[Bike to the Future] City of Winnipeg's Transportation Master Plan - action needed by cyclists

[Bike to the Future]

City of Winnipeg's Transportation Master Plan -- action needed by cyclists

The City is holding an Open House to show the public the Transportation Master Plan that is going to Council this month.

While the report creates a positive impression with lots of mention of active transportation, when we compared the AT section to the roads sections, the AT section does not follow through with specifics for building AT routes in the same way that the others follow up with plans and capital estimates for routes to be built.

Therefore, Bike to the Future is sending a letter to City councilors, who will be discussing this report in the coming weeks, asking for them to immediately launch a process to complete that aspect of the report.

It would be very helpful if many cyclists could attend the Open House and comment on the lack of specific plans for building out the AT network. At the Open House, compare the maps and budgets for the road network to the “concepts” for the AT network, and ask why the AT plan is much less developed.

You may also want to comment on the AT maps which will be presented.   

• The proposed network of AT corridors should be more of a contiguous network, like the “goods movement” network, allowing links from one corridor to the next, rather than assuming all riders are going in or out of Downtown.
• The “proposed crossing improvements” on the AT map shows a very limited number of choke points in the AT network, whereas in reality there are many choke points & crossing issues that need to be recognized and addressed, including:
• Gateway Road @ Perimeter Hwy
• Main St @ Higgins Ave
• Archibald St under CN rail line
• McPhillips St under CP rail line
• Keewatin St under CP rail line
• Slaw Rebchuk Bridge
• Wellington Cres over the Assiniboine River at Omands Creek Park
• Osborne St under CN Rail line @ Confusion Corner
• Pembina Hwy @ Jubilee St under CN rail line
• Harte Trail connection to Grand Trunk Trail over the west Perimeter Hwy
• St Matthews Ave to UofWinnipeg
• UofManitoba over the Red River to Warde Ave
• The new “goods transportation” routes will be big higher speed roads that will create additional barriers to cycling.

Comments about the Transportation Action Plan can also be sent via the Transportation Action Plan's "contact" email address: transportation.speakupwinnipeg.com/contact. 

Bike to the Future is asking City councilors to immediately launch a process to finish the planning job, so we need to make the planners understand the pressure to finish the job on AT as thoroughly as they have on roads and trucking.
 
Charles Feaver, Curt Hull, Mark Cohoe
Bike to the Future
http://biketothefuture.org