AT-Network August 2023

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WFP: Repair coming for longtime safety hazard on Sturgeon Creek path, city promises (Aug30'23)

by Beth McKechnie

Repair coming for longtime safety hazard on Sturgeon Creek path, city promises https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/2023/08/29/repair-coming-for… A MASSIVE hole at one edge of the busy Sturgeon Creek active transportation route is still drawing safety complaints from residents months after it was first reported. The city said Tuesday a repair is on the way. The Free Press first reported the problem — where the Sturgeon Creek route meets a smaller path that leads to a playground on Amarynth Crescent — on June 7. At the time, it had one barricade posted at each of its ends and appeared to be about 75 centimetres deep and at least six metres long. The next day, the city erected snow fencing around the entire perimeter of the hole. Randall Hull first complained to 311 about the safety hazard on April 23. Hull said he’s relieved to hear some action will be taken soon, since it’s about to get a lot more use. “Once kids get back to school, there’s a lot of kids that use that pathway to either go to school by bike or walk,” he said. The city pumped standing water out of the trench, which now appears to be about 1.8 metres deep, he said, adding the snow fence doesn’t extend far enough to block access to the hole in its entirety. “The snow fence is good on two of the four sides but it isn’t really adequate at the end … it stops (about 1.2 metres) short of going all the way around and therefore it’s easy for kids to go underneath the snow fence,” he said. “At the proper angle, you see how grossly inadequate it is.” A city public works spokesman said the repair process will begin soon. “The gap in Sturgeon Creek pathway by Amarynth Park is the result of an underground washout that needs further investigation. The site will be inspected by a riverbank stabilization engineer in mid-September to determine the cause of the gap and the appropriate next steps for making the repair, Ken Allen wrote. “Temporarily filling the hole with gravel as an interim measure is not a sufficient or appropriate repair method for this type of issue.” Allen said a crew will also inspect the snow fence and could repair it before the hole itself is fixed “in the weeks ahead.” The damaged path is in St. James Coun. Shawn Dobson’s ward. He said city officials suspect an old land drainage line may be linked to the problem. “They can’t (just) fill up (the hole). It’ll keep sinking until they determine the cause,” said Dobson. In June, the councillor called the hole “monstrous” and agreed it posed a significant safety concern. He said it appears even larger now, but he believes the highly visible barrier surrounding it greatly reduces any risk. Dobson said it makes sense to take the time needed to ensure a more permanent repair. “It’s a complicated fix because you can’t just throw gravel in it and say it’s done. ... They have to figure out what’s causing (the washout) and that means they have to get in there and dig,” he said. Dobson said the pathway may need to be realigned and rebuilt. While there is not yet a cost estimate or timeline to fix the problem, he said he’s confident money will be available. Hull said he’s glad the city has promised to take action. And while he’d love to see a quicker repair, he said it does make sense to pursue a long-term fix. “Until there’s something permanently done, it’s probably a good point not to throw money at (fixing it if) you know it’s not going to last,” he said. joyanne.pursaga(a)freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @joyanne_pursaga

8 months

WFP Editorial: It shouldn’t take a squeaky wheel (Aug25'23)

by Beth McKechnie

It shouldn’t take a squeaky wheel https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/editorials/2023/08/25/it-shouldnt… DESPITE a convoluted response from city staff last week, hazardous pavement heaving on a well-used local bike path was patched within days of a Free Press story highlighting the issue. It’s a chain of events that raises questions about the inner workings of City Hall, as well as its active transportation priorities. For months, cyclists have been skirting around a section of dangerously uneven pavement at the corner of Rover Avenue and Hallet Street in North Point Douglas. The soil under the sidewalk had shifted, causing the concrete slabs to buckle and creating a large ridge at the roadway. One daily user interviewed by the Free Press said the fissure had developed in the spring, forcing cyclists to dismount or find an alternate route during the height of bike season. The junction would likewise have been impassable for wheelchair users, pedestrians with limited mobility or parents with strollers heading to nearby Michaëlle Jean Park. In its initial response, a city spokesperson pointed to riverbank failure as the cause of the newly formed curb. A costly and lengthy proposal and investigation process was needed before the sidewalk could be fixed. “Making the repair is not as simple as just repaving the pathway,” read the emailed statement. Yet, within 24-hours of that assessment, new asphalt had been poured by public works and the gap corrected. The patch may not be a permanent solution to the underlying issue of ground shifting in the area, but it does make the neighbourhood’s infrastructure usable again. While a gap of several inches might seem like a minor inconvenience in a city with pockmarked streets and thousands of potholes, it’s the latest in a growing list of controversies that illustrate the city’s dismissive attitude toward active transportation routes. This past winter, Winnipeggers took up shovels to clear ice and snow from local bike paths in response to the city’s lackluster clearing efforts. Last year, Free Press reporting found that two multi-use path projects in the city had been funded, but not completed. When pressed, the city couldn’t answer where the budgeted money went or why the projects were stalled. An inquiring city councillor was met with similar silence. In the winter of 2019, two Wolseley residents took it upon themselves to clear ice from the Omand’s Creek footbridge after the city determined the job was too difficult and that the busy bridge should be left impassable until the spring melt. A request for information by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation following the incident revealed 97 pages of internal communications related to the bridge-clearing decision. Time after time, Winnipeggers who opt for active transportation — either by choice or by necessity — are forced to deal with physical and bureaucratic roadblocks during their daily commute. It’s an embarrassing state of affairs that hampers the city’s livability and its environmental goals. Last week, Coun. Janice Lukes rightly described the North Point Douglas issue as “completely unacceptable” and promised that maintenance of Winnipeg’s active transportation network would be a priority for the public works department next year — an admission that suggests bike and pedestrian pathways aren’t currently very high on the agenda. Our infrastructure isn’t the only thing in desperate need of repair. It appears the municipal workflow could also use a tune-up. While the promise of better city-wide bike infrastructure has yet to be delivered, commuting has gotten a little smoother for one cohort of local cyclists. It’s too bad those users had to wait for media coverage in order to find a fix.

