Jubilee Underpass will be closed 56 hours to allow for Transitway
construction
Interchange takes a long weekend
www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/stay-away-from-jubilee-
interchange-this-long-weekend-423050933.html
WINNIPEGGERS aren’t the only ones going on holiday this long weekend — a
key portion of Pembina Highway is also taking the weekend off.
For 56 hours, all four traffic lanes underneath the Jubilee Underpass will
be closed to motorists as construction crews continue to build a
crucialpiece of the next stage of the Southwest Rapid Transitway. That
means an estimated 150,000 vehicles will be scrambling and looking for
othernorth-south routes in this area of the city starting at 8 p.m. today
and ending at 4 a.m. Tuesday.
For the first time since the Jubilee interchange opened in November 1969,
no regular motorists will be allowed through one of the busiest traffic
routes in the city for an extended period.
The city says about 70,000 vehicles travel northbound and southbound there
every weekday. Saturday’s traffic is about 56,000 vehicles and Sunday’s is
about 50,000.
Scott Payne, manager of asset management for Winnipeg Transit, said the
only exceptions will be emergency vehicles, transit buses and the special
shuttle service vehicles the city has organized for pedestrians walking
north and south on Pembina Highway.
“We couldn’t safely do the work with numerous motorists and pedestrians
going through,” Payne said Thursday.
Having pedestrian shuttles “doesn’t happen very often, but we appreciate a
pedestrian will have to go quite a distance because of the closure. They
would have to go all the way to Waverley (Street) or Osborne (Street)
because of the rail lines. These shuttles will go through the underpass,
and they will stop construction when the pedestrian (shuttles) are there.”
Payne said there won’t be as many transit buses going through the site as
there are most days because they will be on weekend schedules.
The city is recommending motorists use alternative routes including
Osborne, Waverley and Kenaston Boulevard.
Coun. Jenny Gerbasi (Fort Rouge — East Fort Garry) said the road closure
may result in short-term pain for motorists and long-term gain for
bicyclists, bus riders — and even motorists— when the next stage of the
rapid transitway is completed.
“This will be a fantastic transportation route,” Gerbasi said. “It is dark
and narrow there now for bicyclists and pedestrians, but (this) will open
paths in both directions of Pembina. Everyone you talk to about the bike
paths say this is fantastic.”
Gerbasi said while the new bus route and bikes will dog-leg off Pembina, it
will soon become the route of choice for students in this area cycling to
and from the University of Manitoba.
“You’ll have a consistent, separate bike lane here — it’s completely
separate from cars — and it will be plowed all winter,” she said.
“When people are safe from cars, people will go on it.”
Gerbasi said she’s also pleased that while the construction is ongoing on
this project, the city is already getting feedback for the next route to
the east side of the city from downtown.
“We really need to build this system,” she said.
“We only have 1.4 kilometres of rapid transit now.”
When the Jubilee interchange was officially opened, provincial
transportation minister Joe Borowski drove a 1901 Oldsmobile over the span,
followed by other antique vehicles carrying municipal and U of M officials.
The interchange over Pembina was designed to link with the thenproposed
Southern Expressway from downtown to Pembina Highway south. It was also
intended to reduce the traffic bottleneck produced by the thousands of
vehicles turning off and on to Pembina from Jubilee Avenue.
The cost was $1.25million.
The city has said the current Southwest Transitway project will cost $467
million and include not just the changes at Jubilee and Pembina, but also
other overpasses or bridges, nine rapid-transit stations, and a new bus
roadway and active transportation path running from Jubilee to the
University of Manitoba.
The Jubilee work is expected to be done by 2019 and the entire Transitway
project will be open in 2020.
Payne said thework being done on the underpass this weekend is extensive,
with construction crews knocking out some of the supports between the
northbound and southbound lanes as well as the six-metre high retaining
walls.
“They’ll take a good portion out... and then the new piers will go up (in
the weeks ahead),” he said.
Payne said the east-side sidewalk will also be demolished, but a temporary
replacement pathway will be put in at the same place, at a lower elevation.
He said asphalt will be put down to facilitate lane changes as the
construction progresses, so some northbound or southbound traffic lanes may
sometimes be shunted over into another lane.
“When it is all completed, it will look like new,” Payne said of the
underpass. “There will be a significant number of improvements for
motorists, cyclists and pedestrians.”
Payne said there will be an extra traffic lane in both directions, bringing
the total to three lanes each way; each lanewill be wider than it is now;
rapid transit buses will get their own bridge, with bike lanes next to
them; bicyclists and pedestrians will have sidewalks and paths on both
sides of Pembina connecting to newand proposed trails; and trains will also
get a newbridge cost-shared by the city and CN Rail.
But Payne said this won’t be the only time all lanes of Pembina will be
closed at this site.
“There will be additional weekend closures,” he said, including when bridge
girders are lifted into place. “We will give advance notice. We want to
minimize the closures.”
kevin.rollason(a)freepress.mb.ca
Apparently sending messages this late in the day leads to errors! The
correct time should be *2-3pm Wed*.
On Tue, May 16, 2017 at 7:34 PM, Beth McKechnie <beth(a)greenactioncentre.ca>
wrote:
> *** Friendly reminder about Wed's webinar 1-2pm ***
>
> Green Action Centre and Bike Winnipeg invite you to join us for a local
> viewing of this month's APBP <http://www.apbp.org/> webinar.
