Hargrave Place onto Assiniboine when the only place vehicles will be able to go is Edmonton. Why have the additional traffic pushed up Edmonton?
Why not have traffic come off Hargrave turning East on Assiniboine, would that not help alleviate some of the pressure from other streets?
Navy Way:
Navy Way could see an increase in the amount of traffic it receives, which could cause some traffic delays. More people coming off Assiniboine to access Smith St. means longer delays.
The Midtown Bridge is usually crowded at Rush Hour, so getting onto Smith with merging bridge traffic can be a challenge. According to the 2008 City of Winnipeg Traffic Counts the Midtown Bridge at Navy Way sees approximately 18 300 vehicles. At Broadway and Smith (Navy Way) 22 900 vehicles have been counted.
These counts were 2008, by how much has traffic risen since then? How much more pressure will these additional vehicles bring to bear on these intersections?
Garry:
Garry could potentially see the worst of the traffic problems.
If you want to avoid Portage/Main and Broadway/Main the only other way to go is via Assiniboine. With these new plans, the only way to do that is by Garry.
Navy Way turns into Smith which is a one-way Northbound. The only street allowing access to Main St. via Assiniboine is Garry, which could then see a significant increase in traffic flow.
Garry has parking on both east/west sides (the West side also has bus stops) with one travel lane. There is no mention in the information letter to indicate Garry will lose any parking, but then the letter didn't say anything about Hargrave losing parking either. If Garry sees heavier traffic will this street be able, with one lane, to handle the additional traffic as vehicles have no other way of reaching Assiniboine? Or will the City traffic engineers be forced to remove at least one lane of parking from Garry to facilitate traffic flow?
How much additional traffic will be forced down Garry? Are the residents aware of the potential traffic increase?
If a parking lane is removed, the East side is the only viable option.
Is the Hotel Fort Garry aware of these plans? Many of their patrons, both day and evening utilize the parking on Garry and Fort. During the Spring and Summer (wedding season), that area is quite heavily used on the weekends.
Fort:
Fort could see an increase in traffic flow from those who wish to avoid Westbound traffic thru to Edmonton. Fort then becomes the best option.
Kim's analysis:
I still don't understand why the existing cycling infrastructure couldn't be improved upon instead of basically shutting down an entire street. We don't have current traffic counts so we can only assume there has been an increase. What about winter and inclement weather? How many cyclists will be using Assiniboine then?
I noted in the letter we are told about "consultation".
Yet I've spoken with many people in that area, most have no idea what's going on, nor in fact did many of those people know what the changes were going to be, putting up notices on bulletin boards does not constitute consultation.
Keeping in mind that other than some consultants and Kevin Nixon, there isn't anyone who has attended as many of these open houses as I have since January, so I've seen the plans that have been shown to the public.
I can attest to the fact that Kevin Nixon did indeed tell me that traffic would be able to turn East off Carlton on Assiniboine to Main St., I specifically asked that question. I just don't remember which open house it was at.
In fact on the Active Transportation website there had been a PDF map link posted. That map was the very same map I'd seen at the open houses. This map showed vehicles allowed to turn East on Assiniboine from Carlton. This map was up on the website as of late April to mid May which was the last time I looked at that map in reference to the Friends of Upper Fort Garry plans. This map has now been removed, it has been replaced with the information letter which was sent out to area residents along with the new map of the area.
I've never seen this map before.
It is entirely different than the previous maps I've seen.
The City changed the plans but forgot to tell the residents who are expecting the plans they knew about.
There was never any mention of Hargrave becoming a two-way street. That idea was never even put forth to my knowledge. The same for Navy Way.
I even commented on the fact that those Navy Way and Hargrave Place were never mentioned, I was told that there was nothing planned for them.
The current changes to Assiniboine will cause traffic problems all throughout that area, not only Assiniboine, but the surrounding streets as well. Broadway will have to carry a heavier load, which could back up the side streets such as Kennedy, Carlton etc.. York could see delays as with St. Mary Ave. and Portage which already often sees long delays. Though I think Garry St. will see a noticeable change with a greater increase in traffic.
Assiniboine is mostly residential but it does have its commercial components as well. How will the businesses be affected by these changes as customer try to figure out how to get to them?
It's almost as if this is a test run to finally closing Assiniboine completely from Fort to Main, which is what we've already been told is what the A.T. people want as well as Friends of Upper Fort Garry.
In a couple of years these groups can ask City Council to look at closing down part of Assiniboine because there is so much traffic jammed on Garry trying to turn east to go to St Boniface and it might just work.
This is the worst plan to date which could create serious traffic problems not only on Broadway but along every other regional street. This idea is also potentially dangerous, if there is an accident, it will be difficult for emergency vehicles to arrive on scene, not to mention the traffic jam which will follow.
Then on those heavy traffic days, how much more will the area become congested?
This plan is unreasonable, whether anyone likes it or not Assiniboine is part of downtown and it's going to face the same problems and share the same load as the rest of downtown. To do otherwise is going to create a lot of traffic problems.
This plan doesn't make any sense, it seems rushed, hurried. Is this a case of time is running out and it needs to get done so let's slap something together? "USE IT OR LOSE IT"?
Or is there a secret deal between the bike lobby and their friends at city hall, with the pet project of millionaires and the Manitoba Club, the Friends of Upper Fort Garry?