8 months

WFP weekly: Women’s cycling group strikes a chord (Aug23'2023)

by Beth McKechnie

Women’s cycling group strikes a chord SHELDON BIRNIE https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/our-communities/east/2023/08/21/exceeding… When Sarah Gravelle-MacKenzie set out to start a bi-weekly guided bike ride for mature women around northeast Winnipeg this spring, she knew there’d be interest. Even so, the response has surprised her. “It has been phenomenal,” Gravelle-MacKenzie, 68, said. “I don’t think I could have dreamt it would be this successful.” Cycling with Sarah launched in May. Following three introductory rides in the spring, Gravelle-MacKenzie ran two group rides per week, on Tuesdays and Thursdays. A total of 53 women registered, with more than 40 on the waiting list. “We were at the max,” she said. “The goal is for next year, if we want to try to grow it, we’ll have to get more ride leads and sweeps.” This summer’s rides wrap up with group rides on Aug. 29, Sept. 7 and 14. There will also be a wind-up party at Bikes & Beyond (227 Henderson Hwy.) on Tuesday, Sept. 19. “Once formal rides end, we can still ride. People have made friendships, which is something special,” Gravelle-MacKenzie said. “The bonds that have been created are pretty special.” Sponsored by Liv Canada, Bikes & Beyond, and the Manitoba Cycling Association, Gravelle-MacKenzie is planning to extend a series of events into the fall and, hopefully, the winter as well, to keep the group together and stay active. “Fall, pre-snow, we’re doing hiking groups and going to different places. We’ll set up a schedule and women can sign up,“ she said. “Once the snow comes we’re going to do snowshoeing and cross-country skiing and I want to do tobogganing at Silver Springs here in East St. Paul. It’s a good workout and it makes you feel like a kid again.” Gravelle-MacKenzie, who started cycling seriously when she retired a few years ago, is also keen to introduce more women to winter cycling, if informally at first. “I love winter cycling,” she said. “I have talked about winter cycling and there are some women who want to try it.” Gravelle-MacKenzie believes part of the success of the group has been that it serves an under-represented demographic. “A lot of the women, as older women in their sixties and seventies, said they felt invisible,” Gravelle-MacKenzie said. “So for a group to be formed just for them is really powerful. It’s been neat to watch it all develop and everyone being so enthusiastic about it. Come spring, we’ve got so many people who want to ride. It’s evolving really nicely.” For more information, follow @CyclingWithSarah on Instagram or email cyclingwithsarah(a)gmail.com

8 months, 1 week

Stats Can: Commuting to work by car and public transit grows in 2023

by Beth McKechnie

https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/230822/dq230822b-eng.htm

8 months, 1 week

WFP: The great barricade debate (Aug5'23)