>
>
> The webinar viewing takes place in the EcoCentre boardroom (3rd floor, 303
> Portage Ave) and will be followed by group discussion of local applications
> for those who wish to stay.
>
>
> RSVPs appreciated but not necessary. Hope to see you then!
>
>
> cheers,
>
> Beth
>
> * * * * *
>
>
> *Making Crossings Safe, Convenient and InvitingWednesday, May 17 | 2:00 -
> 3:00 pm CDT *
>
> *Presenters*:
>
>
> - Ria Hutabarat Lo, City of Sunnyvale
> - Ryan McClain, Fehr & Peers
>
> This webinar will discuss making city-wide crosswalk policies work for
> your community. Speakers will present crossing policies for uncontrolled
> and signalized intersections and trail crossings, using examples that
> provide clear, easy-to-use flowcharts establishing the preferred
> treatments for crosswalk enhancements, traffic control, and trail crossing.
> We'll also discuss the role of undercrossings in multi-modal transportation
> networks including reviewing several case studies of railroad
> undercrossings in Santa Clara County. The speakers will also discuss
> streamlining decision-making and routinely applying best practices.
>
> --
>
> *Beth McKechnie* | Workplace Commuter Options
>
> <http://greenactioncentre.ca/>Green Action Centre
> <http://www.greenactioncentre.ca/>
> <http://greenactioncentre.ca/content/ecocentre-directions-and-travel-options/>
>
> 3rd floor, 303 Portage Ave | (204) 925-3772 | Find us here
> <http://greenactioncentre.ca/content/ecocentre-directions-and-travel-options/>
>
> Green Action Centre is your green living hub
>
> Support our work by becoming a member
> <http://greenactioncentre.ca/support/become-a-member/>. Donate at
> CanadaHelps.org <http://canadahelps.org/>
>
>
>
>
>
>
*** Friendly reminder about Wed's webinar 1-2pm ***
Green Action Centre and Bike Winnipeg invite you to join us for a local
viewing of this month's APBP <http://www.apbp.org/> webinar.
The webinar viewing takes place in the EcoCentre boardroom (3rd floor, 303
Portage Ave) and will be followed by group discussion of local applications
for those who wish to stay.
RSVPs appreciated but not necessary. Hope to see you then!
cheers,
Beth
* * * * *
*Making Crossings Safe, Convenient and InvitingWednesday, May 17 | 2:00 -
3:00 pm CDT *
*Presenters*:
- Ria Hutabarat Lo, City of Sunnyvale
- Ryan McClain, Fehr & Peers
This webinar will discuss making city-wide crosswalk policies work for your
community. Speakers will present crossing policies for uncontrolled and
signalized intersections and trail crossings, using examples that provide
clear, easy-to-use flowcharts establishing the preferred treatments for
crosswalk enhancements, traffic control, and trail crossing. We'll also
discuss the role of undercrossings in multi-modal transportation networks
including reviewing several case studies of railroad undercrossings in
Santa Clara County. The speakers will also discuss streamlining
decision-making and routinely applying best practices.
--
*Beth McKechnie* | Workplace Commuter Options
<http://greenactioncentre.ca/>Green Action Centre
<http://www.greenactioncentre.ca/>
<http://greenactioncentre.ca/content/ecocentre-directions-and-travel-options/>
3rd floor, 303 Portage Ave | (204) 925-3772 | Find us here
<http://greenactioncentre.ca/content/ecocentre-directions-and-travel-options/>
Green Action Centre is your green living hub
Support our work by becoming a member
<http://greenactioncentre.ca/support/become-a-member/>. Donate at
CanadaHelps.org <http://canadahelps.org/>
Green Action Centre and Bike Winnipeg invite you to join us for a local
viewing of this month's APBP <http://www.apbp.org/> webinar.
The webinar viewing takes place in the EcoCentre boardroom (3rd floor, 303
Portage Ave) and will be followed by group discussion of local applications
for those who wish to stay.
RSVPs appreciated but not necessary. Hope to see you then!
cheers,
Beth
* * * * *
*Making Crossings Safe, Convenient and InvitingWednesday, May 17 | 2:00 -
3:00 pm CDT *
*Presenters*:
- Ria Hutabarat Lo, City of Sunnyvale
- Ryan McClain, Fehr & Peers
This webinar will discuss making city-wide crosswalk policies work for your
community. Speakers will present crossing policies for uncontrolled and
signalized intersections and trail crossings, using examples that provide
clear, easy-to-use flowcharts establishing the preferred treatments for
crosswalk enhancements, traffic control, and trail crossing. We'll also
discuss the role of undercrossings in multi-modal transportation networks
including reviewing several case studies of railroad undercrossings in
Santa Clara County. The speakers will also discuss streamlining
decision-making and routinely applying best practices.
--
*Beth McKechnie* | Workplace Commuter Options
<http://greenactioncentre.ca/>Green Action Centre
<http://www.greenactioncentre.ca/>
<http://greenactioncentre.ca/content/ecocentre-directions-and-travel-options/>
3rd floor, 303 Portage Ave | (204) 925-3772 | Find us here
<http://greenactioncentre.ca/content/ecocentre-directions-and-travel-options/>
Green Action Centre is your green living hub
Support our work by becoming a member
<http://greenactioncentre.ca/support/become-a-member/>. Donate at
CanadaHelps.org <http://canadahelps.org/>