by Beth McKechnie

The great barricade debate Residents worry about extra traffic from drivers looking for shortcut https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/2023/08/04/heg-5 BARRICADES have been removed from an East St. Paul route reserved for pedestrians, cyclists and emergency vehicles, allowing general traffic to access the hotly debated link to Winnipeg. It is sparking safety concerns from some area residents, while others argue it’s time to open the paved road for good. The walking-biking route on Raleigh Street in the Rural Municipality of East St. Paul offers a “through-pass” under the northeast Perimeter Highway. A City of Winnipeg boundary on Raleigh is located just south of it. Someone removed the wooden barricades in early July, raising concerns of potentially excessive traffic. “This is a… residential neighbourhood with residential streets… None of them were designed with the notion of becoming another Henderson Highway or Pembina Highway,” said Victor Mikolayenko, who lives nearby. Mikolayenko is urging the province, which owns the infrastructure, to replace the barricades as soon as possible. As traffic from East St. Paul currently has just one permanent connection to Lagimodiere Boulevard, he fears allowing general traffic on the Raleigh link between Sperring (north) and Foxgrove (south) avenues would create a very busy route, increasing noise and the risk of collisions. “It doesn’t take much imagination to see that it would be used as a shortcut… Residents on Headmaster Row between Gateway (Road) and Lagimodiere would be severely impacted, as would any other residents along that way,” said Mikolayenko. He believes the wooden barricades were removed by vandals. During a Free Press visit to the site Friday morning, a broken wooden barrier was spotted in the grass beside the structure. Coun. Jeff Browaty (North Kildonan) said the barricades were removed at least three weeks ago and he’s asked the province to replace them. Browaty said he’s most concerned about future traffic, as East St. Paul’s population grows. “There’s a big chunk of East St. Paul that, when this is open, would find it desirable to take this underpass south of the Perimeter Highway and then (connect through) to get to Lagimodiere. That’s the cut-through traffic that is really problematic for the design and the build of Headmaster (Row),” said Browaty, noting Headmaster is a residential street with many driveways that back directly onto it. Before the link was built, a City of Winnipeg public service report also opposed allowing general traffic along the “through-pass.” “Gateway Road and Raleigh Street north of Chief Peguis Trail have not been built or planned to accommodate high volumes of vehicle traffic… (To do so, these routes) would require a major infrastructure investment by the city that would not at this time be supported by residents in the North Kildonan ward,” a 2015 report noted. Browaty is urging the province to cut off general traffic at the site once again, arguing the area isn’t set up to handle it. He said it could be possible to allow traffic in the future, but only after extensive public consultation, traffic studies and potential infrastructure improvements, with no cost to the city. East St. Paul should also first provide guarantees its future development around the site won’t be dense enough to greatly increase traffic, he added. However, one East St. Paul councillor said he believes the route should open up to allow local traffic permanently, to create an efficient route and alleviate the need for detours. “I think the province and everybody (else) foresees… that you’ve got to not land-lock the community. You’ve got to keep (this area open),” said Charles Posthumus. Posthumus said he’s heard ample support for making the change from both Winnipeg and East St. Paul residents. In an email, a provincial spokesperson said road signs were initially placed along the route to note it is restricted to emergency vehicles, pedestrians and cyclists, with movable barricades used to ensure emergency vehicle access. Road signs to alert drivers to the restriction did not appear to be present Friday. The province indicated vandalism has been a persistent problem at the site. “These barricades are subject to frequent vandalism and theft. Therefore, barricades may or may not be present at any given time… signage is also subject to frequent vandalism so signage may or may not be present at any given time,” the statement said. The spokesperson said Manitoba Transportation and Infrastructure will work with East St. Paul and the City of Winnipeg to resolve any concerns. joyanne.pursaga(a)freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @joyanne_pursaga

8 months, 3 weeks

WFP: Resourceful thieves sabotaging bike racks (Aug3'23)

by Beth McKechnie

Resourceful thieves sabotaging bike racks Riders locking cycles to altered, non-secure structures https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/2023/08/02/damaged-bike-rack… WATCH out for altered bike racks, a cycling advocate says, after local riders have posted online warnings of security structures damaged by would-be thieves to make pilfering bicycles easier. One such rack had been cut or sawed at St. Boniface-area strip mall Dominion Centre, with the cut masked with a piece of tape, one post said in an online group focused on preventing Winnipeg bike thefts. On Wednesday afternoon, the damaged rack remained, but no cyclists stopped to lock up. Mark Cohoe, executive director of advocacy organization Bike Winnipeg, said he hadn’t personally encountered that specific method of thievery, but noted he’s heard of people damaging racks to ease such thefts. “Sometimes, you might get a rack or a post that’s been unbolted… I haven’t seen it personally, but I’ve heard… where racks are either partially cut or they’re cut through,” he said Wednesday. “In some ways, it’s not surprising — I’ve seen it on social media in other cities, and the tools are here, but I don’t know if it’s widespread.” Bike theft, however, is widespread in Winnipeg, with city data suggesting as many as 2,000 bicycles reported stolen a year, but far fewer returned to rightful owners. Cohoe said he’s also heard of bolts being removed from the base of racks, allowing the rack to be removed from the sidewalk or ground, or a rack being cut most of the way through, allowing a thief to break it with a hammer and slip off a bike’s lock with ease. The advocate, who's had many bikes stolen over the years, said if someone spots a damaged rack, they should report it to the business that owns it or the City of Winnipeg. “But ultimately, we need to have more racks out there and have better enforcement to make sure we’re installing racks in good places, too, to ensure they’re in visible places where it’s a little harder to do that and maybe a quicker response if someone notices it has been vandalized… or prepared for easier theft,” Cohoe said. More short-term street parking and long-term bicycle storage programs need to be developed, he added. “Like into apartment buildings, into workplaces, places where if a bike’s going to be stored on a regular basis, that it’s much more protected than where it’s just sitting out, and ultimately a grinding tool will get to it fairly quickly.” The advocate recommended cyclists choose parking spots in visible locations with foot traffic, and to check bike racks by physically shaking them to ensure it is secured, before locking the frame and a wheel of the bike to the rack. Frequent bike thefts in the city have dissuaded some from cycling more frequently, he said. “If you assume your bike’s going to get stolen, you’re not going to take it out there. And the reality is, people are getting their bikes stolen,” said Cohoe, adding he would like to see Winnipeg police assign an investigator to focus specifically on bike thefts, as well as online platforms to crack down on illicit sales. erik.pindera(a)freepress.mb.ca

8 months, 3 weeks

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AT-Network August 2023